Brunswick Labor.net

Babies and young families, home buyers and services are the big winners in the 2008-09 State Budget, Carlo Carli, Member for Brunswick said today.

“New figures released today show we are in the middle of a baby boom,” Mr. Carli said.

“Over 73,700 births recorded last year – the highest since 1971 and we are rolling out initiatives to make sure families have the services they need for their children.”

Speech to Parliament, Wednesday April 9th...

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- I wish to congratulate the City of Moreland for staging on Sunday, 13 April, the second Cyclovia event. Cyclovia was first staged in Moreland in 2006, and it involves closing Sydney Road to cars for 4 hours between the hours of 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. Basically it allows locals to walk, cycle, push the pram, rollerblade or take whatever other means of active transport they choose. It is really a celebration of reclaiming the streets, promoting health and promoting active forms of transport.


The movement has become worldwide. It started 30 years ago in Colombia, and it has now spread to countries like France, Italy and beyond, and obviously it has arrived in Moreland. It is a local event which tries to emphasise the importance to people's health of being active in their choice of transport, and which celebrates modes of transport other than the motor vehicle. It is an event which is designed not to totally close off Moreland from traffic, and obviously there are other roads that are made available for cars, but it certainly allows Sydney Road to be a great celebration point.


Moreland is the centre of the renaissance of cycling. My electorate of Brunswick has the highest proportion of people commuting to work in Melbourne. Many people now travel using bicycles.

The Eddington Report on East West transport links will be released today. The details have been splashed around the media over the last few days. As expected there will be a recommendation for an East West tunnel to join the Eastern freeway to Citylink and then over to the western suburbs joining up at Ballarat or even Geelong Rd.

The surprise is that Eddington has recommended that no such exits be built. He has accepted the argument that any exit ramps aimed towards the CBD would increase downstream congestion. This makes the project much more marginal for private investors. The economic model of the financial backers of the project was that money was to be made funnelling and tolling traffic into the CBD. It therefore makes it unlikely that the tunnel can be funded as a private sector toll road.

Therefore without significant State or Federal funding the tunnel will never be built. I also expect the poor cost benefit of the project will see the tunnel project fall over. There just is not much traffic that flows from western Melbourne to the Eastern freeway or vice a versa.

Eddington also proposes a very large rail project. This involves an underground metro link between Caulfield station, through to North Melbourne and then Footscray stations. In the long term this project is probably necessary to increase the capacity of the loop. However the debate will be whether there are more worthwhile rail projects in the short to medium term. Certainly outer areas of Melbourne will want to see extensions to rail provision ahead of increased capacity.

The cost of Eddington’s recommendation will be around $20 billion. More importantly there is a desire by the Brumby Government for an extended debate.

As a supporter of sustainable transport it is important that the debate is broad and looks not at just the issue of more roads and rail but the conditions that will allow for mobility with a reduction of car dependency. We need to look at world best practice and we need to at the transport divide in Melbourne. A divide between the public transport, walking and cycling friendly inner areas and the car dependent outer suburbs.

 A Victorian Government seed grant of $50 million will help deliver the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) solar power station to be built in northern Victoria, in a win for the state’s environment, innovation and economy.

The decision by TRUenergy to invest $290 million in renewable energy company Solar Systems to build the 154MW solar power station has been welcomed by the Brumby Government. Construction is due to begin in 2009, once the site has been finalised.

CERES Community Environment Park has received a $180,000 Eco Living Grant from the Victorian Government to refurbish the CERES EcoHouse and empower the community to respond to climate change.

CERES will be one of seven Eco Living Centres will be developed across the state for local residents to experience sustainability in action and learn how to apply sustainable measures at home.

With this funding, the CERES EcoHouse will be better placed to support the community by providing local programs and encouraging individuals to take action on climate change in their everyday lives.

People who catch the Route 510 bus along Moreland Road will benefit from extra services, including a new Sunday service.

From Monday, January 21, an extra 75 services a week and extended hours would mean more flexible travel options for people in Brunswick and Coburg.

The extra bus services will provide people with greater ability to travel to work, visit family and friends and access to the metropolitan train network.

For the first time Route 510 will run until 9pm on weekdays, Saturdays and Sunday with Saturday-timetabled services operating on public holidays, and Sunday-timetabled services operating on Christmas Day and Good Friday.

In addition to 42 new Sunday services, there will be 25 extra services throughout the week and eight extra Saturday services, providing improved transport options seven days-a-week.

Christmas has come early for the CERES Centre in East Brunswick thanks to an $800,000 funding boost from the Victorian Government, the Member for Brunswick, Carlo Carli announced today.

Carlo said CERES would receive a Victorian Community Support Grant to progress stage two developments of the CERES Community Environment Park, adding three community buildings, courtyards, landscaped gardens and accessible walkways.

Good quality community facilities are a common feature of happy, healthy and strong communities and the Victorian Government is delighted to be investing in this wonderful project,
The new development will comprise 12 indoor community workshop/meeting spaces for multipurpose use, a commercial kitchen, organic café and outdoor landscaped areas that can be used as a gathering space for concerts and festivals.

Our funding will ensure that CERES continues to play an important role in raising awareness of how we can each make a real difference to the environmental and social issues facing urban areas.

More than 90 bills were considered in Parliament this year and 74 bills were passed, as the Victorian Government got to work on implementing its election promises and continued to set the agenda for the future on important issues like the environment.

Parliament has passed a number of key bills in 2007, ensuring that Victoria continued to lead Australia in a number of areas. These include:

• The Victorian Energy Efficiency Bill, which will introduce energy efficiency targets for energy retailers to meet and will provide incentives for homeowners to save energy;
• The Infertility Treatment Bill – keeping Victoria at the forefront of medical research by allowing scientists to carry out stem cell research and to continue to pioneer new medical treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s;
  
• Increasing the assistance for Victims of crime and increasing sentences for a number of offences, including possessing a prohibited or controlled weapon;
  
• Strengthening the laws on DNA and enabling use of a national database;
  

Coburg will become Australi's seventh Solar City if Labor is elected on November 24 thanks to a commitment by Labor's Environment Spokesperson, Peter Garret.

Visiting the CERES Environment Park with local candidate Kelvin Thomson, Mr. Garrett said Coburg woudl join Adelaide, Townsville, Blacktown, Alice Springs, Perth and Central Victoria as a solar community.
Coburg Solar Village will model and fast track solar innovations and efficiencies directly assisting low and fixed income residents.

Maintaining Stage 3a water restrictions is a relief to the community and particularly community sport. The continuation of Stage 3a restrictions provides Melburnians with greater certainty over the next nine months while maintaining the existing savings by households, industry and the wider community.

Under Stage 3a water restrictions:

• A manual dripper system, hand-held hose fitted with a trigger nozzle, a watering can and a bucket can be used to water gardens as required on specified watering days between 6am - 8am*.
• An automatic dripper system can be used to water as required on specific watering days between midnight - 2am*.
• Cars can be washed at a commercial car wash. A bucket filled from a tap can be used to clean windows, mirrors and lights; and spot-remove corrosive substances.
• One in four sports grounds can be watered. Councils must complete a water conservation plan and ensure water use on these sports grounds is cut back by an additional 25 per cent.
  

* Even numbered properties can water on Saturday and Tuesday; odd numbered can water on Sunday and Wednesday. People aged 70 and over can water between 8 am and 10 am.

More details about the Stage 3a water restrictions are available at www.ourwater.vic.gov.au

This ad – John Howard's asleep on Climate Change - will have a national run. It will go to "air" this afternoon. (July 17).


It coincides with Mr Howard's attempt to address his 11 years of inaction on climate change. Today, Mr Howard said he would introduce an emissions trading scheme, but has refused to set a date. He has also refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate
change.

However, Federal Labor has strong and detailed plans on climate change. They include:

• Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol;
• Setting up a national emissions trading scheme;
  
• Cutting Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050;
  
• Setting up the $500 million National Clean Coal Fund;
  
• Funding Labor's Solar Home Power Plan to help families to install solar panels;
  
• Setting up a $500 million Green Car Innovation Fund designed to generate $2 billion to secure jobs in the automotive industry and tackle climate change by manufacturing low emission vehicles in Australia;
  
• Substantially increasing the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target;
  
• Commissioning the Garnaut Review - an Australian focussed equivalent of the UK-Stern Report on the impact of climate change on both the Australian economy and jobs; and
  
• Setting a target of making half of all Commonwealth cars in its fleet environmentally friendly by 2020.

Labor's Federal MPs representing Brunswick, Lindsay Tanner and Kelvin Thomson have started to use YouTube as an alternative means of getting their messages out in the electorate.

Here are a couple of their latest offerings, Lindsay Tanner of a winner takes all society and Kelvin Thomson on Labor's Plan for Green Homes.

In periods of adversity communities pull together, and that is exactly what has been happening in Moreland amongst the 12 soccer clubs in the area. Those clubs have now established the Moreland football forum. Over the summer only four soccer pitches were being watered, and basically a number of clubs did not have any facilities, any grounds or any training areas. The teams and the clubs came together and started to share grounds and support each other in a period of adversity. They are also providing a unified voice to deal with the council to ensure that there is a contingency plan for watering next season that will sustain the various clubs.

The clubs are numerous. There are 12 clubs in the Moreland area.

I did a little estimate and found that there are 149 teams, with something around 2500 players; the vast majority are juniors; women and girls are the fastest growing component, which is growing at an exponential rate; and there is also all the growth that followed the World Cup and the success of the Socceroos.

The 12 clubs have set aside their sporting rivalries to work together in a common cause. They are working together in a time of adversity to ensure the viability and sustainability of world football in the Moreland area. I congratulate all 12 clubs for their willingness to work together.

The Bracks Labor Government has announced a $4.9 billion plan to boost Victoria's water infrastructure, responding to the drought and climate change. Over the next five years the Government will

• build Australia’s largest desalination plant
• modernise irrigation systems in Victoria’s food bowl to capture lost water
• expand Victoria’s Water Grid – the network of rivers, channels and pipes linking our major water systems
• provide more water for regional centres including Geelong, Westernport, South Gippsland and Hamilton
• upgrade Melbourne’s Eastern Treatment Plant to provide more high grade recycled water
• support new and existing water conservation programs for Victorian homes and industry.

You can find out more at the ourwater.vic.gov.au or watch the video.

Carlo's press realease is over the fold.

Melbourne’s north could be home to a new premier league football facility with funding for a new study. Carlo Carli MP announced details of a ground breaking study into football (soccer) facilities across the north west region of metropolitan Melbourne at the football forum - a meeting of Moreland based football clubs at Dunstan Reserve in Brunswick West.

$60,000 has been provided by the State Government to enable Moreland, Moonee Valley and Hume Councils to consider and adopt a regional approach for the provision of premier league football facilities (soccer) in the north-west region of Melbourne.