Wednesday, 31 July 2024

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (18:41): (1019) My matter is for the minister herself tonight in her capacity as Minister for Skills and TAFE. I refer specifically to Swinburne University and land that it owns in Windsor currently used by the Windsor community childcare centre which is under threat because Swinburne has decided to sell the land despite it having been gifted to Swinburne University – indeed, by the state government. The action I seek from her is to intervene, as she has the capacity to do under various acts of Parliament, including the Swinburne University of Technology Act 2010, to ensure that there is a solution found where this important childcare centre is not closed.

This is a complex matter, but I would be very much appreciative if the minister was prepared to visit the Windsor community childcare centre with me to see the issues at play, to see the children there, to see the strong community spirit and to see the decisions that have been made to refurb and build up the centre. It is actually doing very well. It is a very popular centre, and I think that the minister would benefit from seeing this at close range.

There are of course rules for the disposal of government land, which the minister and others are bound by. There has got to be an offer to other departments. It is my understanding that no such formal offer has been made to a wide number of other departments, and likewise to the council. I understand that it may be that the council did not initially manage this well, but I understand that at a recent meeting – indeed, the Monday just gone, or it might have been the Monday before that – the council made the decision that they would oppose planning changes for this childcare centre. The government of course wanted those planning changes because it is going to flog the land, and it wants to maximise the sale price by flogging the land. I think the community is very angry about this. I went to the open day and have been back to see the committee of management and some of the members of the staff, and indeed some of the students, to actually talk through a lot of these issues. I am informed about the council side of this as well. It is a terrible situation.

One of the problems that we face is that the government is now desperate for money, and it is now looking to sell and flog everything that is not nailed down for miles around. In this case, even though it is land, they think they can scissor it off, put a planning permit on it and flog it to the nearest and highest bidder. So, Minister, please stop this and come and visit.