Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate the member for Lalor on bringing this important motion to the House and I would like to congratulate the member for Indi for her contribution to the debate. They both show that they really understand what regional grants are about. This is unlike speakers on the other side, who just seem committed to going back to the old days of the Regional Solutions program or, should I say, the 'regional rorts project' that in my area saw the then government funding—

An opposition member: Tumbi Umbi Creek.

Tumbi Umbi Creek! Yes, which was actually flushed out by the rain.

This program was a project that had a high level of accountability. It was very transparent; for any project to be funded it had to pass the highest level of scrutiny. This is unlike the previous Regional Solutions program where it just depended on whether you were a mate of the government of the day to get funded.

I am very disappointed about a program funded in my area—and I might add that the funding for these projects was allocated in the budget, well and truly before the election period; any project that was announced was signed off before the government went into caretaker mode. So these were not promises; these were funded projects. The project in my area that I am so disappointed about is the Gulgul Barang project that was to be run in conjunction with the Darkinjung Aboriginal people and local community groups.

It was a fantastic project, because it was a whole-of-community effort. The Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council donated the land and sat down in conjunction with the San Remo Neighbourhood Centre, the Central Coast Medicare Local, Youth Connections, ET Australia and the local advisory group, Better Futures, Local Solutions, and came up with this project.

The northern part of Wyong shire has absolutely no facilities whatsoever. The Wyong Shire Council tends to ignore the fact that there are people up there who really need resources and services that they can use. This was a recognition of the fact that people in that area do not have any training facilities and do not have anywhere that they can meet or use as a hub. This new centre was to be an innovative learning hub for the whole of the area. It was going to deliver community based health care, training and skills development and also community and cultural engagement. There was going to be an arts precinct to encourage local artists, cultural presentations and also an iDialogue cafe to set up a digital connectivity community.

There was broad based consultation with community groups and a lot of work had already been done. The DA was about to be presented and considerable financial costs had been incurred by the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council because there was a high level of commitment to this project, which was really needed in the area. Then we had the coalition government elected and they have walked away from it. They have walked away from the people in the northern part of the Central Coast and shown that they have no commitment to the people in the Shortland electorate.

On the other hand, they agreed to fund projects that were in Liberal-held electorates and which were announced prior to the election. They stand condemned for the fact that they are ignoring the needs of the northern part of Wyong Shire Council, the southern part of Shortland electorate, and the people will judge them accordingly. We need resources there. This was a community project that was developed with strong partnerships between a number of different groups. I strongly support the motion that is before the House today, moved by the member for Lalor.

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