Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is aspirational, and it is a reflection of the community of Dunkley, which has got a big heart and lots of opportunity. Dunkley is home to a tight-knit community of families, children, older people, key industry workers and students. It is an emerging regional centre for many community organisations working to support those most in need, small-business owners and everything in between. I am very proud to call Dunkley my home. It's a place close to me, as I have lived and worked in the community for 30 years.

Frankston, affectionately known to locals as Franga, has often borne the brunt of jokes. It has had a reputation of being a rough area because of its location at the end of the train line. Up until about 10 years ago, there was an underinvestment in the community, but that has slowly but surely changed. Dunkley is an incredible community with a can-do spirit. We're proud people. We care about each other. We help each other every day. We are demographically diverse. I saw a mix of wealth, poverty and everything in between as I doorknocked in every suburb around the electorate; 37,000 doors, 30,000 phone calls and 20,000 conversations gave me a really solid picture of who our community is and are.

Talking to locals involved in community sport, service clubs and organisations highlights time and time again that we punch above our weight as a community. We are, despite our reputation, an ambitious and motivated lot of people. Indeed, there is no better symbol of our community's improvement than the recent success of our much-loved Frankston Dolphins Football Netball Club. Our community gathered when it was failing, and it was backed by the local state member Paul Edbrooke advocating to ensure the club's viability. Now our beloved Dolphins are in the qualifying finals, and the community is buzzing with excitement at the prospect of the club taking out the VFL title. Good luck to the Dolphins team, players, coaches and board. All you have achieved these past eight years has landed you in the qualifying finals this weekend.

Things are changing. The Dunkley community is transitioning from a town to a city. We are dusting ourselves off as individuals and a community, standing taller and prouder as we think big and implement our vision for the future in so many different ways. In the last decade, thanks to investment from the federal and state Labor governments, we have seen record investment in the area, and it is paying dividends in improved public transport, better connectivity, the redevelopment of Chisholm Institute and the soon-to-be-completed $1 billion Peninsula University Hospital. It means our community can access world-class health services and education and make Dunkley their home without compromising their living standards.

Thanks to the work of the late Peta Murphy from 2019 to 2023, $220 million worth of funding commitments have continued to materialise into some incredible facilities and services for the people of Dunkley. We've got the Jubilee Park Stadium, the Frankston district netball and basketball stadium redevelopment, Emil Madsen Reserve and the Ballam Park redevelopment. We've got the First People's Health and Wellbeing clinic, a new Medicare urgent care clinic and car parks at both Frankston and Kananook stations.

Our aspirations to grow from a town to a city have been further supported through the endorsement of the Frankston Metropolitan Activity Centre. A plan for the ongoing revitalisation of Frankston was signed off by Frankston City Council and the Victorian state government earlier this year. This vision for growth and revitalisation has been supported by the federal government. These past 18 months, the Prime Minister himself has visited the community seven times, as he understands the opportunities and ambitions of our community. Since the by-election, he has supported my advocacy efforts, ensuring we build a thriving, inclusive community.

This year alone, $109 million has been invested into Dunkley thanks to the Albanese Labor government. We have critical infrastructure projects: a $50 million investment into the Nepean Highway and Overton Road precinct; a $7.6 million investment into the much-deserved Bruce Park and Len Phelps reserve; $25 million for Thompsons Road upgrades; and over $1.7 million for the Frankston bowls club, which is a hub for so many older people in our community, who love to come together and bowl on the weekends and during the week. And it doesn't stop there. There's almost half a million dollars for SmackTalk, Wayne Holdsworth's work, nearly $1 million for the Brotherhood of St Laurence for their Thrive Hub and funding for the McClelland gallery.

Dunkley is a hive of volunteer and community organisations that work with people from all walks of life. I have been a volunteer in the community for many years and know there are so many people who give up their evenings and weekends to run the widest range of organisations and activities that you can imagine—basketball, bowling, cricket, football, netball, scouts, soccer and tennis, not to mention art, ballet, theatre schools, swimming groups and service clubs. In Dunkley, we've got it all. And, at a time when volunteering across Australia is at its lowest, in Dunkley it's as strong as ever.

In my first speech, I spoke about our volunteer community and about volunteers being the backbone of our community. To the volunteers of Dunkley: you are amazing. I love coming to visit you at your different activities to see the incredible work you do for so many that we need to support. This past six months, this government has committed $147,000 to 43 organisations through volunteer grants and stronger communities funding. We've invested $85,000 for stronger communities organisations and $62,000 for volunteer groups. Congratulations to all of you for the incredible work you have done to deliver much-needed services and support to people in Dunkley. You are local champions, and I thank you.

But I'm not done there. I'm acutely aware of the significant challenges surrounding men's health nationally—predominantly in Dunkley. Dunkley, unfortunately, has higher-than-state-average suicide rates. It is imperative for me that I do what I can as a local MP to facilitate and support conversations in my community about suicide so that people understand and are able to address this issue locally. On 12 November, I will be hosting a men's health and wellbeing forum with the Special Envoy for Men's Health, Dan Repacholi. We will be inviting men, including young men, from the community, community organisations and schools to come together so we can hear their thoughts and ideas about what we have and what we're missing.

We are also working towards a local Louisa Dunkley roundtable with the Minister for Social Services and the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence in early 2026. The event will provide agencies working with women and families that have lived experience an opportunity to come together and share their experiences and their solutions and to understand what more we can do as a government.

For 20 years of my career, I worked with young people from all corners of this country, youth dealing with trauma who wanted to climb out of the clutches of disadvantage that comes with abuse, domestic and family violence, substance abuse, unemployment and learning difficulties. Young people are increasingly passionate and committed to social justice, equity and fairness, doing their bit for our great country. To ensure more young people have the life and employment skills and confidence to lead and navigate the complex issues we face now and into the future, we must invest in them. We need to provide spaces and places that give them hope and a sense of possibility through the provision of programs such as leadership initiatives that build them up and keep them connected, creating hope and a sense of possibility—because you can't be what you can't see. I remain committed to working with all stakeholders and community groups to deliver the best outcomes for Dunkley. I will work to offer young people opportunities to learn, to live to their potential and lead through the Dunkley Emerging Leaders Program.

And while we are supporting young people to learn, grow and lead, we need to work on providing people with every chance to have a roof over their head. During the by-election and recent election, I heard so many stories that illustrated the scale of the challenges we face on housing affordability—women forced to move house with their children due to rent increases; women that are fleeing domestic and family violence; a young trainee childcare worker whose rent had increased so much that they were now selling personal items to be able to afford their next rent.

These past 18 months the federal government has invested $43 billion into housing—that is an incredible investment. We have an ambitious target of building 1.2 million homes. We've got the Crisis and Transition Accommodation Program. We've got the Help to Buy scheme that will enable first homebuyers to purchase a home with just five per cent deposit. This initiative, this week, has been brought forward to commence in 2025. We have a target in Dunkley to build 33,000 homes. We have a range of organisations—with land, a vision and some money to invest—that are keen to help build more homes and to ensure that we have roofs over people's heads.

It's time we bring all of these stakeholders together to work on a solution to build a mix of homes for people from all walks of life in Dunkley. Throughout my career I've worked with organisations and communities to build local, state and national-level programs that provide solutions to a social issue—or what we call 'a wicked problem'. Housing is a wicked problem. Creating solutions to this problem means bringing people with aspirations and ideas together, and that is what I intend to do in Dunkley.

In November, the Minister for Housing will bring together local, state and federal government, community organisations, housing providers and investors and those with land, business plans and a commitment to invest in housing. There are significant gains to be made with regard to meeting housing supply targets. We need a mix of housing for a range of people from all walks of life. Transitional housing, veterans' housing, aged care, retirement villages, key worker housing, and social and affordable housing; the list is long and broad.

As we work towards this transition, we must build a climate-resilient community and infrastructure and look after our best natural asset in Dunkley—the bay—so everyone can enjoy it. We need to be respectful of the environment and our waterways, while ensuring we maximise renewable energy projects, which will be critical in this transition for generations to come.

No one level of government or organisation is going to be able to achieve the target of 33,000 homes on its own. We need all players to come together as a collective to understand the appetite and opportunities—the innovators, the investors, the community organisations and the community leaders who are committed to laying and building firm foundations—lots of them together, not in isolation.

Labor's achievements in Dunkley since 2018 make me very proud, but I know that the people of Dunkley re-elected me to continue bringing to life our bold and visionary agenda. To all the residents from Chelsea to Carrum Downs, Mount Eliza to Patterson Lakes and Karingal to Langwarrin—I am committed to delivering for Dunkley, now and into the future, by being a strong local voice in Canberra.

Now is the time for us to walk the talk, work together and deliver the outcomes our community needs—outcomes on the land of the Bunurong people, the land by the sea, the best place to be.

See this speech in context