Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Well, you should talk to the people who attend the community cabinets. We had some of your constituents at the one the member for Kingston referred to, and I think they enjoyed the opportunity to actually meet with senior cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister. Coming back to the formalities of this, I thank the member for Kingston in recognising the importance of this community cabinet initiative, which began under this government in January last year. Close 7,500 members of the public have attended these forums. They reflect the government’s commitment to providing opportunities for members of the public to raise issues of concern directly with the senior members of the government, as well as ensuring the government remains in touch with community expectations—expectations that members of the community will have an opportunity to voice directly to the ministers and, I think, expectations that the public feel that have not been met in the past.

This commitment is further embodied by the geographical spread of the locations where the community cabinet meetings have been held. These include at Canning Vale in south Perth in January 2008; Narangba in north Brisbane in March 2008; Penrith in Sydney’s west in April 2008; Mackay in Northern Queensland in June 2008; Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in July 2008; a very successful gathering at Hallett Cove in southern Adelaide in August 2008, the community cabinet to which the member for Kingston has just referred; Newcastle in September 2008; Launceston in November 2008; and Corio and Geelong in December 2008. A community cabinet meeting was also held Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west in February. The member for Macarthur was, in fact, there, believe it or not; he was invited and he turned up. There was another held at Ballajura in northern Perth in April, and I think another member of the opposition turned up to that. Most recently, there was a community cabinet meeting at Emerald Secondary College in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges, where I understand the member for La Trobe was invited by letter to participate but chose not to turn up.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the great work that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s community cabinet secretariat have done in coordinating these events. The feedback that I have received from members of the public and others who have attended these events has been unanimously positive and I think is a great credit to the secretariat within the department.

In coming back to the community cabinet at Hallett Cove in the electorate of Kingston, there were a wide variety of issues of concern raised and discussed. These included—and I know the member for Mayo will be very interested in this—the COAG Murray-Darling Basin intergovernmental agreement and the Waterproofing the South project, which the Commonwealth provided $34.5 million for. This project aims to provide recycled water and stormwater for urban reuse and viticulture for residents and businesses in the city of Onkaparinga around Noarlunga. Funding of up to $3.5 million was also approved for the McLaren Vale water plan, which also aims to substitute the use of mains water with recycled water. In this instance it is aimed at eligible irrigators in the southern portion of the Kingston electorate. The Wellington Weir and the Coorong wetlands are also of concern to the residents of Kingston. The weir will help secure drinking water for Adelaide residents though will permanently change the nature of the Coorong wetlands.

Other issues discussed include the proposed desalination plant at Port Stanvac, the closure of the Mitsubishi Motors plant at Tonsley Park and the assistance and retraining opportunities provided for by the Commonwealth. Over $50 million has been allocated to support affected workers in the region. I know that the Noarlunga rail line is an issue of significant interest to the honourable member for Kingston’s constituents and they will correspond with her daily on this particular issue. (Time expired)

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