ADJOURNMENT

Mr BURNS (Macnamara) (19:45): The Windsor Community Children's Centre is saved, and it is here to stay. I thought that I would never be able to deliver this speech in this place, after years of advocacy and hard work by so many in my incredible electorate, but I am so proud to be here in the House of Representatives to say clearly and without any reservation that the deal is done and that all we need to look forward to next year is how many young little learners will be able to walk through the incredible doors of the Windsor Community Children's Centre.

This campaign was one of the most inspiring and big-hearted things that I have ever had the privilege of being a part of in my time as a member of parliament. It was led by the parents. After 2023, when Swinburne University declared that they were going to sell the land and it wasn't going to be available for Windsor to continue the lease, the Save WCCC campaign began.

It was led by a group of people who just would not give up and would not believe that the noes that they heard time and time again were going to result in the closure of this incredible early education service. I want to pay a very special tribute to Romi, Jonathan, Alistair, Samantha, Fiona and Sophie, who led the campaign. This group of people were the Save WCCC campaign members, and they were relentless and persistent and believed that they could get this done.

Despite being told by Swinburne, the state government and so many others that there wasn't a pathway forward, this group of people believed in providing high-quality early education in one of the most beautiful parts of my electorate, with this incredible garden and this amazing service for people. They wanted it to stay open and believed that it should stay open, and they made it happen.

I also want to pay tribute to Sam Vale, the centre director, who has been so stoic and impressive throughout this whole journey. Sam leads an amazing service. She cares so much about the kids, cares about running a high-quality early education service and has been such a big part of this whole campaign.

She and her team really were a big reason why this needed to stay open. I also want to pay tribute to all of the Stonnington councillors who voted to agree to the purchase, including Councillors Jami Klisaris, Tom Humphries, Kate Hely and Meghan Hopper—who did a power of work liaising with WCCC—and the mayor, Melina Sehr, who from the very beginning was steering this from Stonnington's end.

She is an amazing person who also got married during the campaign, and I congratulate her and thank her for all of her efforts in leading Stonnington through this. And, of course, there's Swinburne University, who originally decided that they weren't going to sell the land for below market rate but actually did come to the party in the end. I thank the outgoing vice-chancellor, Pascale Quester.

One of the final things she did before she left Swinburne was to ensure that this deal was done, and I thank her and all of her colleagues. I need to thank my state parliamentary colleague Ryan Batchelor, who was there in the trenches with me and was looking for ways to navigate this and help navigate through all of the different state government hoops and hurdles that needed to be overcome.

Ryan is an outstanding parliamentarian, and I just couldn't have gotten this through without him. I really wish him all the very best for the Victorian election. He's a good friend and a very good parliamentarian.

I want to thank my colleagues, many of whom came to the service—Minister Aly, Minister Clare and Minister Walsh—and their entire staff, who really helped continue this campaign to support my community. I thank all of them and their teams, especially in those difficult moments. And I thank Minister Catherine King for her support throughout the election and to ensure that we brought $4.3 million to the table to help make this deal possible.

But, ultimately, this is a story about a group of people who took on three layers of government. They had this amazing custodianship of a little early education centre with a big heart, amazing grounds and an amazing facility for these young learners, and, despite being told no, this group of people showed what is possible. If you believe in something and you pursue it hard enough and long enough, anything is possible.

WCCC is saved.