Pakenham Gazette - 11th October 2023

MP grilled over housing

Just days into her new role as Housing Minister, Eastern Victoria MP Harriet Shing has already found herself in the hot seat, questioned on the Labor Government’s commitment to public housing.

In parliament on 3 October, Northern Metropolitan MP Samantha Ratnam grilled Ms Shing on the State Government’s recent housing reform plans.

Accusing the Labor Government of failing to respond to the scale of the Victorian housing crisis, Dr Ratnam quizzed Ms Shing on the plan to “retire and transform” 44 public housing towers across the state, in exchange for “modern, accessible homes”.

STORY PAGE 5

Call for help

A Victorian coroner has called for targeted mental health resources for international students in the wake of an investigated suicide cluster, including a Berwick-based student in July 2020.

It was part of a probe into five international students’ suicides at four different Victorian universities in 2020.

The unidentified Monash University IT student’s death in his bedroom at his uncle’s family home could not have been reasonably foreseen, Coroner Simon McGregor ruled on 2 October. “No one bears responsibility for this tragedy,” he said.

The student from India may have acted impulsively while upset with difficulties with study, the coroner stated.

STORY PAGE 7

Rising star

The best scooter rider in the state is a regular of Pakenham skatepark.

Six-year-old Max Thomas has taken his passion for riding - that started only two years ago - now becoming one of the best skaters in the country in the under 7s class.

STORY PAGE 9

Bridge backtrack

By Corey Everitt

Newly appointed Shadow Minister for Public Transport, Matthew Guy, paid a visit to Bunyip this week to blast the State Government’s“mismanagement” of the Gippsland Line Upgrade.

The upgrade aims to duplicate a large section of the line including between Bunyip and

Longwarry, which would see more frequent and less congestedV/Line trains.

Two issues loom over the State Government’s ongoing upgrade of the rail line between Bunyip and Longwarry: the decision to backtrack on duplicating the Bunyip River Rail Bridge and when the overall project

will finally finish.

The former decision was hounded by Mr Guy saying the bridge duplication was the “priority” for regional commuters to see the full benefits of the line’s duplication, saying the“mismanagement” has come from the now Premier Jacinta Allan and Deputy Premier Ben

Carroll, both former Transport Ministers. Mr Guy was invited to Bunyip by Narracan MP Wayne Farnham who said the State Government “will brag about what they have done in the city, but ignore what needs to happen in Gippsland”.

STORY PAGE 3