Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After five years of asking, and sometimes begging, the City of Greater Bendigo has finally been told by this government that their key project, the upgrade of the Bendigo Airport terminal, may receive funding. It took Labor standing up to announce funding for this project for the government to finally come to the table and say, 'Yes, we'll fund it.' The clock is ticking on this government, having deprioritised and not considered the project for over five years, they've probably got five weeks to deliver the money to the City of Greater Bendigo before they go into caretaker mode

So I am here to say to the government: hurry up. The people of the Bendigo region have been waiting too long. The upgrade of this terminal is critical if we want to receive more flights and have more airlines flying in and out of Bendigo. In a post-pandemic COVID recovery, our local tourism operators, hotels and businesses want this upgrade to happen and happen quickly so that we can encourage more airlines to fly to Bendigo.

The Sydney-Bendigo route by Qantas is incredibly popular, and I believe that other destinations will be just as popular. People want to come to our region, and air travel is one way they can do it. So, hurry up, government: before you go into caretaker mode, deliver the money as you've promised to the City of Greater Bendigo for this project.