“I rise to speak about the community where I grew up, somewhere that will always have a special place in my heart: Alphington.

Our house was just streets away from the Darebin Parklands. We knew all our neighbours. We knew the local milk bar owner. Since then a lot has changed.

There are new buildings, new roads, more families. But the more things change in Alphington, the more they stay the same.

This is a close-knit community built around hubs like the bowls club, the farmers’ market, the parklands, the community centre and of course Alphington Primary School.

In 2014 the school was promised funding for a second campus at the Amcor paper mill site. Over the past five years this community has been so patient and so understanding. They have endured serious local traffic issues, some as a result of the Chandler Highway upgrade and some from the sheer pace of development.

They have accommodated more students with limited open space. This has not come without challenges. In the intervening period the developer’s proposal for the Amcor site has made a campus there less and less appealing, and we heard all the reasons when the community held a consultation late last year.

So today it fills me with excitement and anticipation to say that $14.1 million will be invested into the current Alphington Primary School site to modernise it and increase its capacity.

To the school community, let me say this: be excited. We now embark on an incredible journey and I will make sure you are there every step of the way. Together, with this funding, we will design a school campus that takes into account the very real issues I know you are grappling with and we will build a primary school suited to the unique character of our beloved Alphington.