Thursday, 7 April 2022

Adjournment

Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (18:15): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Rosebud Primary School

Ms BURNETT-WAKE (Eastern Victoria) (18:15): (1879) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Education, and the action that I seek is for landscaping works at Rosebud Primary School to be completed as soon as possible so that students have somewhere safe to play. The Rosebud Primary School yard is currently a construction site full of dirt. The school is undergoing works on new classrooms and play areas at a cost of $13.77 million, which were due to be finalised in term 2 this year. However, those works suddenly stopped in February without warning or explanation. I thank the Liberal candidate for Nepean, Sam Groth, for raising this issue with me, as these delays are simply not good enough.

Parents have expressed their concerns over their children, who have been left to play in the dirt as their previous play spaces have been dug up but no new play spaces have been completed. Children have been going home covered in filth from playing near the unearthed sports oval and construction site. There is no grass for the children to play on, as grass has not yet been laid over the new oval the kids are eagerly waiting to use. The front of the school is an eyesore covered in dirt and dust. A recent article by the Herald Sun explains that the works were halted at the school when Probuild collapsed in February.

The parent company, WBHO, pulled funding from Australia due to ‘severe COVID-19 restrictions’, creating hardship and business uncertainty. Probuild was a significant company based right here in Melbourne. There were in fact many businesses that were forced to close when the Andrews Labor government imposed the longest lockdown in the world, and it is unfortunate that Probuild was another to suffer at the hands of the pandemic. I understand the company had quite a few government projects underway in Victoria at the time it was put into administration. How these will be completed still remains unclear.

These works at Rosebud Primary School were halted over two months ago, and there is still no talk of who will be completing the landscaping. The parents and students of Rosebud Primary School do not want to see this drag on. Their children deserve a place safe place to play that is not a pile of dirt. The action that I seek is for the minister to ensure landscaping works are completed as soon as possible so that students can get back to enjoying recess and their lunchbreak.