Thursday, 20 February 2020

Shepparton electorate ministerial visit

Ms SHEED (Shepparton) (17:24): (1926) My adjournment is for the Treasurer, and the action I seek is that he visits Shepparton to view the transformational projects that are being delivered in my community and to understand the reason why I am seeking funding in the forthcoming Victorian state budget to fund a number of intersection redevelopments, all of which will facilitate the great work that is underway.

Shortly after I was elected to this place the Treasurer visited Shepparton to hear about the projects that were needed to move Shepparton forward. After years of underinvestment and neglect for our region, the government has taken the step of investing, and that is very welcome. In March 2016 the Treasurer came to Shepparton, visited Goulburn Valley Health with me and met with many members of the community to hear the plea for investment in our hospital, and in response he delivered the $170 million needed for the first stage of Goulburn Valley Health in that 2016–17 Victorian state budget. We now see a five-storey building at Goulburn Valley Health nearing completion. This investment and the additional investment earlier this year of another $58 million means that residents of the Goulburn Valley will have much-improved access to facilities, including new operating theatres, new surgical beds, a new emergency department delivering three times the capacity we currently have, a new dialysis unit and refurbished maternal and child health facilities—the list goes on. While all of this is happening, work is underway on the master plan for stage 2 of Goulburn Valley Health.

Another crane in the sky at the moment is at Victoria Park Lake, where the Shepparton Art Museum is rising from the ground. This will see the home of an outstanding regional art gallery that will truly be renowned throughout Australia. The Victorian state government has made a $10 million investment in this project to date, and the Treasurer will be very impressed to go to the top storey and see the view from that facility.

With an investment of $356 million in rail upgrades to make the Shepparton line VLocity ready, the Treasurer will see the works currently underway at the Shepparton station and hear of the works that will soon commence as tenders are finalised for the passing platform extensions and other works.

A site visit to the new fish hatchery will give the Treasurer a vision of what will become the largest fish hatchery in our region. It is in a beautiful setting on the banks of the Goulburn River.

He will want to meet representatives from local Indigenous communities to hear of the progress of the building of the Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence, which among other things will be the new home of the Academy of Sport, Health and Education.

The Shepparton Education Plan has been a major undertaking over the course of the last three years, culminating in the bringing together of four secondary colleges onto one campus, known as Greater Shepparton Secondary College. Just last week I stood with the Deputy Premier as we turned the sod on the site of the old Shepparton High School for the new building.