Ringwood East train station
Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:51): Last Friday evening after I finished work in my office in Eastland in the electorate of Ringwood I went and got takeaway. I got my pizza from Wally at Railway Avenue in Ringwood East. I was in a pretty good mood – pretty chipper, I suppose – because by about 9 pm or 9:30 pm I was ready to go home. I was ready to go and watch some of the Olympics. Sadly, I thought I would also check while I was there on the lights in the local toilets. The toilets are about 190 metres from Ringwood East train station. That is a train station that is probably costing the taxpayer in the order of $300 million to $400 million, and when combined with the Level Crossing Removal Project on both Dublin and Bedford roads, close to $1 billion. I checked on those toilets because three months ago, in April, the lights were not working in the car park. To my dismay, I walked up the laneway, which was pitch dark – no woman in their right mind would do that; no man in their right mind would do that either – and not only were the lights not working in that car park but, three months after I last raised this issue with the council and with the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister Pearson, the light in the disabled toilet is now not working either. Those toilets were a disgrace; they were squalid. And this brings me to the broader issue. We have to have a public toilet at Ringwood East train station. It is a disgrace that this has happened. I will now write to each and every minister urging them to raise this matter at cabinet. It is a safety concern for every woman, every elderly person and every young person in my electorate of Ringwood.