Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This bill is all about delivery of the commitments we took to the last election. We, as a government, are focused on delivering on the things that matter to everyday Australians, and I'm focused on delivering for my electorate of Menzies—investments in our local infrastructure, in our community organisations, in our local festivals, in cost-of-living relief, in health care, in education and in housing. I'm extremely grateful to the people of Menzies for providing me the opportunity to represent our local community and create real outcomes. Our government is incredibly grateful to the people of Australia for their endorsement at the last election, and we're working every day to make sure that Australians know we've got their backs.

Unfortunately, my electorate of Menzies has not always received the investment it deserves. We have a wonderful, hardworking community full of devoted volunteers, hardworking small-business owners, conscientious young people and hardworking families, and I'm committed to making sure we get our fair share of investments. We've done that through our local sporting clubs. Sporting clubs play such an important role in our community. They help our young people stay active and make sure that they're getting enough exercise, but they also provide a sense of community. Through the volunteers, which are often the parents of players, they provide a sense of community and the chance to give back to the community.

We're making a long-overdue investment in Bulleen Templestowe Basketball Club, at Sheahans Reserve. We've committed $3.5 million to upgrading the basketball stadium there. Basketball is absolutely booming in Melbourne's east, and that's especially the case with the women's game. When Bulleen Templestowe Basketball Club, the Bulleen Boomers, approached me early on in the election campaign, they told me how their female players, because they didn't have enough space to get changed, were getting changed in the car park before getting in for the games, that the change rooms they did have were pretty small—you wouldn't want to see a sweaty group of boys or girls getting changed in close proximity to each other there—and that the floor cleaner was in the same room, so it was badly in need of an upgrade.

This investment will go towards girls' change rooms to make sure that more of their female players have an appropriate place to get changed, and towards improving their general facilities, making sure that their courts are up to standard and safe for players to continue to play on. I acknowledge all the hard work and advocacy of their president, Derek Pangbourne, as well as committee members Mitch Burich and local legend Michelle Timms, who, as we know, has given so much to women's basketball not just in the local area but in Australia. Their advocacy meant that I was very proud to support this investment for both the Bulleen Boomers and the wider community—and all the local teams who come and play at the stadium as well.

I was also able to advocate successfully for an investment in the Box Hill United soccer club and their Sparks Reserve field—an investment of $3.925 million to upgrade their existing pitch to a synthetic pitch. That means that more of their players will be able to play for more of the year, that they're going to have more home games so their parents won't have to drive them back and forth long distances to play away games, and that they'll be able to train more of the year. Like basketball, soccer is growing and growing in Melbourne's east. Providing more people the opportunity to play the beautiful game will be a great benefit to the local community and to all the people who are involved in the club—people like George Petheriotis, the president, and Scott Findlay, who advocated so strongly for this much-needed upgrade. Both those commitments are taking place with support from the respective local councils—in particular Sparks Reserve, which has a commitment from Whitehorse council. They're at the stage where contracts are being signed. Those election commitments are progressing, and I look forward to seeing and following each stage of delivery.

We were also able to support some of our local arts organisations. We've got the Warrandyte arts and mechanics institute, located in the northern part of my electorate. They took me for a tour of their pottery studio, which is located in the old Warrandyte firehouse. This was one of the visits that illustrated how much need there was in the community for local investments. The back of the firehouse is made of wood and had been eaten by termites—so there were holes in the walls. As I was walking around with them, there were holes in the floor—I was a little bit afraid that my leg would go through—and that made a pretty good argument for making an investment in this space. They use the front of the old firehouse—a beautiful heritage-listed stone building—as their pottery studio. I was lucky enough to visit recently with the minister for infrastructure, Catherine King, and see the pottery group in action. They made some beautiful pieces that were drying in the kiln.

As well as, importantly, providing a creative outlet, it provides an opportunity for people to get together, talk about any issues they may be having in their lives, reduce social isolation and feel part of the wonderful Warrandyte arts community, which is very active. They hold regular plays, but they also hold all kinds of activities. They hold life-drawing classes. They've been trying to twist my arm to be a life-drawing model for a little bit, but I've been refusing them—it may not be the best move for a political career! But they're wonderful, active members of the community, and I'd like to acknowledge all the hard work of people like Grant Purdy, Bruce Turner, Marion Cooper and Andrea McMahon for their work with Warrandyte arts and their important advocacy in securing an investment of over $187,000 to upgrade the old Warrandyte firehouse.

Another electoral commitment that we've been able to make is to the five-ways intersection in Warrandyte which borders my good friend the member for Deakin's electorate. That is a $25 million commitment for planning and early works. Anyone who's been around to that intersection knows it's one of the most dangerous intersections in the electorate. It had a pretty high speed limit, with blind corners around school drop-off and pick-up areas. Around peak hour, it gets pretty congested, and people take some pretty dicey turns when the road is really busy. So this is a much-needed and overdue investment. Consultation in collaboration with the Victorian state government is now complete, with the local community being really invested in the outcome of this project. Many residents have shared their safety concerns about this notorious intersection. One of the positive outcomes from this already is that the speed limit in the area has been lowered to 60 kays an hour. We'll continue to work with the Victorian government to deliver on this important commitment.

One of the local commitments that I'm most proud of is the Box Hill Medicare mental health hub. We know that the mental health system has a lot of gaps in it. I'd like to get to a stage, as I've said before, where mental health is treated the same as physical health. When I speak to young people in my electorate, I hear a lot that mental health is one of the highest priorities for them. There's a missing middle in the mental health system for people whose conditions aren't so severe that they may need to go to hospital as an inpatient but are severe enough that they can't be managed. As well as that, we hear about long waiting lists to see counsellors. As you may know, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker Freelander, there are times when people won't put their hand up to go and see a counsellor or put their hand up to go and see a psychologist until their mental health reaches quite a severe stage. That delay of a few months or even weeks in being able to access help—let alone any cost barriers—means that some people may not get the help they need when they need it. A Medicare mental health hub will mean that there are free, walk-in, accessible mental health supports when people need them. I was really proud to announce that with Assistant Minister McBride. Work is now underway to establish that hub. I was out doorknocking on the weekend, letting people know about it. It's an investment in the local community that people have really welcomed. It's expected by the community to open late this year.

I was also proud to support some of our local community festivals with a $200,000 commitment, and those festivals have now been delivered. Just last month, I had the privilege of welcoming Minister Aly, the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, to the Manningham Chinese New Year Festival. This was the inaugural version of the festival, held in Jackson Court in Doncaster East—a wonderful local shopping strip and a great venue for our latest Chinese New Year festival. I live quite close to that area. I am someone who grew up in the area; we always used to go into the city in order to celebrate Chinese New Year. The fact that we can do this in our suburbs now really does mean a lot to me. It's good to see people being able to celebrate Chinese culture but also share that culture with the wider community. So I'm very grateful to the Jackson Court Traders Association and to President Con, whom I saw on the day of the festival. People commented that they hadn't seen Jackson Court so alive. There were lion dancers. There were stalls. The colour red was everywhere. There was the opportunity to do calligraphy. There were traditional Chinese musical instruments and a lot of different ways in which the local community could experience Chinese culture, including enjoying some delicious local food, and I think that's something that a lot of people enjoy. So I was very proud to be able to deliver that.

As well as that, we saw the Box Hill Chinese New Year Festival delivered. That's been running for a long time and it's become a real staple of the cultural calendar, not just locally but on a much broader scale. I think it's one of the best Chinese New Year festivals that we now have in Melbourne. Over 100,000 people get through there. It recognises not just Chinese culture; now there's also Korean culture and Vietnamese culture. Similarly, we were able to see some fantastic lion dances and traditional performances. I'm grateful to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Wong, for visiting that festival and sharing it with my local community. I'd also like to acknowledge all of the hard work of the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse. Bihong Wang, Richard Shi, Charley, Shaun and Tim and all the volunteers put in so much work. The festivals always go off without a hitch and look flawless and get bigger and bigger every year, but I know that's because of a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes, so full credit to the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse.

As well as that, we're also providing things at a national scale which are delivering for people in my electorate of Menzies. Of course, we went to the election promising that we would increase bulk-billing rates, making the biggest investment ever in Medicare in its 40-year history, and this is one of the areas in which we've been able to deliver most in terms of health care. Recent data shows that bulk-billing rates have increased to 81.4 per cent nationwide. This represents the largest quarterly increase in over 20 years outside of the pandemic period, and that's just since November, when the new bulk-billing measures came into effect.

There are now more than 3,400 bulk-billing practices across Australia and more than 96 per cent of Australians live within a 20-minute drive of a bulk-billing clinic. We know that primary health care is the most efficient form of health care. It's the most affordable and the cheapest form of health care, because if we address health issues sooner, then we know that they won't get worse and they won't cause a bigger cost in terms not only of the healthcare system but also of making sure that people are able to keep working and being productive members of the community. So this is an investment not just in health but in all Australian workers and all Australian families being able to access the health care they need when they need it. In my electorate, that's already yielded huge results in the last three months. Ten new bulk-billing clinics have opened in Menzies. This brings the total to 26, which is an increase of 67 per cent. This is affordable health care when people need it.

One of the other areas in which we've been able to deliver is $25 scripts for PBS listed medications. This is the lowest cost for PBS medications in 20 years. This is just another way in which we're making sure that people are treating their conditions early and they're getting the health care they need early, when they can manage it themselves, and we're also helping with cost-of-living relief, because we recognise that there has been pressure on the household budgets of Australian families and we want to make sure that we're addressing that.

I'm proud to be part of a government that's delivering for my community and delivering for everyday Australians. I commend this bill to the House.

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