Tuesday, 16 May 2023

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:17): (210) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, and the action that I seek is that the minister join me in Pakenham to meet with Goldstream RV, one of Australia’s most successful camping vehicle manufacturers, which is under the threat of closure due to the Labor government’s compulsory acquisition of their land. Earlier this year Major Road Projects Victoria entered their premises to notify them of the government’s decision to acquire a crucial part of their property under the proposal to widen the Bald Hill Road in Pakenham. What should have been a joyful year celebrating 30 years in business has now turned into sleepless nights and worry. Goldstream’s concerns have not been genuinely heard by the government. When they asked for a chance to express their concerns and arguments against this, they were given a generic email address, and when they spoke of the destruction this would cause for their business and the 70 local employees they were told, ‘Just move somewhere else.’ Goldstream’s owners told me that a business of their nature and size simply cannot be put in a different location.

This is an example of yet another overreach of government. This is a government that made a decision to take their land, which they own. It is theirs, not the state’s. It is their patch of Victoria. This government is destroying a business which was first a dream in seed form that they have built from the ground up over the past 30 years. Narelle, a co-owner of Goldstream, told me:

To politicians this is just a piece of land, but to the 70 families this is their livelihoods. To our founders, this is their super, and without even bothering to ask us the government could simply take it away.

To treat local manufacturing businesses like this is nothing short of disgraceful. Shutting down other sustainable jobs in our region like the sustainable native timber industry and the local power industry, the Labor government just will not stop their war on regional jobs. Seventy people are on the verge of losing their livelihoods and the only consultation they have been offered is a generic email address. I ask you to come, hear the stories of the 70 families, sit with us and watch the local traffic, and you will quickly see why the proposed changes simply will not work. While of course I welcome the increased road and infrastructure investment in our region, it is deeply troubling to see that Australian owned and operated businesses like Goldstream RV have their land taken away without their concerns even being heard. At a time when Australian manufacturing continues to suffer, I ask the minister to join me, hear the community’s concerns and find an alternate solution.