Wednesday, 17 June 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (19:20): (2605) My adjournment matter is for the Premier, and the action I seek is for the Premier to immediately fund upgrades to the drop-off and pick-up points at Epsom Primary School and to also install a pedestrian crossing to connect with the car park across the road. I was pleased to see that my sustained advocacy for a safety upgrade to the intersection of Howard Street and Midland Highway has resulted in the 2026–27 state budget finally allocating funding for the project. However, the announcement fell short of addressing all of the safety issues on Howard Street and completely ignored the need to upgrade safety at the Epsom Primary School. I brought attention to the danger at the Howard Street intersection back in 2021 and have raised the matter in Parliament about a dozen times over the years, while the government failed to do anything about it. I have also continually noted that the danger at the intersection was linked to the high volume of car traffic on Howard Street as parents drop off and pick up their children who attend Epsom Primary School.

The Premier herself knows very well about the dangers along Howard Street, because Epsom Primary School is in Bendigo East, the Premier’s own electorate. Shortly after her election in 1999 the Premier visited the school, and in April 2000 the Premier actually spoke in Parliament about traffic safety issues outside the school. She noted that there was only one main entry and exit point and there were high volumes of traffic at drop-off and pick-up times. The Premier also recounted how she personally witnessed a number of illegal U-turns across double lines while parents were trying to cross the road. The speech was 26 years ago, and in the whole time since then the member for Bendigo East has never secured funding to improve the drop-off and pick-up points at the school or to build a safe pedestrian crossing outside the entrance.

In a recent letter to the editor of the Bendigo Advertiser, a local said that she drove past Epsom Primary School one morning and saw several people lined up on the road opposite the primary school waiting to cross Howard Street to reach the main gate of the school. She wrote it was disturbing that there was no pedestrian crossing in evidence nor a crossing supervisor to assist these parents to get their children safely across the road to the school gates. This urgently needs to be addressed for the safety of our most vulnerable.

In 2024 the Premier said that the Victorian School Building Authority was investigating how the pick-up and drop-off zone at Epsom Primary School could be improved and was working closely with the school on a solution. What was the outcome of that investigation? It is now two years later. Nothing has been done, and the budget has no money for pedestrian traffic safety improvements at Epsom Primary. I hope the Premier has the decency to do the right thing by her constituents and actually fund and implement these vital road safety upgrades at the school before she is rolled by her party room and forced to retire entirely.