Tony Lupton - Speech
Budget 2008
12 June 2008
I am very pleased to speak in support of the 2008-09 Victorian state budget, which delivers for the people of Victoria.
In particular I want to address my remarks today to the ways in which our state budget delivers for the people of the Prahran district. The budget delivered by the Treasurer, John Lenders, builds on the great achievements of the Bracks and Brumby governments since we came to office in 1999. We are now seeing some of the outcomes of the investment that has been made in key services and infrastructure in this state since then. In the budget this year we are seeing the greatest infrastructure spending in the history of our state. We are in a position now as a state to respond positively to many of the emerging challenges we need to respond to in order to continue to improve our quality of life and the way we provide key services, opportunities and jobs for the people of our state in years to come.
We are seeing an unprecedented baby boom at the moment. It is the largest baby boom we have seen since the early 1970s. I am particularly pleased that I will be making my own modest contribution to that baby boom again later this year.
Those of us who have young families understand some of the important challenges this budget addresses, and we are very pleased about the investments that are being made to improve services for and the quality of life of the people of Victoria.
Some of the local highlights in this budget for the Prahran district that I want to mention include the delivery of an election commitment I made in 2006 to provide funding to upgrade the Prahran and Windsor railway stations. I am very pleased that the $3 million we promised for those station upgrades in 2006 has been allocated in this year's state budget. They are great stations. They are heritage stations, and they are much loved and appreciated by the local community. Being able to properly refurbish and restore those stations and improve the amenity of them for the many people who use our train system is a great thing, and I am very pleased about it.
Of course we are seeing unprecedented growth in the number of people who are using our public transport system, particularly our trains.
Providing those railway station services is thus an important thing, but of course we are also providing the important infrastructure spending and improvements that are needed in order to increase the capacity of the system; then trains can carry more passengers in better circumstances in the years to come.
Another matter regarding transport is the funding to improve the frequency of the NightRider bus service, which is very popular and important and is used by particularly a lot of young people around my area. The frequency of that NightRider service has been doubled to once every 30 minutes.
Only recently the government integrated the NightRider bus service into the broader public transport system so that a Metcard ticket can be used on NightRider buses for no additional fare. The buses are a very important means of people getting home safely late at night; I am very pleased that the government has addressed that issue and improved that service.
Another issue that was addressed regarding the Prahran district concerned the improvement in ambulance services. Making sure ambulance services are able to properly and quickly respond to often emergency situations is very important for the security of the local community. A new mobile intensive care ambulance unit and a new 12-hour peak-period unit will be provided for the Prahran district.
Over the years the government has been in office it has provided enormous funding increases to the Alfred hospital, which is one of the very important health providers in my area.
This year's budget builds on the investments of past years by funding a special hospital energy supply project to provide continuity of critical care services in the event of a major power disruption at the hospital. That provides security and peace of mind not only for patients but also for their families and the whole community.
It does not take a great amount of imagination to understand how devastating a major power disruption in a large public hospital like the Alfred could be for so many people being treated there. The project is thus very important in supporting the hospital's important work. It builds on the great investments we have made that have now seen the Alfred centre for elective surgery up and running and providing thousands of extra elective surgery treatments each year to members of the local community.
On transport again, the government has a very important tram priority program. The budget has funded this program -- in particular, regarding the no. 6 tram route, which goes through Prahran -- along with the $112 million package to reduce traffic congestion. I am extremely pleased with the way in which our moves to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transport efficiency are being received in my local community. I am getting a very positive response from local residents. I am delighted at the way in which we are dealing with these issues to reduce traffic congestion and improve traffic flows; and very importantly, as part of that package, how we are improving public transport, particularly the trams and buses that use some of Prahran's busy streets.
In relation to community safety in my electorate, the budget allocates money to upgrade Prahran police station, providing some important new infrastructure and technical equipment police will be able to use in their very important community safety work. The funding for equipment at Prahran police station is only part of a very significant public safety initiative being conducted by the government at the moment. In recent times we have seen the creation and funding of the Safe Streets task force, which has resulted in many extra police being on the street -- particularly around the Chapel Street precinct on Friday and Saturday nights -- proactively dealing with the many community safety issues that people want us to deal with and their knowing that we are successfully dealing with those issues.
That is also to be seen in the context of the government's recently announced alcohol action plan, which is a comprehensive package funded in the budget and which will make sure we deal with the adverse social impacts of excessive alcohol consumption and binge drinking. The three-month trial of the 2.00 a.m. lock-out program has been supported strongly by my local community. I am also a strong supporter of that program. Putting in place for the next 12 months a ban on any new liquor licences in the four inner city municipalities, including those which cover the Prahran district, while we conduct a comprehensive review of our licensing laws and licensing fee structures is also something that I and my local community welcome.
All of those programs as well as the important continued spending on education have been funded in this budget. In last year's budget $500 000 was allocated to each of the five schools I have particular responsibility for.
The planning for the refurbishment and modernisation of those schools is now well under way and has been funded by our government. In particular South Yarra Primary School, Toorak Primary School, Stonnington Primary School, St Kilda Primary School and Ripponlea Primary School are already benefiting from the program. The work to modernise and refurbish those schools is progressing very well. That work will continue through the course of this year and will result in a great improvement in the new year in the way educational opportunities are provided to the children in my local area. I am proud of the commitment the government has made and continues to make in relation to education.
Overall this budget is delivering for the people of the Prahran district and for the people of Victoria generally.
We are seeing continued investment in our education system, in our health system, in our transport system, in community safety and in the important infrastructure projects which are so vital to making sure that we have a competitive and growing economy that is able to meet the challenges of the future. I want to stress that this budget clearly sets out a plan and funding for meeting our water challenges and climate change challenges going forward. Those things are integral to the way in which we will move into a carbon constrained future. They are also important in the way we move into a future that has less reliance on water. We have less water than we had before, and we have more people than we had before. We had to use creativity and long-term planning to make sure that we meet those challenges. The government's water plans meet those challenges.
This state budget was delivered by the Treasurer in the other place, John Lenders, as his first budget.
It is to be commended and contains climate change policies, particularly the putting in place of the Victorian renewable energy target scheme, our plans for improving the amount of renewable energy used in this state and our plans for investing in appropriate clean coal technology to take advantage of the important coal deposits that we have in the Latrobe Valley. That is a balanced and good approach that will secure Victoria's future growth and job opportunities and quality of life for Victorians years to come. I commend the budget bill to the house. I wish it great success.
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