Commonwealth Games
David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:06): (186) My question is to the Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy. With 1000 days until the start of the Commonwealth Games, does the minister stand by every commitment promised by the government in terms of the Commonwealth Games legacy?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:06): Thank you, Mr Davis. It is wonderful to be able to talk, with this opportunity that you have given me, about the Commonwealth Games and the way in which Victoria 2026 will enable our regions, our regional hubs and our rural communities to shine on the world stage. We know that wherever our Commonwealth Games have been had around the globe we see around about a $3 billion return on investment, and we also know that the commitments that we have made will deliver around 7500 jobs before, during and after the Commonwealth Games. This is also about maintaining and delivering, as I have indicated in this chamber a number of times before, including to Mr McCracken, an opportunity for $800 million to be delivered within a pipeline of investment. This includes around 1200 opportunities for people to submit to get a contract – there will be around 1200 contracts, as I indicated – on everything from transport through to catering, security and food provision, and we want to engage as locally as possible in the delivery of all of these things.
We also know – and this has been a really critical part of the work that we have been doing in Commonwealth Games delivery – that inclusion and accessibility and First Nations engagement are of primary importance in delivering those pillars under the Commonwealth Games legacy and that in construction of everything from our large-scale venues through to our villages and the way in which community facilities are developed First Nations stories, community presence and identity will be a very, very big part of that work. It was a pleasure to meet with the First Nations leadership group last week to talk with them about what self-determination looks like in the delivery of the Commonwealth Games. Belinda Duarte, who is chairing that group, is doing a phenomenal job, and to meet with traditional owners to talk with them about their aspirations for the games really does highlight what it means to deliver a games that is representative of everyone, including the oldest continuous culture on earth, Mr Davis.
This is about making sure that accessibility is at the heart of what we are doing. Inclusion and accessibility are again a very strong feature of the engagements that we are continuing to have. Jeroen Weimar, as I said, met with CEOs in Shepparton I believe just yesterday, and I am looking forward to continuing the engagements with local councils, with the Commonwealth Games Federation, with community sporting facilities and with everybody who is working so hard to develop the momentum that will really enable these games to shine and to help communities to come together to reflect all of the wonder, the diversity and the economic momentum that we have developing and being delivered across rural and regional Victoria.
David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:09): All that is very nice, but the answer is that the minister did not stand by a commitment to deliver every commitment, did not stand by every promise. I therefore ask: will the minister release a list of all the legacy commitments made by the government, to enable proper monitoring by local communities?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:10): Thanks, Mr Davis. This is an opportunity for me perhaps to call upon you to talk with those communities who have in fact been delivering and generating their own priorities around what they want their communities to be part of. From our community sporting facilities right through to our councils and indeed Commonwealth teams and international teams, we have been continuing a conversation which is about what communities want, Mr Davis. If it is your idea to say that we should have a static approach to these things, that says more about how you would fail to deliver something which is representative of communities’ interests and desires than anything else. We are stepping through this conversation to make sure that what we deliver – this $2.6 billion investment, this return on investment – is what communities want. That is precisely what we will continue to do.
David Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister obfuscated on the first question, and now on this question she is refusing to answer the simple question of whether she will make a list of all commitments that have been made available.
The PRESIDENT: I was listening intently, and the minister said that she is not in a position for a comprehensive list because it is not static, it is a moving opportunity, so –
Members interjecting.
The PRESIDENT: There is no point yelling at me. I do not uphold the point of order, and the minister has got 9 seconds.
Harriet SHING: Thanks, President. Mr Davis, I would welcome an opportunity to see you at one of our legacy round tables now that the regional engagement forums have finished. It is a shame that you were not able to make it to any of those to hear about what it is that communities want.