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

It's been a great summer in central Victoria and in the Bendigo electorate. We've had a number of great funding announcements for awesome projects through January, and I want to take a moment to share those with the House. In early January, straight after the New Year's break, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Hon. Pat Conroy, came to Bendigo to announce a further $100 million contract for Bendigo Thales to build more Bushmasters. This is on top of the $160 million announced in 2023 and the $45 million announced in 2024—a combined investment of over $300 million which helps secure jobs at the site.

Something I didn't share at the time was that, prior to us coming to government, on the eve of the last federal election, Thales met with me to say the site was at risk of closure. They had no work locked in for the future, making their entire workforce redundant and leaving hundreds of workers and families without a job. Our government has invested in these contracts, saved the site and secured the long-term sustainability for these vital defence jobs, producing a product that our army needs and the rest of the world needs—the iconic Bushmaster. It not only is accredited to saving Australian lives but is doing its bit in Ukraine and over 10 other countries. This is the kind of smart investment that our government is doing, working with industry and business to deliver what we need. I'm proud to stand here today to say that the site has a future, and it's thanks to this government.

But that's not the only announcement that we made in January in my electorate. We also announced funding for Marong, a growth suburb of Bendigo, through the Housing Support Program. The City of Greater Bendigo made an application through the Housing Support Program for funding to upgrade sewerage works. I understand that sewerage may not be the most sexy project that you can announce, but it's critical. It's the most practical way that our government could support a city with growth pressures. Thanks to Labor and through this fund, $11.3 million from the government's Housing Support Program will go to the City of Greater Bendigo to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure in the region. That will allow an extra 2,400-ish homes to be built in the community. Included in that is at least 300 social and community houses within that.

This is a practical way that our government is helping to achieve the goal of 1.2 million homes in the next five years. We're giving the money to local government, who have gone through a competitive tender process. The top projects are awarded the funding to help get the houses on the ground sooner. It's not being passed on to developers. It's not then being passed on to the first home buyers or the homebuyers. This kind of fund is making a difference when it comes to the housing in our community.

One of the other projects that we announced funding for was the most recent round of the rPPP, the regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. I'm so pleased that a small shire in my electorate, Mount Alexander Shire, will receive just over $12 million from our government to transform public space in the heart of its CBD area. The project connects the CBD centre to the railway precinct. It will include local Indigenous art into the streetscape, a very iconic Gold Rush era streetscape, but it will also improve accessibility and help solve some of the challenges that we have with access in the area. Mechanics Lane is one of the areas that will receive a lot of attention. It is already the heart of Castlemaine, but it is a bit dangerous, so this will help support the transformation of this community space. It's already the home of our festivals, and it's where we have our community house, our library and the Phee Broadway Theatre, as well as a number of other important community buildings.

These are just three of the funding announcements that our government has made about my electorate in January alone. When you have a competitive, transparent grants process, regional centres do well. The city of Greater Bendigo and Mount Alexander have not missed out. Bendigo Thales has not missed out. This is the kind of smart investment our government is doing in the regions.