Northern Victoria Region
Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:48): (1690) My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Can the minister advise when Bendigo firefighters will move out of their 40-year-old station in Hargreaves Street and when works to build the new station will be completed? It was built in 1983, when there were just five firefighters on a shift. Now there are more than double that number. In 2019 the government announced that construction of a new station would begin in mid-2020. That was five years ago; it still has not begun. A temporary station was constructed in Murphy Street, East Bendigo, and completed in March 2022. It sat empty for over three years. I raised this issue with the minister in February last year and was advised that the design of the new station was being finalised and that Fire Rescue Victoria would relocate to the temporary station, but this has not yet happened. On behalf of the Bendigo firefighters and the communities they serve, I look forward to an update from the minister.