Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make the House aware of the completion of another important project in the suburb of Croydon in my electorate of Deakin. The last time I spoke in the House on local projects was to mark the completion of the Springvale Road Rail Separation. This $140 million project, jointly funded with an $80 million federal Labor election commitment, in just six short months of construction has transformed the worst congestion spot in Melbourne with the complete separation of road and rail—a project that we saw the Liberal Party attempt to pull the funding from in this very place on 1 June last year after more than a decade of promising and then failing to deliver anything at all to solve the problem. We now have a smooth, uncongested section of road thanks to the Rudd government, which ended years of false promises by the Liberals to fix this project. All the stunts and the fingers of blame pointed at the state government came to what? Zero; zip; nothing—no work and no practical solution for Springvale Road in 12 long years of the Howard Liberal government.

Today I want to talk about another project that, although not on the massive scale of fixing Springvale Road, is very important for the suburb of Croydon at the eastern end of my electorate. On Friday, 19 February, I attended the official opening of the newly refurbished Keystone Hall, a community facility that is used primarily by the Croydon Little Athletics and the Croydon U3A. This was yet another election commitment made by Labor in 2007 that has now been delivered. In total, $306,000 was invested in this project to refurbish the local hall, Keystone Hall, with new toilets, a kitchen, office space and a refurbishment of the exterior and paths. The balance of the funds, aside from the $150,000 of federal funds, was a contribution from Maroondah City Council of $150,000 and a further $6,000 from the town park committee.

On the day, I met with members of the Croydon Little Athletics and the U3A, and they were very enthusiastic about their new facilities and rooms. Croydon Little Aths has been operating since 1969 and, with 300-plus members, provides an important opportunity for boys and girls to train, race and compete in athletics. The committee members and other volunteers give their time to provide this opportunity for the children in Croydon and the surrounding areas. I know these new facilities will be put to good use, and I commend this project and the impact it will have. U3A Croydon has its office space in Keystone Hall, and volunteers make sure the office is open and available for residents to drop in for a cup of tea and find out all about the courses, events and activities provided by U3A. The volunteers and committee members that I met with were also very pleased about moving into their freshly updated hall.

This project was delivered in partnership with the Maroondah City Council, and I want to personally thank the council for co-contributing to the funding of this project. I especially note the support of the current Mayor of Maroondah, Alex Makin; the previous Mayor of Maroondah, Peter Gurr; and the mayor prior to that, Tony Dib.

This project is just one of the many projects in the Croydon area that are underway or completed at the moment. On Thursday, 18 February, I visited the Croydon campus of Swinburne TAFE to view the progress of the new green trades school, which has been fully funded by a $10 million grant from the Rudd government. The Minister for Employment Participation, Mark Arbib, was there to inspect the progress, and we were both impressed with the new building and the facilities that will soon be available for local students to learn the green trades we so desperately need in the construction industry. Learning these skills will provide a fantastic career for any young student, and this new facility will enable many more students to gain these trade skills and enhance their future employment prospects.

Another local project in Croydon is the popular outdoor Croydon Memorial Pool. It was only a few years ago that the decision was made by the then council to close this pool, but the local community organised, fought and won a grassroots campaign to save their pool. The Rudd government, as part of a 2007 election commitment, provided $200,000 of funding to install a new filtration plant so that the pool could continue to provide a valuable service to the local community. Not only Croydon but many surrounding suburbs benefit, because 50-metre outdoor pools are getting harder and harder to find right across Melbourne.

The Croydon Leisure and Aquatic Centre has received $400,000 in funding—again following on from a 2007 Labor election commitment—to install a backwash filtration plant that has the effect of saving over four million litres of drinking water every year. And $295,000 of funding has been provided to the Maroondah City Council as the major part of a $351,000 project at the Dorset Golf Club in Croydon. This work, a joint project of the federal government and Maroondah City Council through the Community Infrastructure Program, will increase the size of the community facilities and install new environmentally friendly amenities. This project will install solar panels to generate electricity for use by the course and install a new water tank and more water-sensitive facilities to help reduce the amount of water the course uses. A new driving range is also included and will be very much welcomed by all those that use the course, whilst the new, larger community facilities will help the course to continue the contributions it makes to that community. (Time expired)