Wednesday, 17 May 2023

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:43): (219) My adjournment debate is for the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, and I am very pleased that she is here with us tonight at the table to listen to my action and request. Minister Blandthorn has been very gracious, and I very much enjoyed her speech upstairs at the men’s shed event. We are hosting in Queen’s Hall a wonderful display of men’s sheds’ intricate woodwork, toys and artisan woodworking artefacts that show the talent but also the engagement that men’s shed participants have in our communities and the importance of men’s sheds, and I really appreciate what Minister Blandthorn has said.

She said in her speech at the men’s shed event that there were many other examples of wonderful events and things that the government has funded and supported, and it was really good to hear. But the one that piqued my interest was a comment around the Traralgon Men’s Shed. In good faith and with goodwill, I am sure, the minister said that the government is funding the Traralgon Men’s Shed after it had been flood affected, which we know happened in 2021. It is on public land, and through the floods it was basically awash. That men’s shed can no longer access funding to be there, because it cannot be insured because it is a high flood risk area. They have been seeking funding since that time – for the last two years – to relocate. The government has provided some funding for the roller derby to relocate up to Glenview Park, which is up at the racecourse at Traralgon. They are delighted, and I am delighted for them, but the funding was not sufficient to move the men’s shed up there. I just rang the secretary of the men’s shed to see whether they had heard anything, and she said, ‘Not as yet.’

I am sure the minister has communicated this in very good faith, but I would appreciate it if the minister could respond to the Traralgon Men’s Shed to explain her comment about the fact that the Andrews government was building a new men’s shed in Traralgon and potentially even go and visit the Traralgon men’s shedders, because they are a fantastic group of people who have been devastated by that flood. They make furniture for primary schools. As the minister said, it is such an integral part of supporting their mental health, and we would love to see a new men’s shed in Traralgon. It would be fabulous. The action I seek is: can the minister explain this in person to the men’s shedders of Traralgon?