Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the opportunity that a fly-in fly-out terminal at Gold Coast Airport, within my electorate of McPherson, has to offer. The Gold Coast has a business advisory group, known as the Business Gold Coast Advisory Board, that works with key business development organisations throughout the region to strengthen and diversify the Gold Coast's economic base and to encourage national and international business investment. I recently attended an advisory board meeting where one of the consulting firm's mentors gave a comprehensive presentation on fly-in fly-out. The business leaders in attendance at that meeting were very supportive of its development on the Gold Coast for two reasons: firstly, because we already have the infrastructure in place to support fly-in fly-out; and, secondly, because the Gold Coast has a skilled workforce and is well placed to provide skilled workers to the mining and resources sector.

We also have a significant amount of infrastructure that would greatly support a fly-in fly-out operation. We have 33 schools on the southern Gold Coast, both government and non-government; we have hospital facilities in the Robina Hospital and the John Flynn Private Hospital; we have Southern Cross and Bond universities; we have a number of registered training organisations; we have childcare centres; and we have sufficient public transport services to adequately support a fly-in fly-out operation. We also have a number of shopping centres, including the Robina Town Shopping Centre, which during its construction was claimed to be the largest retail and leisure development ever built in one stage in Australia. We also have four other major shopping centres within the electorate and on the southern Gold Coast; the Pines Elanora Shopping Centre, Stockland Shopping Centre and Treetops Plaza in Burleigh Heads and Showcase on the Beach at Coolangatta. Our coastal strip and inland communities are filled with retail spaces, cafes and restaurants and we have local RSL clubs, surf clubs and other local community organisations. We are well prepared to provide support to the families of the fly-in fly-out workers, which is essential.

By utilising our current educational infrastructure and resources on the Gold Coast we can facilitate an educational hub to develop the skills required for this industry to work in harmony with the proposed fly-in fly-out arrangements. This could create a variety of benefits, including a boost to the tertiary education take-up rate on the Gold Coast, a boost to the local economy and the development of a skilled workforce in the mining and resources industry. The growth that would be experienced could then lead to a more diverse range of services and courses provided by tertiary institutions on the Gold Coast. By utilising what is currently available and harnessing new opportunities, a centre of excellence in both the tertiary education and the mining and resources industries could be developed on the Gold Coast.

The unemployment levels on the southern Gold Coast have consistently been higher than the national average. Figures for August show that it is currently at 6.9 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent in the same period last year, so the unemployment levels are certainly tracking upwards. This is due in some part to the fact that we have been a tourism and construction dominated economy for quite some time, but what that does provide us with is the opportunity to provide a skilled workforce into the mining and resources sector. Again, we are clearly very well placed to support a fly-in fly-out facility. There is currently a House standing committee conducting an inquiry into fly-in fly-out and also drive-in drive-out workers in regional Australia. I understand that there will be a number of submissions to that inquiry from the Gold Coast, and I certainly encourage those on the Gold Coast with an interest, particularly in fly out, to submit to that inquiry. I am very hopeful that the committee will visit us here on the Gold Coast so that it can see what we have to offer for a fly-in fly-out terminal. As a community we need to continue to look at ways of improving our local economy and increasing jobs, and I would welcome further investigations into a fly-in fly-out terminal.