James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over 11 years—absolutely terrible. And the Rudd Labor government has delivered not what she promised, which was $5 million, but $8 million, in full, in the first six months of this new government. All politics is local. We have delivered for the Mackay region.

Twenty million dollars will be spent in this financial year on the Townsville port access road. That is part of an overall development of $95 million. We will deliver on the basic essential infrastructure for the people of Dawson. Also in the Burdekin, in the sugarcane town of Ayr, the Burdekin bridge is going to have an upgrade worth $50 million over the next four years. And in this financial year we will deliver $4 million to begin that upgrade. Yes, all politics is local. And, yes, the Rudd Labor government is delivering for the people of Ayr and for the people of the Burdekin shire. We also believe in delivering skills, training and education for the people of Dawson. And, yes, we have delivered again—a $14 million Mining Technology Innovations Centre. The first $3.5 million will be delivered in this tax year. Yes, all politics is local. And, yes, we are delivering for the people of Dawson.

What is more, the previous member for the seat of Dawson promised funding, but never delivered one dollar, for the Mackay aquatic park facility, which was a joint venture between three levels of government: local government—Mackay city council—the state government and the federal government. The promise was made, but guess what? Not one dollar was delivered. It is left to this government to actually roll out $4 million in this financial year. We do deliver. All politics is local and we are delivering for the people of Dawson.

Not only that, we are also delivering $4.8 million in Roads to Recovery funding in this 2008-09 tax year. We have amazing growth in the seat of Dawson due to the ongoing resource mining boom. We have acres and acres of cane fields along the Bruce Highway being converted to industrial estates. Access to the Bruce Highway and the facilitation of the movement of goods and services is vital. I am pleased to say that we are delivering locally for the people of Dawson in helping productivity, and in upgrading the Connors Road and Farrellys Lane. We are going to deliver $1.1 million to get that process started to facilitate access to the Bruce Highway. Not only that, we will also be upgrading Farrellys Lane from Temples Lane through to Boundary Road—some 3.5 kilometres of road will be upgraded from a two-lane Bruce Highway to a four-lane Bruce Highway. The overall cost of that will be $50 million. So there is a total of $150 million being spent directly on the Bruce Highway by this Rudd Labor government in the seat of Dawson. And guess how much was delivered in the last 11 years? Nowhere near $150 million. We can talk in millions—and millions are great—but do you know what made me so happy? It was delivering for a soccer club in the northern beaches of Mackay (Time expired)

See this speech in context