Tuesday, 31 October 2023

 Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (13:49): A fortnight ago I spoke in this chamber of Bayside council’s plans to take over Beaumaris Children’s Playhouse in order to expand the neighbouring council-owned kindergarten. Last week I met with Children’s Playhouse president Allie Gaunt and kids together with their mums and their dads. To say that their demeanour was one of great disappointment is really an understatement. The Beaumaris Children’s Playhouse has nurtured the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of our smallest community members for over 40 years and allows parents and caregivers to lean on each other and support each other when they most need it. It delivers an invaluable social connection, and it means something to people both young and old. I have had countless messages from adult constituents who attended the playhouse over the years – those who attended in the 1980s and 1990s – saying it supported them during a vital developmental stage of their youth and that they would be tremendously disappointed if the playhouse was split up and relocated to two similar sites.

Bayside council’s plans are at best an unintended consequence of the government’s supposed free kinder program, a program that those on the ground know is definitely not free. Whatever conversations take place, I want this to be absolutely clear: I support an ongoing and viable Beaumaris Children’s Playhouse and wholeheartedly reject any move by Bayside council to undermine and destroy this magnificent community organisation for this generation and the next.