I rise to speak in support of Labor’s state budget, a budget that looks after people, looks after our future and does what we said we would do. Outlined in these appropriation bills is our plan to grow jobs, to strengthen our economy and to deliver the services, supports and projects that matter to Victorians. It is a plan that we took to the Victorian people last year: a plan for better hospitals, world-class schools, the road and rail our growing state needs and a bright, sustainable state now and into the future. We have not wasted a moment getting cracking on all of this. Our budget funds every election commitment we made. It continues to address the challenges that Victorians across our communities are facing, and it puts in place the responsible targeted measures we need to stabilise our budget following the pandemic.
Speaking to residents in my own community of Northcote, many with small businesses, many in insecure work and housing, many working on the front lines of our health system, the overwhelming sentiment has been that our government acted decisively to save businesses, save jobs and save lives – actions which did not come without cost but which were necessary. I have heard those opposite continually take digs at these measures, and we all witnessed and saw their tactics during the very depths of the pandemic. How did that work out for them?
A member: Very badly.
Kat THEOPHANOUS: Thank you. I mean, seriously, God help us if they are the ones left to make the decisions, those difficult decisions that need to be made to protect Victorians in our time of need. The truth is that the Victorian economy has recovered following the pandemic and jobs growth has been strong. But we are now facing the pressure of high inflation and rising interest rates. That is why addressing cost of living forms a critical component of our budget, exemplified perhaps most dramatically through our investment in the State Electricity Commission. Many Victorians remember with fondness the SEC. It meant a fair deal on your power prices and good, stable jobs for workers. That is why Labor is bringing it back – to drive down power bills and create thousands of jobs in renewable government-owned energy. An initial $1 billion investment in the SEC will deliver 4.5 gigawatts of power – the equivalent replacement capacity of Loy Yang A – through renewable energy projects. But bringing back the SEC will not just mean more renewable energy, lower bills and reduced carbon emissions, it will also create 59,000 jobs – jobs that are secure and meaningful, jobs that mean being able to support a family. I cannot overstate the amount of enthusiasm and excitement for the SEC there is in my community and how many conversations I have had with constituents about the possibilities that this opens up for Victoria, and now with this budget we are delivering the funding to make it a reality.
From our very youngest Victorians, who have just been born, to those now in retirement, this is a budget that is carefully designed for Victorians at all stages of life. In my electorate I am incredibly proud that we are investing $15 million to deliver a new Northcote early parenting centre, where local parents – and their children – will be able to access the crucial support they need in those first years of becoming a parent. Because parenting can be tough – really tough. At Northcote’s future early parenting centre, families will be able to come and stay in their own private rooms and get the care they need for free. Over several days and nights highly skilled practitioners will work with them on strategies to support them and their child, tailored to their unique needs. Whether it is sleep and settling, feeding, bonding, mental health or positive parenting, the multidisciplinary team will be there to support them and build skills and confidence. It is an extraordinarily successful model – one that I have seen up close at Footscray’s Tweddle and one that as the member for Northcote I have fought to be made available to families in the inner north. We know that the first thousand days are critical to the development and wellbeing of babies and toddlers and to the bond and connection they have with their families. To all the local parents and organisations who have been passionate partners on that journey with me, thank you.
This is just one aspect of how our budget supports families and children. Our budget also funds landmark reforms like free kinder and 50 new government-owned childcare centres – reforms that not only give kinder kids the best start in life but give parents and especially mums the choice to go back to work or study without facing the prohibitive cost of care. Whether it is kinder, primary school, secondary school or TAFE, our government believes deeply and fundamentally in the value and opportunity of a great education. In my first term here in Parliament I made it my mission to ensure that local schools in my community saw the investment they needed. I am so proud to say that since 2018 we have seen over $100 million invested across schools and kinders in the inner north and that we are continuing this momentum with funding in this budget to kickstart planning on a major modernisation of Thornbury Primary. It is an exciting time for this unique little school in the heart of our suburbs as they have also just completed their inclusive playground and finalised designs for a major bathroom refurb. I cannot wait to see the heights that they get to with this new investment.
As students grow I believe the most important thing we can provide them with is genuine pathways. It gives me great heart to know that the students of Northcote High, Thornbury High and other schools in the inner north will have access to new clean energy VET pathways, clean energy worker training centres and an SEC centre of training excellence to develop the skills and secure jobs our workforce needs as we become a renewable energy powerhouse. And to grow the workforce of the future for essential sectors such as health care, we are expanding free TAFE and incentivising priority courses like nursing and midwifery. Indeed through this budget we will be able to provide free university and specialist training for over 17,000 nurses and midwives. We do all this for two key reasons: (1) because we said we would and (2) because our government knows that calling ourselves the Education State is a commitment that never stops. We know that investing in education builds a better future for all Victorians.
As Victoria’s first Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health, I am honoured to be working with our fantastic Minister for Health on the critical reforms in women’s health that are coming, and I want to touch on them for a moment. Women and girls make up more than half of our population, yet for too long our health has been under-researched, under-diagnosed and left untreated. Whether it is debilitating period pain, endometriosis, PCOS, rheumatoid arthritis or the symptoms of menopause, not being understood, not being taken seriously or not being believed is trauma in itself. No woman should have to go through that kind of trauma simply for seeking care.
This week we took a major step forward in our work to transform the way we treat women’s health in Victoria with our Labor budget committing $154 million to dramatically expand and improve services. This builds on the important investments we have already made, including funding Victoria’s first clinic focused on women’s heart health and our state’s first ever sexual and reproductive health phone line. I am thrilled to share that this budget includes funding to establish 20 comprehensive women’s health clinics across our state. They will provide free, comprehensive care to support Victorians experiencing conditions like endometriosis, pelvic pain, PCOS, perimenopause and menopause.
These clinics will give women access to specialists, including gynaecologists and urologists, alongside specialist nursing and allied health support all in one spot, making it easier and faster to access the world-class care that women deserve. Just last weekend I joined the Premier and the Minister for Health at the Royal Women’s Hospital, where their women’s clinic will increase from one day a week to five days a week. We heard from Endo Warriors’ Kat Stanley and Northcote local Fi Macrae, who shared their long and difficult journeys towards diagnosis and treatment and how much these reforms will mean to generations of Victorian women and girls.
The budget not only invests in these 20 women’s health clinics but includes an Aboriginal-led clinic and a mobile clinic for remote communities. There will be an expansion of our sexual and reproductive health hubs from 11 to 20. We are supporting the creation of a women’s health research institute to bridge the knowledge gap on women’s health and an inquiry into women’s pain management to hear directly from Victorian women about improving patient care. There will be over 10,000 additional laparoscopies to treat debilitating endometriosis, more support for women to access public fertility care and free pads and tampons in public places. This is a budget for women.
These are just some of the enormous reforms that will make a real difference to Victorian lives, yet they do not happen without our hardworking health workforce. That is why our budget also invests another $150 million to increase support for nurses and midwives, a female-dominated workforce heavily affected by stress, fatigue and burnout. It is just one part of our $4.9 billion investment into our health system more broadly, including upgrades at the Northern and Austin hospitals as part of our hospital plan for the north.
I want to speak about mental health for a moment. Since the royal commission we have been getting on with the job of building a modern, accessible mental health system for every Victorian. Now I can say that Northcote will be a key part of that story, with a commitment for a Northcote mental health and wellbeing local service as part of this budget. This will be a front door to public mental health services. It will mean free, easy-to-access care and support without necessarily needing a referral from a GP, which can be difficult at the best of times. I am so proud to have fought for this for the inner north consistently over the last four years, and to see it now funded and becoming a reality is a little bit surreal. I know how much this will mean to people living in my community who are struggling or to families trying to support their loved ones. We all know someone who has dealt with mental health issues. This is something that pervades our community, and now Northcote locals will have a service that they can rely on. There is nothing more important than getting the care you need when you need it.
There are so many wonderful things in the budget for the inner north, and perhaps I cannot get to them all, but there is funding in the budget for sports infrastructure, for clubs like Northcote City Football Club, for their facilities at John Cain Memorial Park. The Premier came down to John Cain Memorial Park during the election campaign and spoke with the club and made a commitment that we would fund their club for $500,000 for female-friendly facilities that they desperately need. They are a growing and popular club in the inner north. We have delivered in full through this budget on that commitment. I am very proud of that one, and I know how much it will mean to that community there. It was great to celebrate with them recently, actually last week, joining their women’s clinic, and I had a kick of the ball. I cannot say that my soccer skills are up there with Sam Kerr’s, but I had a crack, and it felt really good to be out there with other women having a go and getting involved, and this funding will absolutely make a difference to other women making that choice to get involved in this club.
We are also boosting our hardworking neighbourhood houses. We all know how much our neighbourhood houses do. They run on the smell of an oily rag, and yet they make it stretch and they pull in volunteers. We have got several in the inner north who are receiving funding through this budget to expand on their service offering to make sure they are reaching the most vulnerable people in our communities. Those things make a real difference, and while it might not be millions of dollars, it is funding that these community organisations are using for the betterment of the people that need it right there in our suburbs. I want to thank Jika Jika Community Centre, Bridge Darebin and the Alphington Community Centre. I also want to acknowledge that we have got funding in the budget for people experiencing family violence. We have got funding for our multicultural and multifaith communities.
We have got funding for open spaces like the Merri Common, which is a piece of land next to Merri station. This piece of land needs an uplift, and we have funded a $1.5 million uplift to this piece of land next to Merri station so that the community can use it better. We will be consulting very closely with our neighbours around that patch to get the very best outcome for that one.
We are also funding more protections for our beautiful, precious waterways, the Darebin Creek and the Merri Creek, through a $10 million fund. That will be important funding to ensure that they thrive, that we can regenerate them and that we can ensure that the friendship groups that support those creeks have the resources they need to continue doing the job that they do. We have got funding for a neighbourhood battery in Darebin, which I am very excited about, and we will have more to say on that very soon.
These investments into our state and into our future are critically important. They are the things that matter. They are the things that we promised to Victorians. They mean we can continue the momentum, delivering a brighter future for the inner north not with words but with real action. I commend these bills to the house.
