ADJOURNMENT

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (19:30): It might be Floriade time here in Canberra, but back home in the electorate of Monash, I recently had the honour of opening one of our great celebrations of spring, being the Leongatha Daffodil and Floral Show. For generations, the Leongatha daffodil festival has been a wonderful part of the story of South Gippsland.

The Leongatha Horticultural Society was established in 1948, holding its very first daffodil show just a year later in 1949. What began as a local flower show quickly grew in popularity and by 1957 had blossomed into the daffodil festival that we know and love today. Almost 70 years later, that tradition remains incredibly strong.

The Leongatha Horticultural Society now has more than 100 members who meet each month to share their knowledge, enjoy seasonal displays and, importantly, share their love of gardening and friendship. But perhaps the most important part of its history is the generations of volunteers who have kept it going year after year. It is one of those wonderful traditions that reminds us of what a strong country community can achieve when people come together, and long may it continue.

The Phillip Island community in my electorate of Monash is being let down by Labor state and federal governments. This October, the island will gear up to host its final Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, another major event lost from a community that has proudly welcomed motorsport fans from across Australia and across the globe for decades. With the World Superbikes also gone, the impact on local tourism, hospitality and small businesses cannot be underestimated.

But as thousands of visitors make their way to Phillip Island for that final grand prix this year, I have another very real concern, and that is the absolutely disgraceful state of the roads they will travel on to get there. Potholes, crumbling road surfaces and neglected maintenance have become the norm in Victoria. State Labor can find billions for cost blowouts in Melbourne, but apparently they cannot find any money to properly maintain roads in one of Victoria's most important tourist destinations.

My colleague the Liberal candidate for Bass, Rochelle Halstead, is fighting hard for this community, for our roads to be fixed, for a replacement major event to be secured for Phillip Island and for the economic importance of the island to be finally taken seriously by state and federal governments. Phillip Island deserves better than losing its events and watching its roads fall apart at the same time, and that is why I will continue fighting for better roads in our region.

I know my state parliamentary colleagues, like Danny O'Brien, Melina Bath, Wayne Farnham and Rochelle Halstead, will do everything they can do to stand up and fight for better roads as well. I want to acknowledge a number of organisations who exist to support regional communities like mine. I've just met with Councillor John Skelling, who I know very well from his role as a councillor at South Gippsland Shire Council.

He's a former mayor and does so much for our region. And I've got to say, it is great to see a Gippslander taking on the chair's role at SEATS, the South-Eastern Australian Transport Strategy group, who do some terrific work advocating on behalf of roads and transport in our region. We absolutely need that advocacy.

I just heard a most concerning story, of a fishing business in our region that, instead of having one driver to drive the truck from Melbourne to the business to pick up those products and drive back to Melbourne, have to switch drivers. That's because the roads are so bad that having one driver now takes them over their allocated time. That is how bad our roads are.

That is the impact on businesses. I want to acknowledge the work of the Regional Australia Institute. I have just caught up with the chair, Christian Zahra.

He is a former member for McMillan and one of my predecessors. I acknowledge all of my predecessors—from Alex Buchanan to Geoffrey Brown, Arthur Hewson, Barry Cunningham, Barry Simon, John Riggall, Russell Broadbent and Christian Zahra, who have all contributed much to our nation.