Prime Minister Julia Gillard today officially opened the new and already highly popular community learning centre in Wyndham Vale.
The new centre is providing a comprehensive range of much needed services for the people of Wyndham Vale, which is one of Wyndham's fastest growing areas.
The Prime Minister toured the Centre with Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean today.
The Centre has maternal and child health consulting rooms, kindergarten rooms, consulting areas for agencies and Government departments, a community learning area with 16 computers, a youth lounge area and a library.
The library features state of the art technology which allows people to check-out electronically tagged books themselves.
The Centre has seen around 7,000 people use its facilities each week since July this year. The library alone now has 5,000 patrons and nearly 350 members.
The Gillard Labor Government provided more than $2.3 million to help build the Centre, working closely with the Victorian Government and Wyndham City Council.
The funding came out of the Government's $1.1 billion Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program which supports local infrastructure projects, like the Centre, across Australia.
More than $83 million has been allocated to help build projects under this program in the western Melbourne region alone.
For example, the Gillard Government provided $9 million to help build a state of the art kitchen which prepares essential meals on wheels services for several local councils in the Hobson's Bay area.
The new Brimbank Gardens Community Hub and sporting complex at Derrimut received $3 million for construction from the Gillard Government.
The Government also provided nearly $3 million to help build the Milleara Family and Community Hub with the Moonee Valley City Council, incorporating a child care centre, a maternal and child health centre and kindergarten.
Wyndham is the fastest growing local government area in all of Victoria - and the third fastest in Australia.
Wyndham Vale is one of Wyndham's growth fronts with a population expected to increase from today's 18,000 residents to nearly 40,000 by 2026.
The Gillard Government is working hard to jointly establish the right facilities to meet the growing needs of communities like those in Wyndham.
Great community projects like these are providing thousands of jobs opportunities around the country.
Many local tradespeople and suppliers were engaged during the construction of the new centre at Wyndham Vale which now supports 20 permanent jobs.