Tuesday, 17 March 2020

Ovens Valley electorate funding

Mr McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (14:03): As the 2020–21 budget is just around the corner I continue to seek very important upgrades for the Ovens Valley electorate—$15 million is needed for the second stage of the Yarrawonga College P–12. In 2014 the Liberal-Nationals provided $7.6 million to give this much-needed school the start it needed. Cobram District Health is in desperate need for an upgrade to remain capable of servicing the growing needs of Cobram. Our community is seeking funding for a master plan so that Cobram can begin the long journey to develop its hospital. Community contributions take years to muster, so it is vital that we give the Cobram community the vision for the future.

Recent bushfires in the Ovens Valley demonstrated the urgent need for a dedicated incident control centre for our region. The current Ovens Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning office is clearly unsatisfactory for such large-scale emergencies. Floods, fires and storms are a part of life, and we must offer our first responders and incident controllers the very best facilities. The Wangaratta-Whitfield Road continues to be the highest priority for our road upgrades in 2020–21. I have been calling for this much-needed investment for some years. The Victorian government must look beyond the tram tracks of Melbourne in the 2020–21 budget.

The north-east trains have continued to be unreliable and well past their use-by date, as recent breakdowns have demonstrated. The north-east passengers need to see some evidence in the 2020–21 budget of real investment—not just the same old Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.

A multisport facility is needed in Yarrawonga for basketball for both men and women, and this facility can be used by so many others in this community. Yarrawonga is growing at lightning speed, and we need to keep pace with these facilities. A 24-hour police station is well overdue in Cobram to keep our community safe. Other projects include the Myrtleford scout hall, the Yarrawonga canoe club, the Myrtleford Savoy Soccer Club change room and kitchen facilities, and female change rooms for AFL footballers in Bright, Yarrawonga and Cobram.