Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Talking about small business, I'll remind the member opposite that it was them, their government, that actually removed the small business asset write-off until we stood up and fought and got it back.

Today, I rise as the proud member for McEwen, the community and the place where I've lived most of my adult life. As a local to our area, I was affected by the endless cuts and empty promises by successive Liberal-National governments. I spend every day driving around the roads in our electorate, spending time in our communities and watching my grandkids grow up there. I know the devastating impact the years of neglect by the Liberals have had on our community. The coalition was too busy funding things like North Sydney swimming pools under regional grants or carpark rort schemes to look after our community. Being a local, I've had many conversations about the need for infrastructure and ongoing investment in our community, unlike the coalition, who treat our electorate as a place to put their seat-shopping candidates from outside McEwen. They drop in, make promises, fly in, fly out, go away, and then nothing happens.

Whether it was the deterioration of our roads or the collapse of government services—Victoria was cut down to seven per cent of infrastructure funding—this shows the record of the previous coalition government's inability to look after and work for our people. No-one will be better off under a coalition government. That's just a fact. With the Liberals being antiworker, with a history of not being proactive or taking responsibility, their ideology did irreversible harm to our communities, simply because they did not do their job.

Since the Albanese Labor government has been elected, our area is finally getting the federal investment we need. In this term alone, we have seen record investment into the electorate. We've seen a massive commitment by the federal Albanese Labor government to create safer roads within our community, whether it be $90 million for Watson Street ramps, $280 million for the Yan Yean Road stage 2 or another $900 million for Camerons Lane interchange Beveridge Intermodal Precinct, which means jobs in our community. I'm continuing to work with local councils to push the Victorian state government to promptly use this funding to deliver these projects. As someone who does a lot of driving in the electorate, I get the frustration about the quality of our road, and I look forward to seeing the federal funding make roads safer, after nine years of neglect.

We've seen mobile phone towers go up in Donnybrook, Wollert, Bulleen, Yuroke, Goldie, Woodend and two in Gisborne South, filling crucial gaps in connectivity within our community, particularly in times of disaster. I remember the coalition government making multiple appeals for ministers to look past the politics and see the real need for this funding. We even secured coalition agreements that got killed in their multiple leadership fights, leaving our community at risk. We are delivering on our electorate commitments, with $15 million to Macedon Ranges Sports Precinct, $5.5 million for Mitchell Shire roads, $5.5 million for Macedon Ranges roads, $1.5 million for the Doreen Splash Park, $1.5 million for Diamond Creek Outdoor Pool and half a million dollars for the Lower Greenhills reserve upgrade. This scratches the surface of what our government is doing, including restoring doctors' payments to make it cheaper and easier to see a doctor.

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