Lily D'Ambrosio

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A Special Thank You to our frontline teams Dear friends, I want to thank the dedicated frontline teams at Northern Health, ambulance services, police and emergency services, Dianella Plenty Valley Community Health and the City of Whittlesea for the fantastic work they are doing every day under very difficult conditions. The Delta variant of COVID has proven to be very tough for all of us to manage and it’s taking longer than we’d all hoped. These local teams have been working extraordinary hours to keep us safe -  from getting information out to our local communities, to delivering testing and vaccinations or caring for those with COVID - we owe them our thanks and appreciation. To our teachers, school support people, students and parents: these times have been a great strain and we owe you so much by way of thanks and respect. The best way to thank them is to live our lives safely, get tested as soon as we have symptoms and get vaccinated. The sooner we can do this, the sooner we can get back to the things that matter most to all of us - being with the people we love. Thank you to each and every one of you for your patience and commitment to following the expert health advice. We will get through this together. If you need assistance on state government issues or further information, please feel free to contact my electorate office by calling tel: 9422 5171 or emailing me at lily.d'ambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au Warm regards, Lily D'Ambrosio MP Member for Mill Park Representing the communities of South Morang, and parts of Mill Park, Epping, and Wollert  EASING OF RESTRICTIONS Thanks to the incredible efforts of our community, our state hit our 70 per cent first dose vaccination target today – becoming the second state in Australia to do so. That's why Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has recommended some modest easing to restrictions from 11.59pm Friday, 17 September. Here are the major changes: -    Outdoor social interaction is added to the five reasons to leave home -    One person may meet another person from another household for a picnic, a walk, or another outdoor activity. -    Up to five adults (plus dependents) from two households will be able to gather outdoors if all adults present have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. -    Time permitted for exercise will increase from two to four hours per day. -    The 5 km travel limit from home will increase to 10 km -    Two people will now be able to train outdoors with a personal trainer. -    Skate parks and outdoor communal exercise equipment will reopen. -    Child-minding for school-aged children will be permitted if only one parent is an authorised worker. -    Up to five people will be able to attend an entertainment venue or physical recreation facility to broadcast a performance, class, or concert. -    Real estate inspections will resume by appointment only. Only people from the same household can attend the inspection appointment and the real estate agent must stay outdoors during the inspection. JOB DONE: PLENTY ROAD UPGRADE STAGE 2 COMPLETE It’s good to see Stage 2 of the Andrews Government’s Plenty Road Upgrade now done! All new lanes between Bush Bld and Bridge Inn Rd are now open and major works complete. With Stage 2, we’ve added almost 14km of new lanes in both directions and upgraded 12 intersections. I know it’s been frustrating at times but thank you for your patience during the build period. You’ll still see some minor finishing works until late October but this shouldn’t cause any disruptions. You can see an overview of the Upgraded Plenty Road here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKQR4E9Dy8 Our schools Planned Maintenance Program continues to support schools across Victoria to do essential repairs and upgrades. I’m pleased that in the recent round of funding, Mill Park Heights Primary School and The Lakes South Morang College will receive $55,000 and $30,000 respectively to keep their buildings working well and looking good. In the past seven years, the Andrews Labor Government has invested $10.0 billion in building new schools and upgrading more than 1,700 schools. And we’ve created 13,500 jobs in construction along the way! I’m really pleased to see  that we’ll soon have more social housing built in and for our local community! We’re investing more than $6 million to build 20 new homes - 9 in Epping and 11 in Wollert. The dwellings in Wollert will support Aboriginal women escaping family violence and older women at risk of homelessness. This is being delivered in partnership with Women’s Housing Ltd. Meanwhile, the Epping housing will be delivered in partnership with VincentCare Community Housing. These dwellings will support those in greatest need including people living with mental illness, disability and homelessness. All up, the Andrews government is investing $18 million to deliver 68 new social housing homes in the broader Whittlesea municipality. This is a part of our $5.3 billion Big Housing Build - building 12,000 new homes and boosting social housing supply by 10 percent and creating 10,000 jobs each year over the next four years. GREAT SUCCESS: VACCINATION CENTRE AT BAPS SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR IN MILL PARK I would like to thank the Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Mill Park for hosting a pop-up state-run vaccination centre at their Heath Court temple. Managed by DPV Health, this centre made it easier for our local community to get vaccinated. As a result of this collaboration over 885 people received vaccinations at the BAPS Mandir in the 4 day period of the pop-up vaccination centre. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have rolled up your sleeves or booked in to get vaccinated and urge those who are not vaccinated yet to book their vaccination appointment right now. It's only getting easier to book your appointment as from Monday 13 September, suburbs in the City of Whittlesea are in the 100 priority postcodes. That means thousands of additional vaccine appointments available at our state-run vaccination hub at Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre in South Morang. And if you have any questions about the vaccine please speak to your doctor or pharmacist. You can book your appointment by visiting portal.cvms.vic.gov.au  or calling 1800 675 398.

Dear Friends, I hope you are all well and safe during these trying times. I just wanted to give you a quick update on a few things that have been happening in our community. Please read on for some of the highlights. If you need assistance on state government issues or further information, please feel free to contact my electorate office by calling tel: 9422 5171 or emailing me at lily.d'ambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au Warm regards, Lily D'Ambrosio MP   Please like my Facebook page for more frequent updates - Lily D'Ambrosio MP- $250 Power Saving Bonus available for low income families  Our government's $250 Power Saving Bonus has helped more than 6,000 families in the Mill Park electorate with their electricity bills. I urge you to check if you are eligible and if you haven't applied to receive this one-off payment, please do so.  You still have plenty of time to apply as this payment will be available until 31st January 2022. Please contact my office if you'd like help with the application or apply through Victorian Energy Compare. The $250 Power Saving Bonus is available once to households with at least one resident receiving payments under an eligible concession program, including Centrelink or The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Pensioner Concession, JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Abstudy, or Austudy, or holds a DVA Gold Card. ENROLMENTS NOW OPEN FOR NEW SCHOOL WOLLERT PRIMARY Things are progressing fast at our new Wollert Primary School site. This new school is located at 131 De Rossi Boulevard, Wollert and with enrolments now open Wollert Primary is scheduled to receive its first students in Term 1, 2022. You can visit www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au to find out if you live within the Wollert Primary School zone. Presently, the school is only accepting enrolments from within the zone. Families wishing to enrol their children at the school can complete the Wollert Primary School Enrolment Expression of Interest form. Wollert Primary School is a Supported Inclusion School. This means the school will be equipped with additional amenities to support and enhance learning for students with disabilities. This new school is part of the Victorian Government's $438.6 million investment in new schools in our state. In addition to the school, a kinder and a community centre is being built next to the Wollert Primary site. The new kinder will help local children make a smooth transition from pre-school and reduce the number of drop-offs for many parents with kinder and school aged children. The community centre will include three kindergarten rooms and is funded by the Victorian Government and the City of Whittlesea. Our government's contribution to the community centre is $2.75 million and funded under our Building Blocks funding stream. Three-Year-Old Kinder is one of the Andrews Labor Government’s most significant reforms and we want to celebrate the statewide roll out in 2022 by giving out special Kinder Kits to all enrolled three year old children at the start of next year. We are also calling out for local businesses to apply to help fill these kits with fun, educational materials and help give our three year olds the very best start to their learning journey. Thanks to an $8 million investment in the Victorian Budget 2021/22, the specially designed kits are being created to complement kinder learning by offering fun and creative activities to continue learning at home with the family. To help to keep jobs local and support Victoria’s economic recovery from the pandemic, the materials for the kit will be sourced locally and produced sustainably where possible. Our local businesses can find more about the sourcing of materials process and to apply to design or provide materials for the Kinder Kits visit tenders.vic.gov.au $1,000 TO STAY WARM FOR LESS IN WINTER Do you have an old heater that needs to be replaced? If yes, you might be eligible to receive $1,000 towards the replacement of  your heating system and install an energy efficient reverse cycle system. We are helping thousands of low-income Victorians upgrade their inefficient heaters – improving the comfort of their homes, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and saving households up to $300 per year on their energy bills. In early August I announced the start of our government's Home Heating and Cooling Upgrades Program. The program provides $1,000 rebates to support low-income households to replace their old heaters with energy-efficient reverse-cycle systems that can warm their home in winter and cool it in summer. The rebates are now open to owner-occupier households with an approved concession card or a combined household income of less than $90,000 and could cover more than half of the typical efficient reverse-cycle system. We are also working on how to extend the program to renters in the coming months. Additional rebates of $200 are available to cap old gas heaters, and $500 to upgrade electrical switchboards. To learn more about the program and to apply for a rebate visit the program website. I would like to share some great news for commuters and drivers in the Mill Park electorate. Our government has recently announced the removal of another level crossing on the Mernda line. The level crossing at Keon Parade in Keon Park is set to go allowing for more trains and supporting small business and hundreds of jobs as our economy continues to recover from the pandemic. Since 2016, the Labor Government has removed one level crossing on the Mernda line and started removing another four, while three new stations have been built or are underway. Removing this extra crossing will mean six level crossings on the line will be gone for good – improving safety, reducing congestion and allowing more trains to run without frustrating boom gate delays. Early investigations suggest the most likely design to remove the Keon Parade crossing will be a rail bridge over the road, however engineers will continue to assess and refine this option before designs are finalised. The removal of the Keon Parade level crossing  will be delivered by 2025.