Thursday, 7 March 2024

Neighbourhood houses

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (17:28): (580) My adjournment is to the Minister for Carers and Volunteers, and I ask that the minister joins me in Northcote to visit with our wonderful network of neighbourhood houses. The inner north is home to a hardworking and tight-knit community of neighbourhood houses run by a mix of staff and volunteers. Their commitment to supporting vulnerable residents, those wanting to upskill or people simply looking to connect with one another is second to none. Whether it is Jika Jika’s free food program, Span, Alphington Community Centre’s community lunches or Bridge Darebin’s family playgroup, our neighbourhood houses are somewhere that everyone is welcome.

There is no doubt that the rising cost of living is putting pressure on households right now, and many residents in Northcote are turning to our neighbourhood houses or other wonderful services like Darebin Information, Volunteer & Resource Service in Preston as a shoulder to lean on. DIVRS are angels, providing community support to between 150 and 200 households each week, including access to their food pantry, providing advice about cost of living and running energy relief drop-in sessions. Over at Span Community House in Thornbury the weekly food relief program supports residents at the Agg Street housing estate, helping to put food on the table for community members who need it most, and their suite of sustainability programs, like their repair, re-use and recycle hub, is empowering our community to think more about avoiding waste, reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the circular economy.

As the member for Northcote, I have been incredibly proud to support the work of our neighbourhood houses and see wonderful initiatives like the Alphington men’s shed, Jika Jika bicycle repair and Span’s edible and Indigenous garden, all funded by the Allan Labor government. We have also been proud to work closely with them on getting the word out about the ways in which our Labor government is supporting households with cost-of-living relief. Many of our neighbourhood houses have assisted residents with processing four rounds of the state government’s $250 power saving bonus. They have also helped to provide information on the Victorian energy upgrades program and the sick pay guarantee. These are all key initiatives that put more dollars back into the pockets of Victorians.

The Allan Labor government will continue to support cost-of-living measures for Victorians, including through transformational reforms like free kinder, free TAFE, discounted and free dental, discounted drivers licence renewals, our priority primary care clinics and the more than 60 different savings to be found on the savings finder in the Service Victoria app, which traverse energy, utilities, health, transport, education, recreation and more. Our passionate and dedicated network of neighbourhood houses is a crucial part of the picture when it comes to supporting Victorians, and I look forward to introducing the minister to the wonderful souls that keep them humming in the inner north.