Tim Pallas MP - E-News Update

As your local Member of Parliament I am available to assist you with any State Government related issues such as education, health, transport and police.

My office can be contacted on 03 9741 1133 or at tim.pallas@parliament.vic.gov.au.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Boost for Werribee's schools
Ambulances on the scene faster
Collect unclaimed money from the SRO
Western Roads Package one step closer
Supporting Werribee's volunteers

GRANTS, AWARDS AND PROGRAMS:

African Community Action Plan feedback
Making parenting fun
Supporting our local sporting clubs
Victorian Young Achiever Awards

Government is a collaborative process and I encourage you to contact me and pass on your feedback, questions and suggestions, so we can continue to improve our community.

Upgrades to Werribee Schools

St Andrew’s Primary School and MacKillop Catholic Regional College in Werribee are two of 38 schools across Victoria sharing in almost $50 million to build classrooms and upgrade facilities as part of the Andrews Government’s Capital Funding Program for Non-Government Schools.

St Andrew’s Primary School will receive $1,650,000 towards the refurbishment of their library to provide administration spaces, general learning areas and for the reconstruction of student amenities.

MacKillop Catholic Regional College will receive $2,000,000 towards the construction of 14 general learning areas and the refurbishment of general learning areas to provide for library and to provide staff work areas, and student services.

The Victorian Government launched the $120 million Capital Funding Program for Non-Government Schools in 2015 to help expand and upgrade Catholic and Independent schools, matching the sectors’ investments in school infrastructure.

The fund is part of a $2.5 billion Government investment over three years to build the Education State, giving every student access to a great local school with a great education.

Victoria’s school building boom has delivered more than 1,000 school upgrades and 56 new school projects across the state, supporting almost 5,000 construction jobs for Victorians.

Ambulances on the Scene Faster in Wyndham Despite Horror Flu Season

Ambulances are responding faster to life threatening medical emergencies in Wyndham despite massive demand from one of Victoria’s worst-ever flu seasons.

In the Wyndham City Council, response times are improving, with 79.7 per cent of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code One emergencies, up from 73.8 per cent compared to the same time last year.

That means the average response time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One emergency in the Wyndham City Council has improved from 13:29 minutes to 12:29 minutes.

This is despite the year’s flu season putting significant pressure on our hospitals, with respiratory presentations to our emergency departments almost 20 per cent higher than for the same time last year.

Locally, Werribee Mercy Hospital has:

Seen 10,392 people in emergency between July and September 2017 compared to 9,178 in the same period in 2016.
Treated 100 per cent of the 23 category 1 emergency patients immediately on arrival between July and September 2017.
Provided operations for 98 per cent of all elective surgery patients within the benchmark times in the September quarter, compared to 95.3 per cent for the same period in 2016.

To give hospitals and bush nursing centres relief from the massive surge in demand, the Labor Government last month announced a special $115 million boost for our hospitals to fight this year’s unprecedented flu season, and ensure more patients can receive the care they need when they need it, for the remainder of the year.

Looking for a weekend windfall? Collect unclaimed monies from the SRO.

There are around 800,000 Victorians with a windfall, and more than $100 million in unclaimed cash sitting with the State Revenue Office waiting to be collected.

There are wages, bonds, dividends, interest and proceeds of sale that have been unclaimed by residents, businesses or community groups for more than one year.

The database is a quick and easy online search tool, so there is no need to involve a third party to track down your money.

Please visit http://sro.vic.gov.au/unclaimedmoney to see if you have any unclaimed money.

Western Roads Upgrade A Step Closer

Work is set to get underway on the Andrews Labor Government’s $1.8 billion upgrade to slash congestion for drivers on eight key arterial routes through Melbourne’s west.

The Netflow consortium has been selected as the preferred tender to build the Western Roads Upgrade.

The Western Roads Upgrade will deliver a combination of road widening, duplications and intersection upgrades that will fix eight congested roads in the western suburbs, including:

Dunnings Road and Palmers Road, Point Cook Road to Princes Freeway, Point Cook
Palmers Road, Princes Freeway to Western Freeway, Truganina
Derrimut Road, Sayers Road to Dohertys Road, Tarneit
Leakes Road, Fitzgerald Road to Derrimut Road, Truganina
Dohertys Road, Fitzgerald Road to Grieve Parade, Laverton North
Dohertys Road Foundation Road to Palmers Road, Truganina
Forsyth Road/Princes Freeway, Hoppers Crossing
Duncans Road/Princes Freeway interchange, Werribee/Werribee South

In an Australian-first, the public-private partnership will also extend to road maintenance – ensuring more than 260 kilometres of the existing arterial road network in the western suburbs is maintained over the next two decades.

Works on the Western Roads Upgrade will begin in 2018 and will be completed in stages to minimise disruption to road users, with all eight projects to be completed by 2021.

Funding Boost for Werribee Volunteers

Emergency Services in Werribee are receiving a welcome funding boost, thanks to the Andrews Labor Government.

Minister for Emergency Services James Merlino recently announced the outcome of the 2017-18 Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program, delivering grants to 300 successful applicants.

Successful services winning grants in Werribee electorate include:
•   Little River CFA – $11,480 for new operational equipment
•   Wyndham Vale CFA– $11,634 for new facility upgrades
•   VF10 Werribee Coast Guard – $73,221 for new vehicles and appliances

Emergency services volunteers across the state will share in $13 million in grants to help them keep Victorian communities safe.

The program funds operational equipment, including vehicles, trucks, tankers, watercraft, trailers and minor facility upgrades.

Emergency services in the Werribee electorate do an incredible job keeping the local community safe and they deserve nothing but the best equipment.

GRANTS, AWARDS AND PROGRAMS

African Communities Draft Action Plan Feedback

The Andrews Labor Government and African Ministerial Working Group are seeking feedback from the community on a draft plan to create more social and economic opportunities for African Victorians.

The African Communities Action Plan is being developed by a 22-member working group, which was formed in 2016 and is made up of African community leaders and young people.

The draft plan includes a range of community-designed actions related to education, employment, business development, community cohesion, leadership, women and youth. The plan can be viewed at: https://www.multicultural.vic.gov.au/images/2017/Draft--African-Communities-Action-Plan-Draft-for-Consultation.pdf

About 100,000 people living in Victoria are African-born, and even more have African heritage, with people hailing from over 50 different African countries and identifying with over 60 different ethnicities.

Feedback can be emailed to amwg.secretariat@dpc.vic.gov.au until 15 December 2017. The working group will submit the final plan early next year.

Nominations are now open for the 2018 Victorian Young Achiever Awards. The Young Achiever Awards provide an opportunity for the community to celebrate the efforts of young Victorians who are making a real difference in our community.

The awards recognise the achievements of Victoria’s young people over 10 sponsored categories, each receiving a trophy and a $2,000 prize, with one of the category winners being named the overall Victorian Young Achiever of the Year.

Members of the community are encouraged to nominate high-achieving young people for an award before nominations close on Monday 18 December.

For more information or to nominate a young achiever, visit: awardsaustralia.com/young-achiever-awards/vic

New App Makes Parenting Fun

A new ground-breaking app is making parenting fun and interactive by giving parents of children from birth up to three years of age simple skills to support their child’s development.

The Day by Day: Learning Together app sees parents complete activities that are organised into different everyday environments such as the kitchen, bathroom, outdoors and travelling. They can even design the characters to look like themselves and their child.

The app, which is available on Android and Apple smart phones and tablets, is designed so that there are no data usage costs after it has been installed.

The Andrews Labor Government invested $300,000 in the development of the free app.

It is one of many measures the Government is using to support parents to grow their skills and confidence so that families can thrive and children can reach their full potential.

The project aligns with the $202.1 million Education State Early Childhood Reform Plan to provide more support for parenting, particularly for first-time parents who may not have easy access to facilities and services.

Boost for local sporting clubs in Werribee

The sixth round of the $4.6 million Sporting Club Grants Program is now open with applications closing on 24th January 2018.

The program delivers on the Andrews Labor Government’s work to make it easier for all Victorians, no matter they live, to play the sports they love.

The Sporting Club Grants Program gives clubs the chance to secure grants to buy new sports uniforms and equipment, or to expand the skills of coaches and officials. Already, the program has provided over $2.8 million to more than 2,000 sport and active recreation organisations across the state.

Grants of up to $1,000 are available to buy new team uniforms or equipment, while grants of up to $2,000 are available to expand the skills of coaches and officials. Clubs can also receive up to $5,000 for initiatives that strengthen their operations and grow their membership.

There are also grants to support travel and accommodation costs over a 12 month period for athletes, coaches, officials or teams that are required to travel to train or compete – whether it’s their local competition or an Aboriginal sporting festival.

For more information or to apply online, visit sport.vic.gov.au.

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Tim Pallas MP · 2/56-58 Watton St, Werribee, 3030 · Werribee, VIC 3030 · Australia