HUME: Huge growth in Kalkallo
Ros Spence, Kalkallo MLA (pictured), has spoken in State Parliament about the rapid growth of her electorate.
“The Kalkallo electorate continues to be one of the fastest growing regions in Victoria, with diverse residents of all stages of life. “And as it grows, the community relies on ongoing investment in services and infrastructure.
“The health of every Victorian remains one of the highest priorities for our government. That is why we are investing over $600 million to open and operate community hospitals across the state.
“This includes the Craigieburn Community Hospital, which provides local care as well as alleviating the pressure on nearby major hospitals,such as the Northern Hospital in Epping.
“It has been really terrific to visit the hospital as services have been introduced, with pharmacy, dialysis and dental services underway for some time.
“It is now expanding to include paediatric development and feeding clinics, as well as antenatal and preterm birth care. In the coming months we will see more services, such as lung cancer screening and a specialist insulin pump clinic.
“This is a really important addition to our
local community, and I look forward to even more services progressively rolling out.
“The budget also provides funding to continue operating urgent health clinics, ensuring that the Craigieburn urgent care
clinic can keep delivering vital services for Craigieburn and the wider community.
“With extended hours, bulk billing and no appointment needed, these clinics are terrific for those who need urgent care but not an emergency response, again, freeing up our emergency departments and providing care close to home.
“As Minister for Community Sport, I know that sport plays a vital role in physical health, mental wellbeing and community connection.
“It is important to many Victorians, including those in Kalkallo, but we need to make sure that cost is not a barrier to that participation.
“That is why this government introduced the Get Active Kids voucher program in 2020, and that is why programs to support participation are even more important in this current cost-of-living crisis that is faced by families.
“That is why this budget provides $20.3 million over two years to continue community sport and active recreation programs, including the Get Active Kids voucher program.
“New funding of $15 million will enable the program to be delivered for a further two years. This is an incredibly popular program where eligible families are able to apply for vouchers of up to $200 per child over two rounds, with the first opening in October, followed by another round in February 2026.
“The program is incredibly popular in the Hume LGA, including in Kalkallo, and I am delighted that this program not only is continuing but will add another 65,000 vouchers to the almost 190,000 vouchers already provided.
“There is also $20 million in this budget for community sport and active recreation infrastructure, including up to $400,000 for a new sports and community pavilion at Dwyer St Reserve, in the rapidly growing part of Kalkallo, and up to $500,000 to upgrade the Beveridge Recreation Reserve, which is needing to service more and more residents every year and for another round of the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund, which I encourage the Mitchell and Hume LGAs to submit applications for,” Ms Spence said.
“We have continued to open schools over the past 10 years – next year I might be opening schools 11, 12 and 13. So we are recognising that there is significant growth, and we are making sure that the facilities are provided so that people can access education nice and close to home.
“Alongside those schools, we have also got the adjacent kindergartens being built. Sometimes they are in the community centres that we fund with local councils, which provide not only the kindergarten services but also the maternal and child health services that Council deliver. I think we are up to about six to eight of those that we have opened in the last 10 years.
“They have been incredibly important for the local community, which does have a lot of babies being born every month – we are taking care of that. But also that we now have the adjacent kindergartens to the schools is really good. We recently opened one this year that was next to Wallan Secondary school, and that sits really nicely on that site,” Ms Spence said.