Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It has been a busy few weeks in the electorate of Aston. My electorate has had a flurry of ministerial visits which I would like to highlight to the House. We were delighted to have the Minister for Education, the Hon. Jason Clare, come out to meet with some of our wonderful and dedicated public school principals when we held a principals' roundtable at Wantirna South Primary School. This gave our primary and secondary school principals the opportunity to discuss some important issues with and ask questions of the federal education minister, which they really appreciated. I say thank you to all the principals who attended on the day. It was so great to have them involved in such a topical discussion.

Ensuring everyone has access to quality health care is a top priority for the Albanese Labor government and for me as well as the member for Aston, which is why the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon. Mark Butler, and I visited Knox General Practice and Family Medicine in Bayswater. This is a practice where Aston locals can access bulk-billing, experienced doctors and same-day appointments. The health minister and I spoke with them about how this government has tripled the bulk-billing incentive, which is the largest investment in bulk-billing in Medicare's 40 year history, and how that's helping them and their patients. This policy is all about making it easier for people, including those in Aston, to visit a bulk-billing GP and it's to assist them with cost-of-living relief.

It was great to have the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, come out for a visit and see our wonderful multicultural community in Aston. Together we visited Atul, Dikesh and other families and members from the Hindu temple Shree Swaminarayan in Boronia, who do incredible work in our community and provide a welcoming spiritual environment for many local Hindus as well as many Knox locals.

Then we were off to the fantastic Chinese Association of Victoria, CAV, in Wantirna, where the minister and I had a game of table tennis with the CAV president, BC, and their secretary, Dominic. We also had a tour of the CAV Chinese School, where students of all backgrounds attend and learn Chinese as a second language. This school has had some recent federal funding as part of the community language schools grants program. They were very happy to receive this funding. It was an honour to visit CAV with Minister Giles and discuss all of the incredible work that CAV does in our community.

We've also had the Attorney-General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus, come and visit Aston. We spent over an hour with the brilliant legal team at Eastern Community Legal Centre in Boronia talking about the work that they do for people in need in our community. Then, following that, the Attorney-General and I visited the Knox School in Wantirna South, sitting down with legal studies students as well as several year 12 student leaders. They spent an hour with the Attorney-General, asked some excellent questions and gained a greater insight into the world of civics, law and lawmaking. It was such an exciting afternoon for the students and their teachers.

I was also honoured to host a women's working group with the Minister for Finance, Minister for Women and Minister for the Public Service, Senator Katy Gallagher, alongside the mayor of Knox, Councillor Jude Dwight. Local councillors and representatives from some of our local community organisations who assist women across the Knox community were in attendance as well at Swinburne's Wantirna South campus. From discussing what's in the federal budget for women to the work we are doing to prevent violence against women and children, there was a great deal of important discussion throughout the evening. I am glad I was able to facilitate the working group.

Lastly, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Catherine King, came to visit us in Boronia and announced that a new funding agreement has been signed for the $5 million Tormore Reserve upgrade and its new pavilion. Our government understands that local sporting clubs are at the heart of so many communities, investing in local communities like Boronia and delivering more modern, accessible infrastructure for the future. This investment will help deliver a new pavilion to ensure that the Boronia Hawks Football Netball Club, both seniors and juniors, as well as the Boronia Cricket Club will have the facilities they deserve, including the recreation reserve and sportsgrounds, delivering better playing surfaces, new scoreboards, lighting upgrades and new change room facilities. Along with $1.2 million from the Victorian state government, this combined $6.2 million project is fully funded and ready to be delivered by Knox City Council. I look forward to turning the sod when this project officially starts.

House adjourned at 20:00

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