Bill Debate - Appropriation (2023-2024) Bill 2023

BILL DEBATE.

‘APPROPRIATION (2023-2024) BILL 2023’.

Thursday, 22 June 2023.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (15:02):

I rise to speak on the take-note motion on the 2023–24 Budget Papers.

It is an opportunity for Members to speak to the government’s financial management of the state and the allocation of funding.

This most recent Budget was tagged by the government as ‘Doing what matters’. What struck me when I first received a copy of the Budget and opened the Budget Papers was how much the government has chosen to ignore parts of the community. I will speak about financial management later, but I do want to raise the point that the government has chosen to ignore so many important community issues. As the Member for Brighton I represent Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood, Hampton and Hampton East, and there are so many issues in our community that are being ignored.

Before the Budget I wrote to the Premier personally, and the first issue that I spoke to was the issue of community safety. It is an issue that has been raised over the last year. The Brighton community has spoken out about safety issues in our community – aggravated burglaries, home invasions in our community.

When those issues were first raised the government and the Premier himself victim-blamed one of the women in my community who raised them. He effectively said that she did not understand data on crime and that she should understand data better. Well, what we have seen proven by Victorian police, in terms of both the data and also the words from the most senior of Victorian police, is that there is a problem with community safety in Victoria and particularly Brighton.

There has been a 30 per cent increase in aggravated burglaries. Over the last 10 years in my community aggravated burglaries have increased by almost 600 per cent. We have the highest level of aggravated burglaries in this state that we have ever seen. Unfortunately – though in my view and so many in my community’s view, our community is the number one place in Melbourne – we are in the top five locations in Melbourne now for aggravated burglaries, and that is a terrible position to be in.

One of the main concerns of my community, a concern that we raised throughout the last year, is the need for increased police resources in our community, including a police station. Unfortunately, the last Labor Government shut the police station in Brighton, and we do not have a local police station. So, our community is short on resources, and we have seen that both in terms of responses and visual presence of police. It is concerning, and it is even more concerning to see that, as a result of the concerns being raised, that is being reflected in the data. So, over the last year we have seen a dramatic increase in crime in my community specifically.

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The Brighton community over the last year has seen an increase in crime, and the budget was an opportunity for the Premier and this Government to invest in fixing

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Members interjecting.

James NEWBURY: It was absolutely the opportunity for the Government to fix the problems in my community, to increase the resources of police in my community, and they did not do that.

I will also speak to the local schools in my community, because what we have seen reported is a 93 per cent allocation of school funding into Labor seats and a 6 per cent allocation of funding into Liberal seats.

In my electorate there are a number of schools that have been well deserving of funds – schools that have not seen funding for decades. I will talk specifically first about Brighton Primary. Brighton Primary houses one of four of Melbourne’s hearing-impaired units for the deaf. It is a wonderful school that does wonderful work for children, and that school has, as I said, one of the four specialist units for the deaf. That unit at Brighton Primary is in a demountable, a 50-year-old demountable, next to a train line.

I mean, when we stand in this place, all of us as Members of this place, we often stand and talk about the needs of our community and the needs of the children in our community.

One of the things I think we can all agree on is the need for our children to have the best resources available and resources they deserve. I do not think anybody in here would think that the four schools that house hearing units for the deaf should not have the resources that are commensurate to the needs that they have.

Unfortunately, the particular site at Brighton Primary, though the school is wonderful, with wonderful staff and well-meaning staff, who try so hard and work so hard – I am sure we can all agree on how difficult it would be for staff to try to assist children with hearing difficulties as trains regularly roll past on the Sandringham line. The unit is literally metres away from the Sandringham line. It would be only fair and reasonable for that school community to have an allocation of resources. The coalition are represented by 36 per cent of the seats in this chamber and received 6 per cent of the funding.

There are a number of other schools with similar needs, and I refer to Gardenvale Primary and Hampton Primary, two schools who were promised money in the election, and not a single dollar was committed to those schools in the State Budget – not one single dollar.

The Government went to the election committing to funding, and the Budget does not include a single dollar for those schools in terms of capital works – not one dollar. Hampton Primary is a wonderful school in our community, a wonderful school, and to think the whole school community has opened the Budget and has seen the forward years – the four forward years are there in the Budget for the whole school community to see. And I know how many in the school community, separate to any politics, have contacted the Minister saying, ‘Will we ever get any money? Will you put it in writing? You said before the election we would receive money, and then post the election we have received nothing.’

It is so terribly sad to know that these schools have not received funding that they deserve – like Brighton Beach Primary School. A recent audit found 1236 items that deserve attention, and the school has not received a dollar. None of these schools are listed in the Budget for capital works.

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Members interjecting.

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James NEWBURY: Thank you. I note that now there have been two points of order raised when I am talking about the needs of children in my community. I am talking about the needs of hearing-impaired children in my community and then have spoken about little children in Hampton and little children at Brighton Beach Primary, little children that deserve funding. Their schools deserve funding, and the Government is taking spurious points of order when a Member is standing in this place representing their community, calling for school funding.

I would like the record to show, and I hope the families of my school community see, what has occurred, because the facts are there to see in this place – that I am raising the genuine needs of my community, the genuine needs of my schools, schools like Brighton Primary, Brighton Beach Primary, Hampton Primary, Elwood Primary, Brighton Secondary and Elwood College. Elwood College unfortunately has significant issues with their basketball court and with their theatre – significant issues. You are talking about decades-old infrastructure that frankly is concerning. In the gym, pieces of the roof are hanging down. In the Phoenix Theatre at Elwood College, there are structural concerns with the building that require investment, and that investment has not been forthcoming. Why? It is because 93 per cent of school funding is directed to Labor electorates and 6 per cent is directed to Liberal-held seats.

These are genuine issues. There are many infrastructure needs in my community, including sporting facilities for our children. There are a number of terrific sporting clubs. In fact, we have the best sporting clubs in Melbourne in my community, and those children deserve funding for their infrastructure as well.

Brighton Beach Oval has a very old pavilion that deserves an upgrade. There are a number of pavilions. The Wattie Watson Oval pavilion in Elwood is in real need of funding. These are important infrastructure projects in my community that deserve investment, and that investment has not been forthcoming. The Jack Levy Pavilion at Moorabbin West reserve is a particular example. That pavilion has been promised funds for 10 years. Three times it has been listed in a Council budget. It has seen no funding. Three times it has been listed to be funded and that funding has been withdrawn. It is another example of the young children in the community deserving funding and that funding not being received.

When it comes to local police resources, we have seen a significant increase in aggravated burglaries. Aggravated burglary concerns were first raised by the community before the stats had picked them up, and that makes perfect sense. If you were listening to the community, you would know the concerns that they have raised. The community raised concerns about crime which were dismissed but have proven to be true. Despite those crimes having been proved to be true, no action has actually been taken. No resources have been invested. The Government Members are laughing about aggravated burglaries increasing by 30 per cent – the Government Members are laughing about the aggravated burglary increases in the community.

It is deeply disappointing to know that there has been a spike in crime and an issue with schools not receiving the funding they deserve, and that is the truth of this budget. The truth of this budget is the Government is not doing what matters, and it certainly has forgotten Brighton, Brighton East, Elwood, Hampton and Hampton East.