Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:52): I want to commend the earlier contributions of my colleagues in the North-Eastern Metropolitan Region, both Ms Terpstra and Mr McGowan, regarding the dreadful impact of the shocking bus crash in New South Wales, in particular here on the community in Warrandyte, and commend both of them for the work that they continue to do to support families.

I was in Warrandyte yesterday meeting with Nicole Ta-Ei Werner because she is the Liberal candidate for the upcoming by-election in Warrandyte, and I was talking with her about local issues. Certainly a huge local issue today and into the future, as Mr McGowan said, must be supporting the community, especially supporting the community around the cricket club that has been so indelibly impacted by dreadful events in New South Wales.

In addition, right across the electorate people are feeling the pinch when it comes to the cost of living. There are specific local issues that I know Ryan Smith, the outstanding outgoing member for Warrandyte, has talked about, like the dreadful intersection at Five Ways. More than half of the families in Warrandyte choose to send their children to non-government schools, so it is an electorate and a group of parents in particular who will be hit particularly hard by the schools tax that we will shortly debate. It was great to catch up once again with Nicole to talk about issues in Warrandyte, both issues that are tragic and recent but also ongoing concerns of that community.