CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Deputy Leader of the National Party) (10:48): In November this year, Victorians will have the opportunity to get rid of the worst government in the state's history. I say that because this is a government which has wasted taxpayers' money, provided by the Commonwealth and also by Victorians, on a whole host of projects. We've seen $15 billion worth of rorts and corruption associated with the big build projects.
That is money that could have gone to better roads, better schools and better hospitals. It's been wasted on the CFMEU and bikie corruption. We've seen hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on hosting the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The Victorian Labor government paid for the Commonwealth Games to be held in another country. We've seen our road network deteriorating to the point where people are now being killed and injured because of potholes which haven't been fixed by this government. Victoria needs a change, and Victoria needs a change it can trust.
In my home seat of Gippsland East, there is an opportunity to make history. There's an opportunity to make history with the first female member for Gippsland East if Gemma Rendell is successful at the November elections. Gemma is a young lady who has a lived experience in our community as a farmer, teacher and young mum.
She understands the challenges in our community and she understands the opportunities in the Gippsland East electorate. She will be a strong voice for our region, because we understand that to get anything done in politics you need to have teamwork and you need to have partnerships. I am working in partnership with Gemma on projects that will make a difference in the Gippsland East region.
One of the most important things that she's working on is a fair share fund, the fair share guarantee, where 25 per cent of new infrastructure spending will be spent in regional communities to make sure that regional Victorians get a fair share of the money they provide in taxpayers dollars. Speaking of fair shares, the government has a fund called the Community Child Care Fund.
In the most recent round of funding, the Heyfield Community Resource Centre missed out completely. This is an issue because the Heyfield Community Resource Centre is the only facility in that small town which provides any child care whatsoever. Kids House, which is run by Heyfield Community Resource Centre, is a critical service that provides services for 30 families.
If they don't have access to child care in Heyfield, they'll be travelling up to 45 minutes each way to access childcare services for their children. What worries me is that this centre has become nonviable not through any fault of its own but because of government decisions. In one instance, the state government bringing in free kindergarten for three-year-olds has meant that the childcare centre has had to focus on young people, with higher staff-to-care ratios.
The other instance where the state government has intervened is in relation to the timber industry cuts, which has seen cost-of-living pressures on a lot of local families and has meant that more people have had to go outside of the home to secure an income. I encourage the government to work with our community to improve the childcare desert in Heyfield.