Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (17:42): (2499) I note the Minister for Education ventured out of Melbourne last week, over the West Gate and past the tunnel that no-one uses, and graced us all with his presence to make an announcement at Miners Rest – and oh, what a great announcement it was! By way of background, at the 2022 state election Labor made a commitment to build a new oval and sporting complex at Miners Rest as part of the Commonwealth Games. That is the same Commonwealth Games that went to Scotland courtesy of the Labor Party, resulting in almost $600 million wasted. Like so many Labor commitments, they are made with great fanfare but are rarely delivered upon. The people of Miners Rest have now come to know that reality, because it is a lived reality for them. The member for Ripon has a track record of ignoring her electorate. First she voted for the emergency services tax, which ruined volunteers, then she supported the VicGrid legislation, which pummelled farmers into the ground, and now she is turning her back on the people of Miners Rest, and the Deputy Premier is complicit in that. Even the Premier was in Miners Rest not that long ago, recommitting to this complex as well. But what does it all mean? Not very much.

Commitments from Labor are not worth the paper they are written on. The government talk big, trumpeting how much they support regional Victoria, but I would say to them: put your money where your mouth is. But the problem is they are all mouth and no money. The bank is empty, the state is broke, they have no money left. It has all been wasted on big corruption at Big Build sites and going to pay $1.2 million every hour in interest. So when the Deputy Premier rolls into Miners Rest and says ‘Sorry, not sorry’, no wonder people are angry. This is the cost of Labor’s complete and utter mismanagement. When the Labor Deputy Premier and the Labor member for Ripon turn up to announcement all smiles, the reality is that the people of Miners Rest are left with frowns, frustration and anger.

The action I seek from the Minister for Education and Deputy Premier is simple. On behalf of the people of Miners Rest, I demand that he apologise for breaking a key election commitment Labor made, which has now left Miners Rest in complete and utter limbo. They were promised an oval, they were promised a sporting complex, and they were delivered empty promises and false hope and absolutely nothing in return.