Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): It is a pleasure to stand here and speak on the take-note motion, which is for ultimately what is an extraordinary budget—a budget that has been delivered by the Andrews Labor government, a budget for all Victorians. This is of course the fifth budget that the government has handed down, though the first that I have had the honour of being a part of. At a time when politics around the country and around the world may not give people the hope and security they deserve, this budget and this great state of Victoria shines as a beacon, because this is a budget about keeping promises. It is a budget about delivering, and it is fundamentally a budget about fairness. It is of course unfortunate that the phrase 'keeping promises’ is so seldom made in reference to anything remotely political, but here in Victoria we are changing that, and we are setting a new standard for being true to what we say and delivering with real action on our commitments. We are not a party of words. We are not a party of illusory policies with no basis in reality. We are a party of action. And it is tangible, funded action that we are delivering in each and every page of this extraordinary budget. It fills me with happiness to be able to say to my constituents in Northcote: this is a budget for you. Indeed this budget delivers on each and every one of the election commitments for my community, whether that be the $1.5 million for the Fronditha aged-care facility, the $150 000 for the Darebin Falcons, the new pocket park, the dog park or of course our schools. As a candidate, before the November election I stood with the Minister for Education outside Wales Street Primary School in Thornbury to announce a commitment of $4.1 million to modernise their ageing buildings. Well, here it is, delivered as promised in this budget, and I could not be happier for this incredible school community who worked with me to make this happen. Indeed for parents in my electorate this budget and this government hears you loud and clear. We hear you are pressed for time as you balance work and the kids. We hear you are working hard to pay the bills, the rent, the mortgage and for doctor’s visits. We hear you fighting for quality education, health care and tailored support for your kids to give them the best start in life. We hear you, and that is why this budget is delivering landmark reforms for parents and children, including the rollout of our baby bundles for new bubs, the rollout of universal three-year-old kinder, the rollout of free dental care for students and the rollout of new early parenting centres. Indeed for the good people of Northcote, in particular for parents and children, this extraordinary budget goes above and beyond. It not only delivers funding for Wales Street Primary School in Thornbury but also secures $7 million for Fairfield Primary School and directs $14.1 million to Alphington Primary School. These two upgrades will mean 400 additional students will have a spot in their local schools as these suburbs grow and we welcome more families. It means a brand-new competition-grade gym for Alphington primary, along with new buildings and classrooms, and we will work with the school to make sure that open space is maximised on their small footprint. At Fairfield this government has already invested $2.5 million for the first stage of upgrades completed earlier this year, which included a brand-new two-storey building. This additional $7 million will mean the second stage of works can begin, including new classrooms at the Wingrove Street site. I do not have to tell the people of Fairfield and Alphington—the 3078 postcode where I grew up—what this collective $21 million in infrastructure funding will mean for their community. They have been under pressure from so many angles, with rapid development putting a strain on services and infrastructure already, let alone with the 5000 new residents expected at the Amcor development site. This is about futureproofing our community. It is about investing in our futures. And nothing represents our futures better than our kids. This is truly a Labor budget. It is a budget that continues to drive economic growth by delivering on projects that increase the capacity of our economy and the capacity of our people. As the economic headwinds shift, now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal. Why? Because that is what we promised the Victorian people and because it is the right thing to do. Those opposite would have you believe that over the last decade the job of managing our economy was easy. They would have you believe that the global financial crisis never happened. They would have you believe that the best thing governments can do is to maintain the status quo. But we take a different approach. We take the approach that you can manage the finances and you can use those finances to invest in people. We take the view that our people, our communities, our families, our workers are our asset, not a liability, not a cost. Our people are the most valuable asset we have, and that is why we invest in our assets. This is a budget for the people of Victoria, not in spite of them. It is a budget with a heart. That is why we are investing a record $11.7 billion in Victoria’s health care and hospitals, including new dedicated emergency departments for children, because we know our kids need calm and compassion in those toughest of moments. It is why we are upgrading our TAFE campuses and backing in our visionary free TAFE program so that more young people have the opportunity to get the qualifications they need for the jobs they want, and for some to break the cycle of disadvantage. In this budget, which I am incredibly proud to speak on, my community is also benefitting from game-changing statewide announcements in mental health, solar homes and visionary transport infrastructure. And on that last point I want to add that before I was elected this government made commitments to my community. It committed to getting rid of the Grange Road level crossing. It committed to building the new Chandler Highway bridge. Despite opposition on both fronts from the Greens in my area, we made those projects happen, and what extraordinary projects they are. It is not easy to deliver bold projects like these when you have a vocal minority party that is hell-bent on being a spoiler rather than actually backing in what is best for local people. They will do whatever they can to divide the community, spread fear and uncertainty because they know that is all they can do. They know they cannot deliver a single thing for the people of Northcote and so all they have is division. We are not about that. We are not naysayers; we are doers. We said we would deliver Grange Road, we said we would deliver the Chandler, and that is exactly what we have done. This Labor government is fundamentally overhauling and reshaping transport in our state in a way we have never seen before. From small projects to large projects, we are investing in transport, and in the process we are creating thousands of jobs and giving thousands of apprentices valuable training opportunities. This Labor government may be considered brave. It may be considered brave because many of the projects that we are delivering for such a long time were considered just too hard. I speak of the Metro Tunnel, a project that was the vision of the Brumby government and that was shelved for four years by those across the chamber. I speak of the airport rail link, in the too-hard basket for decades. I speak of the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that will transform the way we move around our city and that probably should have been built 30 years ago. I speak of the North East Link; there is a reason it is referred to as the missing link. I speak of the West Gate Tunnel, which will deliver a vital alternative to the West Gate Bridge, and of course I speak in my own community of the Chandler Highway bridge. These are all projects that were just too hard. They required hard work and they required a fight. As the Chandler Highway bridge nears completion, we now have new transport infrastructure commitments for Northcote and Preston—that is, the removal of not just the Bell Street level crossing but another three dangerous and congested level crossings that impact the way locals move around our suburbs. The boom gates at Bell Street, Oakover Road, Murray Road and Cramer Street will all be gone as part of this mammoth plan to open up the suburb of Preston. The Mernda rail line will be raised over these roads and will deliver incredible new open space and better local connections for the community. It will also deliver a brand-new Bell railway station, which is sorely needed, and I look forward to working with the member for Preston on delivering this for our constituents. This $6.6 million project is of course just one of the visionary infrastructure projects that this budget delivers for Victorians. This government does not shy away from projects that are too hard. We do not um and ah. We get on with it, because we know that, while they will take some time, they will make a huge difference to our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. It gives me great pleasure to talk on this budget. It is a budget with a heart. It is a budget for all Victorians. It is a budget for every single resident of my electorate of Northcote. I congratulate the Premier and the Treasurer on this outstanding budget, which now reverberates across so many lives.