Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I am sure I am going to get a reward when I get home for mentioning her in this speech. The professionalism, organisation and dedication that she brought to the campaign from her previous working life was second to none. Senator Alan Eggleston, who helped us on the campaign, also said he had not seen a more professional campaign than what Cheryle put together. It looks as though we are in for it again in close to a month's time. The WA Senate election has been announced and Western Australia will go back to the polls. I am sure that the division of Swan will be up for the fight and we will make sure that we return the same result that we had in the 2013 election.

We put forward positive local plans during the election. One of the main differences between our campaign and the campaigns of our opponents is that we outlined a positive plan for the future of the electorate of Swan. Others engaged in negative advertising and negative campaigning, with flyers being dropped into areas where they thought they could get a swing. The flyers were negative about me and my family. We made sure that we did not stoop down into the gutter and the match that negative campaigning. We ran a positive campaign and let the people of Swan know that that was what we were about. We wanted to win the election based on positivity not negativity.

I was keen to make sure that we provided a positive plan for people and that they understood it, because that is what the people of Swan deserve. To be elected as a member of parliament is to be elected as a leader in the community in which you serve. In my view, in this position you must have a plan for the area—not a headline, not a vision or an intangible dream that can never be achieved but a plan that can be delivered. At this election as in 2007 and in 2010, I saw it as my job to put forward a plan, articulate it to my community and seek their endorsement for its implementation over the next three years.

My plan for Swan is a five-point plan. The first part has a focus on delivering community infrastructure to meet our future needs. In particular, we focused on two areas: providing $45,000 for a feasibility study for a new regional aquatic centre in the Manning-Karawara precinct, and bringing the West Coast Eagles to the Lathlain oval in order to secure world-class sporting infrastructure for our community. Members from the 42nd and 43rd Parliaments will be aware of the importance which I place, as a member of parliament, on community infrastructure, facilities that not only provide important services—whether they be health, childcare or sporting facilities—but provide spaces where people in the local area can come together and interact. This is the basis of a strong community.

I publicly proposed the relocation of the West Coast Eagles AFL club to Lathlain oval three years ago, prior to the 2010 election, following the Liberal-National state government's announcement of its intention to build Perth's new stadium in the suburb of Burswood, adjacent to Lathlain in my electorate of Swan. I felt at the time the benefits from the creation of a wold-class sporting facility in the heart of the electorate of Swan would be enormous. Lathlain oval is home to the Perth Football Club, a WAFL club I have had a long involvement with, having run their junior development program whilst I was a director on the board. I am currently still a patron of the club.

I have seen my son Jarrad go through the ranks from under-14 development squads to playing in the AFL in 2011 and 2012, and now back to the Perth Football Club as a senior player. Many of his mates from the district have shared the PFC journey with him. The PFC is now ably led by Vince Pendal, who has over the years steadfastly protected the large tract of land at Lathlain oval from attempts at subdivision and attempts at pinching car-park space. The PFC has been keen to see the land retained for sporting use for the benefit of the community. I have been a keen advocate of the land being used to its full potential, to create a centre for sporting development for the whole community to use. I saw that the new stadium at Burswood provided this possibility, which was one of the reasons I was such a strong supporter of the Barnett plan.

After proposing this idea, I worked carefully behind the scenes with the West Coast Eagles to further develop and advocate for the idea. Over time, it went from a proposal to five options to a preferred option and then to a detailed concept plan, announced the day before the federal election. This will be a $60 million development, a world-class precinct with a David Wirrpanda Foundation, a cafe, a museum and an indoor swimming pool, with the community not shut out but welcomed in. The Eagles want to ensure they are inclusive of the community and not exclusive. There are many opportunities for schools from all suburbs of Perth to visit this fantastic development. The Eagles plan to make sure they involve as many people from the community of Lathlain, in my electorate.

The coalition has been a great supporter of the proposal. I will continue to work behind the scenes to bring this project to fruition for the benefit of the community. As I mentioned, it would not have been possible without the state government's bold move to relocate football to a multipurpose stadium at Burswood. There was a hiccup at the last state election, as the then member for Victoria Park and the Labor Party said that if they won the election they would keep the existing stadium, which is probably not suitable and not up to current AFL standards. After having numerous photos taken with the Premier and the local parliamentary secretary in charge of stadium procedures, the then member for Victoria Park back-flipped at the election and supported his leader by saying we should keep the stadium at Subiaco, despite saying for the previous six months that the stadium would be moved to Burswood. Again, we saw politics of opportunity being used by the Labor Party. We still had to seize the moment as a community and I was pleased to help bring to fruition this plan for the Eagles to come to Lathlain.

The second piece of community infrastructure we included in our positive plan for the electorate was a Liberal commitment of $45,000 for a feasibility study for a new regional aquatic centre in the Manning-Karawara precinct. This commitment is part of a local issues campaign I started in 2011 after hearing about the issue from one of my constituents. We ran a survey in the area and had responses from more than 1,000 people, with 98.7 per cent in favour of an aquatic centre. It was a local campaign worth pursuing. The local council did not have it in the corporate plan. One response I received from the town office was that to proceed with the centre a feasibility study would need to be done. The coalition came to the fore and committed $45,000 for the study. Last night the council had a meeting and the motion to accept the $45,000 was carried five to three, with some initial proponents who had objected to the idea of this community facility voting to accept the coalition's money. We look forward to having the study done.

The Manning-Karawara part of my electorate of Swan is a burgeoning area within the City of South Perth, adjacent to Curtin University, WA's largest university, yet neither Curtin University nor the City of South Perth operates public aquatic facilities. We ran a community survey, and so did the City of South Perth. Both demonstrated that an aquatic centre was a priority for the community and a year later I held a public meeting with the member for Bennelong. The member for Bennelong was good enough to present to the people of my electorate the successful sports mall model he had used prior to entering parliament. This model uses public-private partnerships, permitted under WA law. Strong interest was indicated by Curtin University, Western Australia Water Polo and a host of other organisations. In the meantime, the City of Canning had closed its aquatic facilities in Bentley and opened a brand-new complex in Cannington, increasing the need for facilities in the area surrounding South Perth. The $45,000 commitment by the coalition will provide an opportunity for the community to take this proposal to the next level.

This type of community infrastructure fits the present and future growth needs of this area and will complement the exciting Curtin proposal along with the planned medical school, which I fully support. The member for Pearce spoke last night in the adjournment debate about his support for the medical school and I know the member for Hasluck has also spoken in this place on his support for that school. Along with the Eagles' move to Lathlain, this has the potential to provide a new axis for sporting excellence in the electorate of Swan. I am proud that the Liberal Party made a commitment at the election that will help take this to the next level. I have made sure this funding has been offered to the City of South Perth on behalf of my constituents.

The electorate of Swan, as I mentioned in my maiden speech, takes its name from the rivers which form its boundary on virtually three sides. There was a redistribution in 2008 which added three suburbs to the south of the Canning River, yet the river and the wetlands it feeds remain the dominant environmental features of the electorate. As a result, the continuous improvement of our river system is an environmental imperative in the electorate of Swan, one I have spent much time working on during the previous six years, particularly with the environmental groups in the Canning River Regional Park—the Wilson Wetlands Action Group, the CRRP Volunteers and, of course, SERCUL.

I am proud that, through consultation with the groups and active engagement of coalition ministers with the wetlands and the river, we managed to secure a unique commitment from the coalition. That commitment is $1 million for the Swan-Canning River Recovery Program focused on the Canning Wetlands. This is a recommitment of the 2010 funding. The funding is to be targeted at the management of weeds, specifically hydrocotyle. Revegetation and education programs will also be targeted, and will be directed by a group of volunteers. There has been recent press coverage in the electorate about the expansion of hydrocotyle. It needs to be dealt with, and I am glad we have made that commitment and will support volunteer groups.

The commitment is about local action on the ground to improve the environment in the electorate of Swan. It is not a grand scheme to overhaul river management, as some academics have mistaken it to be. It is about getting real results by tapping into the expertise of our local environmental volunteers who know how to build on the excellent work they have already started. I would particularly like to thank the Minister for the Environment and the Assistant Minister for the Environment, who are great believers in this project having visited the wetlands in my electorate and backed this commitment twice, in 2010 and 2013. I further note that for the last two federal elections the Liberal Party has been the only party to commit to a project in the Canning River Wetlands. The Greens and Labor have been silent. Now, with a coalition government, it finally can be delivered and I look forward to being a part of the process, along with the volunteer groups.

Part 3 of the local plan we put forward covers support for the delivery of local road upgrades including the $1 billion Gateway WA project, to be delivered without a mining tax which destroys jobs and raises very little revenue. Gateway WA is about securing the future of industry and jobs in my electorate of Swan, particularly within the Kewdale-Welshpool transport hub, the area where I first started my own business 26 years ago. The road upgrades at key intersections will improve the links between the hub and the major roads—the Tonkin, Roe and Great Eastern highways—and the airport. Specifically, this includes: the Tonkin-Leach highways intersection upgrade; the provision of a diamond type interchange at Horrie Miller Drive-Kewdale Road-Tonkin Highway; the upgrade of the Roe Highway-Tonkin Highway interchange; and grade separation of the Leach Highway-Abernethy Road intersection.

I take the view that no industry's future is guaranteed and if we want great sectors like the transport and freight hub in my electorate to continue connecting Western Australia and producing jobs, we need to create the conditions under which it can thrive. That is why I was proud to be able to announce in 2010, and again in 2013, that the coalition would deliver the Gateway WA project, in partnership with the WA government, without the mining tax. Removing the link to the mining tax is particularly important to secure the delivery of this project. The Labor Party's disastrous decision to link Gateway WA to mining tax revenue put the project at significant risk of non-delivery because the mining tax did not raise any money.

With the election of a coalition government I am confident we can deliver Gateway WA and with this build on our successful upgrade of the Great Eastern Highway and a number of local roads in Welshpool, Lathlain and Carlisle, which have been done in recent times.

The fourth part of my local plan was crime prevention, a major issue for the electorate of Swan, specifically through a commitment to continue the work I have been undertaking to improve security at shopping centres with funding to be made available for the installation of CCTV cameras around the perimeter of Belmont Forum and Belmont Village. My community expects to be able to live in a safe and secure environment, and I am working all the time on local crime prevention initiatives in my electorate of Swan. I have had a particular focus on Belmont with the CCTV commitments secured in 2007 from John Howard. I see the member for Gorton is here. The Labor Party, I must admit, did continue that commitment that John Howard had made and the member for Gorton came and announced the opening of that commitment on CCTVs. Our 2013 $100,000 commitment at Belmont forum builds on that legacy. I believe in the targeted roll-out of CCTV in the electorate of Swan because, quite simply, it gets results.

In the short time I have left I will explain that since January 2013 48 incidents involving closed-circuit television have been given to the police. There have been 20 positive results where offenders have been identified and prosecuted, 24 have been filed pending further information coming to light and four are still under investigation.

It is a privilege to be elected again and I look forward to finishing the rest of my speech sometime in the future. Thank you to the people of Swan and Western Australia for re-electing me.

See this speech in context