Transcript - doorstop - Castlemaine, Victoria

LISA CHESTERS: Lisa Chesters, Federal Member for Bendigo. Incredibly proud to be standing here today with my good friend and colleague, the member for Ballarat and Minister for Regional Development, Catherine King. Ballarat's not too far from us, but far enough. But what I can say is I'm also really proud to be standing here with the Mount Alexander Shire Council Mayor, the CEO, and Deputy Mayor are also with us to talk about this very exciting project. 

We are in a beautiful part of central Victoria, Castlemaine, that has such beautiful history and a proud heritage. It's also a vibrant, modern city in central Victoria, and I know that there's been a lot of focus and talk about what the future of the CBD should look like. So I'm not surprised at all that the Shire put forward a project to the Federal Government seeking support for how we can turn this much loved part of Castlemaine, bringing it into the modern era. 

This is just one of the many ways that our Government is partnering with not just the Mount Alexander Shire Council, but also to the City of Greater Bendigo. We are a government that cares about the regions. We are a government that works with local government to deliver the resources, the infrastructure and the support that people in this community need. So I'm going to hand over to the Minister for this fantastic announcement that we have today. You know that the trip home for her is possibly one of the prettiest drives that we have in Victoria. So thinking about that drive home, but before she takes that drive, some very important business to make an announcement. So welcome back to Castlemaine, neighbour and good friend, Catherine King.

CATHERINE KING: Thanks very much. I'm Catherine King, I'm the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. This is a really beautiful project. So part of the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program is really designed to look at CBDs and look at how you might reconnect places in the CBD that may no longer being used in a way that they used to 100 years ago, and really ensuring that we're continuing to develop our beautiful regional centres in a way that increases tourism, increases the economic opportunities for participation of our small businesses, but also makes them more liveable places. And I'm really delighted that Mount Alexander Shire Council, we're joined here with the Mayor, Rosie Annear, and the CEO as well, alongside the fabulous member for Bendigo, Lisa Chesters. 

This $12.19 million - I'm hoping I've got that right - $12.19 million really will improve Frederick Street behind us and the Mechanics Lane, connecting all of the parts of this end of the CBD. Providing better pedestrian access, places for seating, places for entertainment venues, and really connecting those precincts together from the railway right the way through to this part of the CBD.

Castlemaine is an incredibly beautiful part of Victoria. It's one of the- our proud heritage cities with this incredible built infrastructure, and being able to bring that infrastructure into the way in which we use our communities in the 21st century is a great opportunity. I also had the opportunity, and whilst we're in Castlemaine I'll make this announcement here as well. 

We also have the opportunity this morning to announce the Albanese Labor Government's Housing Support Program stream two, the successful applicants for that, and of course, over in Bendigo way at the Marong community, we're announcing $11.3 million to bring on stream the sewerage for that part of the community, which will actually unlock 2000 and- just over 2300 homes. We know that part of the problem with our housing is supply, helping local councils to actually deliver the infrastructure to fray some of those costs from ratepayers, and from people buying homes in those new areas, provides that opportunity to unlock homes, again providing more opportunities for new people to get their first- for young people to get their first home. But also for people to move into our regions, again, very much part of the Albanese Labor Government's commitment to the regions across the country. 

I might hand over to the mayor to say something, and then we'll take some questions. 

ROSIE ANNEAR: Hi everyone. My name is Rosie Annear, and I'm Mayor of Mount Alexander Shire. I'd really like to thank Minister King and Lisa for being here today to deliver such fantastic news. This is such an exciting project, I think, and one that we've had on the cards for a really long time. This really came from the Castlemaine Streetscapes project. So we did a lot of community consultation, and what we have built for this area is really what the community wants to unlock, the connections really through town. 

Mechanics Lane and Frederick Street are really well used areas, but they're not great in terms of pedestrian and cyclist access. They're not very good for accessibility for a lot of people with additional needs. And we know that having these connections here also unlocks connections through to the other side of town. I'm really excited, because what I can see from this project is how it is really going to link to so many other projects that we have underway. And on the horizon, it'll give us better access to the Railway Precinct down to the Mill Precinct and the Botanical Gardens. 

It will help with that congestion through town and the, I guess, movability of pedestrians, which is a bit of a common complaint that we have here, that, you know, cars are prioritised sometimes, whereas this is putting everyone on an equal playing field. I think the other thing is that this area is becoming more and more important to our community, especially as people are kind of struggling more. A lot of people who are doing it tough are relying on the library, on council, on community health, all of which are co-located in this area. 

So, the fact that we can, through your generosity, fund this. I feel like it's unlocking a bit of Castlemaine that really needs that love, deserves that attention and I can see that the benefits are going to be absolutely huge for our community. So, all I can really say is that I'm very excited and thank you very, very much. 

CATHERINE KING: Stop it.

ROSIE ANNEAR: I might pass over to Director Annear - we're not related [laughter], just to be clear - to talk about the intricacies of the project a little more [indistinct]…

MICHAEL ANNEAR [DIRECTOR, INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT, MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE COUNCIL]: Sure. Thank you, Mayor Annear and…

ROSIE ANNEAR: You’re welcome.

MICHAEL ANNEAR: …thank you, Lisa Chesters. So, today really the project, as we've heard, is reinvigorating this area, improving social connections, economic activity and the tourism connections for a key part of our town. What it means in actual practical realities is that we'll be redeveloping the road down into a single lane, allowing that smooth and easy unfettered access for pedestrians, for cyclists and for vehicles within this key part of town. 

It will improve those connections to a social space where we'll have an event area with a stage. We'll be able to profile music, we'll be able to profile art and profile the local Traditional Owners and the connection to the Djaara People here within Castlemaine. It is a key connection point, we do see this as a key part of our Castlemaine streetscape plan, and our connection for active transport across key parts of our community, and future projects that we're looking to develop to improve all abilities access. And that improve the reliance and allow people- I should say, reduce their reliance on vehicles and allow people to take more active transport such as bicycles and pedestrian access. 

The project will take up to about two years in construction and we're looking forward to having an ongoing connection with our key partners, including the library, Djaara, the local state festival and the local Fringe Festival, who are all key partners and will help inform the implementation of this project. Thank you. 

CATHERINE KING: Great. Happy to take some questions. Yes, sure. 

JOURNALIST: I am just wanting to know, obviously, between [indistinct] - I can ask a couple of questions about [indistinct]…

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, sure.

JOURNALIST: …but primarily for this project here?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Is this sort of in line with what Labor wants to do going forward in terms of more support in regions and more support for developing regional towns and regional town centres?

CATHERINE KING: So, between the Growing Regions program, which we haven't announced the successful applicants of that yet here in Victoria, and the Regional Precincts and Partnerships program, we've had almost $1 billion worth of grants programs for regional communities. What we've concentrated on doing is, basically, cleaning up some of the practices of the past where we might have seen areas like this miss out before because, frankly, there was some colour coded spreadsheets being used to allocate funding. And so, we've really cleaned that up. 

And we've got a two-stage process. People put expressions of interest in, applications come, they're assessed by a panel. That includes people from the Liberal Party, from the Independents, from the National Party, and the Labor Party to make recommendations to my department. My department then assesses those and makes recommendations to me. And this project has got through that process and has been successful. 

What it is that I've been interested in, particularly with the Regional Precincts and Partnerships program. is that a lot of our regional cities, and particularly in this part of the world, were built over 100 years ago. And we've got these incredible buildings which have been repurposed into libraries, we've got some that haven't been repurposed at all. And what we're trying to do is say, how do people live today? How do we actually use these spaces differently to how our ancestors might? But how do we actually keep the built heritage and bring it all together? 

And this project is really perfect. I don't think- you know, the mayor hasn't- couldn't describe it any better. This really is about lifting up the accessibility of the region, but it's about really connecting all of those beautiful spaces that you've got currently and using the money to unlock the potential of this part of town. And so, you couldn't pick a more perfect project for the regional Precincts and Partnerships program which is why it has been successful. 

Any other questions? No. Cool. Yes, of course. 

JOURNALIST: Can I ask, time frames? Is it shovel ready, Michael, or are we going…

MICHAEL ANNEAR: Yeah. So, the design is ready. We’ll need to go out, obviously, to engage some contractors to be able to undertake it, and the project will be project managed by council staff. The time frame is up to two years, so we're expected to take two years for its completion. And, with the announcement, we'll be now looking at the commencement dates and getting all of those things set up following today's announcement. And so that's what we're working towards. 

JOURNALIST: Fantastic. 

JOURNALIST: It's a little bit- sorry, it's a little bit of like maybe a nuts and bolts question but we've talked about turning it into sort of a social space. Does that mean that- I know you talked about turning it into a single lane so a lot of work on the footpaths and a lot of work in terms of like kerbside roads, things like that, so it's a lot of actual physical manual labour will need to get done first?

MICHAEL ANNEAR: That's exactly right. So, the entire road will be removed and replaced with a brand new road. And there will be no separated footpaths in height, it'll be all one single continuous surface in which there will- so effectively, we'll be having, upgrading the footpath and brand new roads, there'll be pedestrian crossings at Lyttleton Street just down the road. There’ll be seating, there will be stages, more vegetation to try and make it more appealing and attractive, help people who want to have a rest, to engage, to connect socially both within shade and across the whole site. 

So, the road networks will be broken up and will be restricted from access at different points of the project. And we'll be staging that to reduce the impact on, particularly, the access to the town hall, to the library, to community house, et cetera. So, we've got a stage plan. 

One key important aspect of the project will be the removal of the power lines so all of the power will be undergrounded. And we'll also be including new street lighting for safety and for security for the people using that area. 

CATHERINE KING: Lovely. All right, thank you. That’s so exciting and interesting. Thank you.

ENDS