Thursday, 22 February 2024

Adjournment

Kew Recreation Centre redevelopment

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:13): (541) My adjournment is for the Premier. The action I am seeking is an urgent review of both VBA’s and WorkSafe’s investigations into the Kew Recreation Centre construction site so that investigations can be finalised and for any findings to be made public immediately. For context, the City of Boroondara commissioned builder ADCO Constructions to redevelop the Kew Recreation Centre. Doors closed to residents in 2020, and ADCO took control of the site. As the Premier may be aware, in October 2022 a section of the steel roof structure that had been erected onsite partially collapsed. Fortunately, no-one was hurt, and the collapse occurred after working hours. What has followed in the 18 months since that collapse is an absolute farce. WorkSafe commenced their investigation the day after the collapse, while the Victorian Building Authority started their work in December, but these two regulators have brought down a cone of silence around the site, leaving residents and ratepayers completely in the dark over a year later. We still have no idea what caused the collapse. We still have no idea if anyone will ever be held responsible for what could have been a catastrophic safety failure if the collapse had happened during working hours, and until recently we did not even know when we will have a functional recreation facility onsite. I understand that a building permit has finally been issued for works to resume onsite, and Boroondara council have this month been able to advise us of a revised build timetable.

So we now know that Boroondara residents and ratepayers will be waiting until the middle of 2026 for the new centre to be opened, keeping in mind that the original time frame for the build would have seen the new recreation centre up and running by now. Instead, all we have is a whole lot of concrete onsite. The Premier must step up and review the actions of the VBA and WorkSafe in relation to this site. Their investigations have been shrouded in secrecy, meaning we do not know exactly what actions they have taken. We also know it is possible they intend to never make their findings publicly available. These investigations are moving at an absolutely glacial pace while the site has spent months literally gathering dust. Victorian taxpayers deserve to know how these Victorian government regulators are discharging their responsibilities in relation to the Kew recreation site, and Boroondara ratepayers deserve to have confidence in these statutory authorities that are responsible for ensuring that the site is safe going forward. I ask how they can have that confidence when these agencies refuse to make public their work in relation to the Kew recreation site and there is no sense of time line for these investigations.

The Premier needs to urgently review the actions of both WorkSafe and the VBA in relation to the Kew recreation site, because whatever actions they have taken are clearly not delivering an acceptable outcome. My constituents are missing out on important recreational and community facilities that are desperately needed. A generation of children are missing out on the Kew rec pool, something that so many of us, including me, have such fond memories of. They deserve answers, not further delays and secrecy. It is time these investigations were finalised, the findings were made public and the Kew Recreation Centre be built immediately.