Lisa Neville

Works are underway to renew the heritage listed Queenscliff Station building, preserving its future and providing a boost for the Bellarine Railway.

Sporting clubs in Bellarine, will receive a share in more than $370,000 in funding as part of the latest round of health promotion foundation VicHealth’s...

The connection between Aboriginal people in Geelong and water will be further recognised following the announcement today of the first round of recipients of a...

It was a pleasure on Friday to spend some time with the Premier in Bellarine. Amongst other announcements, the Premier and I visited the site of the Drysdale bypass to celebrate the start of works. Uncle Bryon of the Wathaurong provided the welcome to country, and we also welcomed members of the Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association on the day. I take this opportunity to congratulate and thank the association for their ongoing input and support of the project, including their now publicly announced support for the traffic lights. Importantly construction company Decmil Group are commencing those works right now and will have the full paving of the way for the major construction works in September. The Drysdale bypass has been talked about for 40 years, and thanks to the Andrews government this major $117 million project is now being delivered.

It was a pleasure to be at the Geelong Football League Pride Cup on Sunday, 9 June, which was between Leopold and Newtown football and netball clubs. The Pride Cup is a local initiative to promote diversity and inclusion, and it has been embraced strongly by sporting groups and organisations in Geelong. The day kicked off with a widely supported function at the Leopold Sportsmans Club, where amongst other speakers Leopold president Brendan Thompson and Newtown present Shaun McWilliam spoke of the work done by the clubs in promoting diversity and inclusion within the clubs. I congratulate them both and also the Geelong Football League, all other supporting organisations including the Geelong Football Club and the various sponsors. It was enthusiastically supported, and I also want to congratulate Leopold on a very convincing win on the day.

I am pleased to be able to work closely with and on behalf of our dedicated Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigades right across the Bellarine — like earlier this year, presenting the keys for the new tanker at Mannerim and turning the first sod for a new station at Portarlington. It was with the same pride that I recently announced significant funding for upgrades at both the Leopold and St Leonards brigades. At Leopold on Monday, 7 May, it was great to meet up with a number of local CFA volunteer members to announce funding of $800 000 for the redevelopment of this very proud station. Leopold has seen significant growth in both population and infrastructure over recent years and as such the station is now very much in need of redevelopment. I take this opportunity to acknowledge all members of the Leopold fire brigade, led by Captain Ashley Browne, and thank them for their committed and untiring efforts in protecting their local and wider community. Following on from Leopold, last Monday, 4 June, I was pleased to visit the St Leonards station to announce $800 000 for the redevelopment of that station. The current station no longer meets the needs of the St Leonards and Indented Head communities, which are growing and which, of course, double in size over the summer period. The volunteers at St Leonards fire brigade, led by Captain Niki Habibis, have a proud and long history of responding to emergencies and keeping people safe. I congratulate all the St Leonards members for their dedicated and untiring work, and I am very pleased to work with them on building a new state‑of‑the art facility, which is well‑deserved by that community and those volunteers.