Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill No. 3 2014-15 and related bills. These appropriation bills authorise approximately $1.74 billion in additional expenditure for the 2014-15 budget and onwards. They provide for the ordinary annual capital works and services of government; they provide payments to states, territories and local government authorities; and they fund the services of parliamentary departments. They are measures to save money for the Commonwealth, but at the same time judiciously they fund those initiatives which become an integral part of any community across this nation. My electorate of Hasluck understands that we need to pay down Labor's debt, but I am disappointed at the position we have been left in. Contrary to the previous member's comments that governments knowing full well what the books look like and what the Treasury shelves contain in the way of funding key initiatives, every government I have ever known or worked for, whenever there has been a change, has had the challenge of ascertaining what is currently within the Treasury coffers and what is not available for some of the commitments they have made.

I am disappointed that the number of measures that would benefit our community are now not within reach. I am disappointed every time I get a call from a community organisation because I have to advise them that they may have fewer resources in the future. These organisations play a significant role in the way they help families who struggle financially and who at times get themselves into a situation where the advice from these organisations makes an incredible difference. The coordination they do in referring people to the right agencies, solving problems as well as working through with the family measures they can undertake in order to get themselves out of the situation that they are in. I think of some of the community facilities that local governments, organisations and groups of people have raised with me. There are those who have retired from the workforce and who want to build a new centre to replace the existing ageing one, and I indicate to them that I will certainly go into bat for them. I tell them I would certainly be approaching the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance to look at the possibility of funding being in the pipeline of forward estimates, while also indicating to them, because of the economic circumstances that we find ourselves in, that it may not be possible to fund them within the next two years. I think too about playing grounds that are associated with those community facilities; they provide a place for mothers with children to come together and spend time in the centre. Such engagement is an important part of belonging. When they ask you whether there is a possibility for the funding of replacement playground equipment, it is challenging; again you have to deliver some hope and aspiration but at the same time indicating the reality.

In my electorate I have a number of men's sheds, and the number has grown substantially. They are great initiatives that bring those who have retired out of their homes to connect with other men, to talk about some of the challenges that they experience, to learn new skills and to enjoy the comradery of other men who have retired. Again, they want to expand the Kalamunda Men's Shed would like to build another section to have a metalwork component to what they do. But at the moment that is not feasible, although there are opportunities of looking at Lotterywest and other charitable organisations to assist.

In my electorate, I have worked with a group of women to create the powder room. They came to me with a concept about the number of fly-in fly-out wives who do not have an adult conversation at night, or who do not have adult connection, and the need for women to support each other. In working together we acquired a building from the Shire of Kalamunda, who were generous in giving a peppercorn rental. The shire came to the party and refurbished the building so that it could be used by the women. They would like to have it operating full-time, but there is no capacity. Again, this is because the financial avenues that were open to them previously cannot support what they hoped to do. Nevertheless, I continue to work with them to make sure that women who play an important part within their families, and within the community, have a centre they can go to and share experiences, thoughts and ideas and look at some enterprising activities that they can do together. The spin-off of that is their teenage daughters have also asked if they can become part of the powder room. It is a great concept, and they are going to have the support of the men's clubs.

I look at these sporting and recreational facilities that do not exist within my electorate. It is a challenging area when you think of the socioeconomic dynamics. The three local governments that I meet with regularly talk to me about key initiatives that they would like to undertake not only out of the ratepayers funds that come in to them, but also the opportunity of some shared arrangements with the Commonwealth and states, including Lotterywest, again in Western Australia, to provide the best possible facilities that engage and support the people that they represent within their local government catchment areas. It is disappointing when you see great ideas that are not going to be able to be supported to the extent that they should. But it does not mean that they have not accessed some Commonwealth funding. At least their planning and the work that they do are developed in phases. So they still bring to the community those things that are important, but it would be better still if there were the immediacy of funding.

Within the Shire of Kalamunda, the rugby union club that we have is quite a strong club, connecting some 400 players and families. They would love a new clubroom and facilities that would enable them to host the east metropolitan competition and engage clubs across the metropolitan area from Guildford through to Armadale. They need lighting that allows them to have night games and so be part of the night competition, but there is no funding for that at the moment. They will continue to have that aspiration and continue to work together to get that in the ultimate future. The Kalamunda union league club have a similar issue with a ground that is on an old rubbish site. They have had to develop facilities. The Shire of Kalamunda have built the ground up so that it is not sinking. Again, it is a club that would like to have facilities that meet the needs of their growing numbers of players who are part of that community. Kostera oval, where there is the AFL component of the football codes, also has the same challenge. They need an improvement in the quality and the size of the grounds. Again, this is through the process of finding that we do not have the level of funding that was there when the Howard government left office—in the Future Fund and in other funds. That is not an avenue through which they can reach.

There are unmet mental health needs within my electorate. I have had forums on the issues that face families who are confronted with challenges around somebody whom they love and care for having a mental health problem. It would be good to access a raft of programs that are localised and available. I think of the unmet aged care needs in my electorate. At the moment I am chairing a working group with a number of key leaders, including Sue Bilich, from the Shire of Kalamunda, where we are looking at sites within the Shire of Kalamunda. At the moment, if you become old and you need aged care then there is nowhere for you to stay within Kalamunda. The waiting lists for the existing facilities are substantial. So you have families taking their mother or their father down to Rockingham or to Salter Point or to Joondalup. The public transport on a weekend to these facilities is not brilliant, so if they have an aged husband or wife, we are, in a sense, separating partnerships of a husband-wife combination by putting them into facilities where they are distant to each other. The appropriation processes are absolutely critical in the minds of constituents, because they look to Commonwealth governments to fund a number of these initiatives, but because of the squandering over the last six years that capacity is not there.

I have within my electorate the Perth Heat baseball club. It is an incredible club that has had outstanding achievements over the last five years, including four national titles. They have a ground where the facilities need upgrading. If there were the opportunity to upgrade these facilities then I know from their discussions with me that they would like to be part of an Asian competition for baseball. This would grow the interest of competition between our Asian neighbours and create the opportunity for Perth to become a key, central point for national baseball in the way in which we compete on the international level. Their ambition also is to have a test series between Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa. The other stage they would like to move to is bringing American baseball teams down here to play in Australia so that we get exposed to some of the players that we often hear about, who are iconic within American society. But it is only a small amount and part of the challenge is that I, along with every other member, compete for what is left within the available funding. The challenge is in the way in which we have to consider providing limited resources.

I have a strong Arabic community that would like a facility of their own—a hall—which they do not have to hire in which they can come together and where the representatives of Arab nations that live within my electorate can—

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