The 2023-24 State Budget was handed down last month. I am pleased to announce that every election commitment I made during the campaign has been included in this Budget and am excited for these very worthy projects to get underway.
Wins for Monbulk include:
$8.77 million funded for Emerald Secondary College
$3 million for St John the Baptist Primary School Ferntree Gully
$2 million for pavilion upgrades at Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully
Getting started on rebuilding Maroondah Hospital
Women’s Health Clinics at Casey and Maroondah Hospitals
Variable speed signs outside Gembrook Primary School
Up to $400,000 for upgrades to the Alma Treloar Reserve Dog Park in Cockatoo
Neighbourhood batteries across the Dandenong Ranges and beyond
$200,000 for Treasuring our Trees
$100,000 for Knox Infolink
$60,000 for Philanthropic Collective
$50,000 for 3MDR Mountain District Radio 97.1
$50,000 for Foothills Community Care
$50,000 for Connecting Cockatoo Communities
There have also been several exciting state-wide initiatives announced which will benefit people living in the Dandenong Ranges and its foothills.
An initial $1 billion investment in the revival of the State Electricity Commission (SEC) will help deliver 4.5 gigawatts of power – the equivalent replacement capacity of Loy Yang A – through renewable energy projects.
Bringing back the SEC won’t just mean more renewable energy, lower power bills and reduced carbon emissions – it will also help create 59,000 jobs.
This Budget goes a long way to achieving our ambitious emissions reduction targets for Victoria, aiming to reduce our emissions by 75-80 per cent by 2035 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
The 2023 State Budget has also invested a further $1.8 billion into our unprecedented Early Childhood reform – giving our kids the best start and the best life with Free Kinder.
Currently, all three and four-year-old children in Victoria are eligible to access up to 15 hours of funded kindergarten per week.
Throughout the next decade, Four-Year-Old Kindergarten will transition to ‘Pre-Prep’ – increasing to a universal 30-hour a week program of play-based learning for every four-year-old child in Victoria.
Over the next few weeks, you should receive my newsletter in the mail with more detail into each of these investments. I encourage you to fill out the accompanying survey online or send it back via reply-paid mail, so I can better understand your concerns and priorities for our great community.
It has been an honour to serve as your State Member of Parliament over the last six months. I am looking forward to the next three and a half years continuing to work for you and watching these exciting initiatives come to life.
