Thursday, 19 March 2026

 Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (10:12): Groundbreaking progress is being made at the Dunstan Reserve Child Care Centre on Everett Street in Brunswick West, which I was delighted to have visited on 11 March to celebrate construction progress on the centre’s expansion and modernisation works. The upgrades will provide for a brand new kindergarten room to expand the centre’s capacity by 22 places and support a total of 94 children; upgraded kitchen, office, staff and planning spaces to support educators in daily operations; refurbished amenities and internal spaces creating a more modern and functional environment for students and teachers; and more kinder places to support the growing number of young families choosing to call Brunswick West home. This is a major $3.6 million redevelopment and has been made possible thanks to our $1 million Victorian Labor government investment and $2.6 million Merri-bek council investment. I was pleased to join Councillor Natalie Abboud, the Merri-bek mayor; Sue Vujcevic, the acting CEO of Merri-bek; the building team from Notion Group; and Dunstan Reserve educators and staff to celebrate these amazing works. Along with free kinder saving families $2,600 a year, these upgrades are also part of our $10.7 million package to upgrade 11 local kinders.