Thursday, 12 September 2024

 Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (12:23): I rise to update the house on our government’s significant capital investment in regional Victoria. In regional development we are delivering a pipeline of almost 700 projects across rural and regional Victoria. This includes the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre, backed by more than $400 million of investment; $126 million for the Twelve Apostles visitor centre; and 180 projects through the $20 million Tiny Towns Fund. We are backing in new regional employment precincts, including $25 million for the Ballarat West employment zone and an additional $14 million for the intermodal freight hub; $6 million for the Bendigo regional employment precinct; $15 million for the Gippsland logistics and manufacturing precinct; and $2.5 million towards the Portland North employment precinct, bringing Bunnings into Portland. In Ballarat, where I was recently, we are delivering 1400 new public car parks by 2026 and $10 million for the restoration of Her Majesty’s Theatre. We have backed in $100 million for the Ballarat GovHub, $30 million for the Latrobe Valley GovHub, $133 million for the Bendigo GovHub –

Members interjecting.

Ann-Marie Hermans: On a point of order, President, would you please ask the chamber to be quiet, because there are some details in there that I would actually like to be able to hear.

The PRESIDENT: Interjections are unruly. I uphold your point of order. It is all a bit weird when it is from the same side as the speaker.

Gayle TIERNEY: We are delivering $150 million for the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund, with announcements to come shortly. More broadly, this government has invested $2 billion into regional TAFEs since 2014, including $240 million into regional TAFE capital projects; $1 billion into the Regional Housing Fund; $4 billion into regional rail revival, alongside the Commonwealth; over $500 million in the Barwon women’s and children’s hospital; and over $650 million for the Ballarat Health Service expansion – just to name a few. In our most recent budget alone we invested $2 billion into regional Victoria, with 28 per cent of place-based expenditure going into our regions, because the Allan government is the government for – (Time expired)