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

It gives me great pleasure to rise and say a few words about the recent federal budget and not just how it impacts my community but how it impacts all regional communities. When we talk about infrastructure, when we talk about grants and when we talk about funding going to the regions, the one thing that I am very proud of in this budget is that it confirms the Labor government's approach towards transparency and towards ensuring that there is fair and equitable funding distributed across our regions.

The one thing that the previous speaker forgot to mention in his rant about when he was minister and how he allocated funding was that, yes, he did make the final call on where a lot of expenditure went but it went to electorates that were National green and Liberal blue. I am a regional MP; I've been the proud federal member for Bendigo for the past ten years. And, in his time as minister, despite meeting, despite lobbying and despite having multiple groups approach him, their applications went in and not one of their projects got funded, because we are considered a red seat. Yet, the moment that Labor came to government and restored some integrity and transparency to the grants process—surprise, surprise!—our electorate did well.

I am proud to stand here and say that the City of Greater Bendigo has been successful in receiving about $2 million to transform the Heathcote Civic Precinct. It has been awarded $2 million through the Growing Regions Program. This program was confirmed in the federal budget to continue going forward. Tomorrow, we will have our official announcement and launch of this project, where the city will step out how it will spend that funding in redeveloping and transforming the civic precinct. I'll have the opportunity to sit down with the mums and dads and young kids who are part of the story time which is run through the library. At the moment, it's kind of hidden down the back, and I'm really looking forward to the grant being able to open up that space. Heathcote is one of those towns that's slightly out of Bendigo but is part of the City of Greater Bendigo. And it's had a pretty tough couple of years. Every time we get big rain and then the flooding that occurs in our region, Heathcote gets cut off. So this project will be welcomed. It will really help to restore quite a bit of civic pride.

Last week, there was funding through the Growing Regions Program towards the Bendigo Foodshare Food Hub redevelopment. The state government had already contributed $1.4 million; a number of local businesses and not-for-profit organisations had come on board; and now the federal government has come on board with this final funding piece to help to make sure that this project is done properly. Bendigo Foodshare ensures that all of our welfare agencies receive the food that they need to help people who are experiencing food insecurity and food poverty—and, unfortunately, that need is growing. Bendigo Foodshare do a remarkable job. They have a team of 250 volunteers. They are central in ensuring that all of our food-relief agencies, as well as schools and any others who are distribution points, have the food that they need. It was wonderful to walk through the work that has been done—and not just with Bendigo Food Share. I also want to give a shout-out to the architects involved, Y2 Architecture, and also to Fairbrother, who are building this project, on the way in which they've brought businesses on board to see this project become a reality. And I know that this new infrastructure will be welcomed.

These are just two of the projects that have received the backing of this government since we've been elected. Community infrastructure is vital to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our growing communities.

Bendigo is one of those electorates which, whilst named after a big regional city, is made up of many small towns as well. The Bendigo electorate is a growing area that has a lot of potential and opportunity. We have a growing manufacturing sector, with not just food manufacturing but also advanced manufacturing.

Recently, I had the great opportunity to go out and catch up with the team at Hofmann Engineering. Our Bendigo facility is their largest manufacturing facility on the east coast. Most people would know Hofmann because of the work that they do in WA. In my meeting with them, I learned about their journey. They are transitioning from a lot of heavy metal manufacturing for the mining sector, the coal sector, into more renewable energy projects and other projects. And they have that capacity. They have this great story about how they recruit locally and grow their own, working with our schools and our universities to recruit local people to become part of their team. It is great to see how they are modernising and innovating and are recruiting locally.

There are some other great announcements that have happened in my electorate recently. I'll tell you of one—a sad story that has become a positive story—and that is the support for our dragons at our Golden Dragon Museum. Many might remember that I've spoken at length in this place about the beautiful history of our Chinese imperial dragons in Bendigo. Loong is the oldest intact processional dragon known to be left in the world. He was at the Federation parade, so he has existed and paraded in Bendigo for longer than this place has existed—for longer than we've had a federal parliament and a Commonwealth of Australia. That is how significant Loong is. Sun Loong, which is the longest imperial dragon, paraded for a good chunk of time in our electorate. It too is a much loved icon of our region.

Unfortunately, these two dragons as well as others were damaged recently after vandalism occurred. People from Melbourne came up and attacked a number of cultural and religious institutions and artefacts. I stand here with my community to condemn that vandalism and to say, without any shadow of a doubt, that it is not acceptable for people to drive into a region and just attack religious, community or cultural artefacts. I want to say that we all stand together. We have our multifaith, interfaith council, and whether it is people at the Great Stupa and at the Catholic Cathedral or our veteran community and the graves that were vandalised, this kind of attack is not on. I do want to recognise the leadership of our community in coming together to say, 'This was not us, and we stand together.'

We have a big clean-up job to do. The fact that someone could come and attack so many cultural and religiously significant artefacts in our town has shocked people. I really want to acknowledge, out of this horrible moment, the leadership in our community and the people coming together. I want to thank all of those involved. To help with the work that is now going on, our government has announced $100,000 to help restore and repair our dragons.

The budget itself is a responsible budget. It is something that really will help people in my region and ease the cost of living. There are tax cuts for every worker in my electorate. There are 66,000 people in Bendigo who will receive a tax cut. The $300 energy rebate for all households will make a real difference to people when they pay their energy bills over the winter and summer. There is an increase to the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance—a further 10 per cent. Just over 6,000 households in Bendigo will benefit from this.

We're cutting $3 billion from student debt. There are more than three million Australians with a HECS debts and close to 17,000 in my electorate. I want to acknowledge the people who've spoken to me about this since we announced it and how it will help. These are people who aren't at uni today. These are people my age. These are people in their 30s and 40s who are almost at the end of paying off their HECS debt. They can't believe that they still have a HECS debt because of the nature of our higher education system. I do really welcome a number of the reforms that are in the accord and the changes they will bring going forward.

Another big one at that will benefit people in my electorate is the freezing of PBS medication for the next five years for pensioners and concession card holders, including people on a seniors card. This is real cost-of-living relief that will help people. People have spoken to me about the budget since it was handed down during my various listening posts and at community events I've gone to. They recognise that it's responsible—that they could have had a bit more help, but this was measured, and it's the budget that we need at this time. So I really do want to recognise how the Treasurer has found the right balance in this budget. We are helping where we can, knowing that there's more that we could do, but not wanting to put that pressure on the Reserve Bank around interest rates. I want to commend the budget, and I encourage all those in this place to think about the change that it will make in our communities.

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