Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Great Ocean Road is one of our most iconic tourist attractions. For overseas tourists the rock, the reef and the road are the three must-sees. So I begin my address by issuing a call to arms to Australians and those planning a visit to Australia alike: come to the Great Ocean Road and take one of the best road trips you will find anywhere in the world.

I speak with enormous pride about the Great Ocean Road. It is the centrepiece of a regional tourism industry which delivers $2.1 billion to the Australian economy, it supports thousands of local jobs and it is of enormous historical significance. And let us not forget the importance of tourism to our national economy: tourism is our largest services export, with international visitor consumption of $26 billion—representing over eight per cent of total Australian exports.

The Great Ocean Road is the world's largest war memorial. As I noted in my first speech in this place, it is a road which begins in Torquay and weaves its way past magnificent surfing beaches, including the iconic Bells Beach, national parks, rugged sandstone and limestone cliffs, white beaches and through vibrant coastal communities—places like Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne and Apollo Bay—to Cape Otway and beyond, all the way to the Twelve Apostles. It is a journey made possible by the sweat and toil of the returned soldiers of the Great War who built this iconic road between 1919 and 1932.

These days, 1.7 million tourists travel the Great Ocean Road each year. It has a special place in my own life. Every Easter, as a young family, we would make the trek down the Great Ocean Road to stay in the Wye River caravan park. There we would camp by the river and eat more Easter eggs than desirable, which made the trip home along that windy road particularly perilous. Much of the Great Ocean Road winds along the coast in my electorate of Corangamite, perhaps the most beautiful electorate in the country.

It was also with great pride that our government committed $25 million to the upgrade of the Great Ocean Road, matched by another $25 million from the Victorian government. This is not just an investment in tourism but in jobs, road safety and our regional economy. That is why building the roads of the 21st century—the infrastructure of the future—is so important. Over five years, this upgrade will fund important maintenance works: road surface maintenance; improvements to roadside cuttings and drainage; restoration of structures such as bridges, culverts and retaining walls; and resurfacing. These are basic but vitally important works.

On this point, I must pay credit to the G21 Geelong Region Alliance, which led the campaign to upgrade the road—the OMGreatOceanRoad! campaign. The five councils represented by G21, the G21 board and particularly the CEO, Elaine Carbines, all played an important role. The upgrade garnered widespread support from business, local residents and, importantly, local tourism bodies led by the likes of Roger Grant and Rex Brown. They understood how important this was to our regional economy.

Unfortunately the only ones against the upgrade were the Labor Party and the former member for Corangamite, Darren Cheeseman. It was one thing to be against it, but Labor ran a dishonest and deceitful campaign in an attempt to score cheap political points. Mr Cheeseman claimed, incredibly, that the Liberals were planning to dynamite the cliff tops to prevent rockfalls and widen the road. I particularly draw your attention to a story in the Geelong Independent on 26 July 2013: 'Liberals to 'dynamite' Ocean Road, says MP.' Mr Cheeseman also falsely claimed we were planning to build a four-lane freight highway. This level of dishonesty was unfortunately characteristic of the sort of campaign that Labor ran in Corangamite and, frankly, I was shocked. So were many community leaders who were stunned by the antics of their then local federal member of parliament.

In arguing the federal government should play no role in maintaining or investing in the Great Ocean Road, Darren Cheeseman failed to stand up for his community and federal Labor turned its back on one of the nation's most important tourism attractions. The road is listed on the National Heritage register and that is important. But, again, we saw Labor fall down badly over its campaign to include the road on the World Heritage List. Labor did not do some basic research: under the current criteria, an operational road would not be eligible.

As a strong local voice, I fought very hard for this funding, as did my good friend the member for Wannon—Wannon, of course, being the home of the Twelve Apostles—and it was with great pride that we joined the Prime Minister and the Victorian Minister for Roads, Terry Mulder, to announce our $50 million election commitment last August. Work is already underway to deliver on this important commitment. I took part in a range of community consultation sessions in Anglesea, Lorne and Apollo Bay, and they were incredibly important opportunities for our community and the vital communities along the coast to have their say—to give their input and provide their feedback on the works they want to see on the Great Ocean Road. We have ensured that $15 million of federal funding for the upgrade was brought forward to this financial year. Again, this is symbolic of our commitment—that we are getting on with the job.

On 1 December last year, the Victorian Minister for Roads and I announced a $1.2 million upgrade along a two-kilometre stretch of road in Lorne, between Stony Creek and the roundabout at Deans Marsh Road. Then, on 16 December, Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Anglesea to announce a $1.8 million upgrade in that town. My friend the member for Wannon has also made an announcement in his electorate—again, a very strong reminder that, having made this commitment, we are getting on with the job of delivering and we are doing it now.

Our commitment to the Great Ocean Road is just part of the story. In conjunction with the state government, the work is underway to duplicate the Princes Highway between Waurn Ponds and Winchelsea, a $171 million project, and the vital planning is underway to duplicate the next section of the Princes Highway, a $515 million project. The duplication of the Princes Highway is incredibly important for our region. It will drive economic prosperity and business confidence, and it will link the towns of Winchelsea, Birregurra, Colac and beyond. Mr Deputy Speaker Kelly, you might remember a number of years ago the then opposition leader, Mr Abbott, visiting that stretch of road and having a very near call. There are many very tragic stories about that road. I am incredibly proud of our commitment to duplicating that road.

Our government has also committed $1.5 billion to Melbourne's East West Link, a critically important project for south-west Victoria. This will open up south-west Victoria, addressing the quagmire that commuters in Geelong are currently facing when they try to reach Melbourne and they come to what is no less than a car park in the lead-up to the West Gate Bridge. So it is a very important infrastructure project for our region and one that, very unfortunately, Labor is opposing. The federal government, led by our infrastructure Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is getting on with the important job of building the roads of the 21st century. I commend this motion to the House.

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