Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We should get back to the main event, which is creating jobs and a strong economy in Australia. Whilst I am pleased to be able to make a contribution tonight, it was very tough to sit through the one from the member for Jagga Jagga. We have the member for Rankin here, who was more than happy to jump in with an interjection at any time. I am sure, if they want to come up to my electorate, they would find out about living in the real world, and that is that in regional Queensland things are fairly tough. Certainly, the important thing for people in my electorate is creating jobs: creating employment and providing opportunities for our youth. That is what they want us to do and that is what we are getting on with.

This has been a good budget for business confidence, and I will give you really simple example. On the weekend, I went into one of the local gas providers and had a bit of a chat with the owner-operator, who said he had been doing it relatively tough. He had two staff he was considering retrenching because he simply did not have enough work. In the last two weeks, he has been absolutely flat out and, last week, he had a record week—in a business that has been in place for four years. Business is starting to pick up. The economy is strengthening. Confidence is what is important, and it is on the way up as well.

But it is important that we, as elected members of electorates across Australia, have a vision for our electorate. For me, that is an electorate where our economy is strong and resilient, an electorate where we can produce jobs for our youth. There are a number of projects on the list—certainly on my wish list, on the whiteboard and everywhere else—that we are trying to get over the line. The first one is the provision of a dive wreck at Hervey Bay. HMAS Tobruk is one of the Navy's great vessels which has been in service for many years. It was in Vanuatu not that long ago to provide relief to the people of Vanuatu. However, it is coming to the end of its useful life. In Hervey Bay, where we have a very strong recreational dive group and a very strong whaling group, we have all the infrastructure we require to expand. HMAS Brisbane, when it was sunk at Caloundra, lifted the local economy by some $5 million a year—$5 million worth of economic activity. The beautiful waters of Hervey Bay are warm all year round—and the sharks are certainly not that bad. I know we have competition. I know of a number of other areas that would like HMAS Tobruk for a dive wreck. But the water in the south is very cold and very deep—and, I am sure, full of Noahs. However, in Hervey Bay we have the infrastructure to make use of a vessel like HMAS Tobruk. I am very pleased that a local group has got together to put together all of the technical details for an application. We are working with our local councils, including the Bundaberg Regional Council and the Fraser Coast Regional Council. Like all things, there are always arguments about location: 'Location, location, location! Where should we put the vessel?'

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