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

Quality—the cream has risen to the top. I see that they have nobbled the member for Moreton by giving him the role of whip.

Despite the personal attacks we made sure we could hold our head high and continue to strive for the best possible election outcome for the people of Swan. In 2007, 2010, 2013 and now 2016 I established a plan for the community of Swan. It is my job as the community's representative to consult with them, establish the needs of the electorate and then develop a plan through which we are able to meet those needs. The campaign period provided us with an opportunity to communicate this plan and allowed constituents to decide which candidate was best fit to deliver. I have always tried to focus on community infrastructure which will meet the future needs of our growing community. Now we have six concrete commitments to the people of Swan and I look forward to a very busy and very exciting three years ahead.

The coalition has invested $490 million in the Forrestfield-airport rail link, which goes straight through my electorate. The link will connect residents to the airport and to the Perth CBD. There will be three new stations. The first will be Forrestfield, which is the outreach. Perth's eastern and south-eastern suburbs will be connected to the CBD and Perth airport. This will provide commuters with a short 20-minute journey into Perth's CBD. The airport central station will service the main Perth airport terminal. It has been designed to meet projected 2022 customer demand. Finally, the Belmont underground station, which is part of that link, will have a bus-train interchange and a 500- to 1,000-bay car park. It will allow commuters to travel to the CBD in only 15 minutes. The Forrestfield-airport link is a fantastic infrastructure project for the electorate and will change the way each of my constituents commutes.

Building on the government's unprecedented transport infrastructure package, I am also overjoyed by our commitment to fund the Manning Road on-ramp. We initially made a commitment back in 2010 for this project. Unfortunately, back in 2010 we just missed out on getting over the line and being able to fund that project.

The Manning Road on-ramp has been an important local issue in Swan, and one that I have campaigned on for many years with the support of the hardworking local MLA, John McGrath, who again has assisted in many ways and supported the drive to get funding for the Manning Road on-ramp. As most of my constituents and many other Perth drivers are aware, the Manning Road is a major road that runs through the south of the electorate, connecting residents to the Kwinana Freeway. Curtin University is also on Manning Road, which means that, with an enrolment of nearly 40,000 students, Manning Road is heavily used and requires fixing to have the on-ramp heading south, not only to the southern suburbs but also to the new hospital.

Any car that needs to join the freeway going south from Manning Road currently has to endure a difficult stretch of road before doing a loop all the way around the freeway that involves heading north, merging and lane-changing back across the Canning Bridge before heading south on the Kwinana Freeway. Then they have to merge with traffic coming off the freeway to get back onto the freeway. Not only does it cause great frustration to many motorists but it is a very dangerous design for one of Swan's busiest roads. To amend this we have now committed $15 million towards a southbound on-ramp at the Manning Road and Kwinana Freeway intersection, and we look forward to successful participation from the state government as well.

The provision of southbound access to the freeway will provide better access to Curtin University and now, of course, to the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch, with more patients needing to travel south to attend the hospital or emergency department from this major road.

In addition, our federal Treasurer, Mr Scott Morrison, personally visited Swan to announce the coalition's $9.675 million investment in the Belmont community centre, which will include the library, a senior citizens centre and a Belmont museum. This funding will also ensure that vital community services within the area of Belmont will be housed for free within this community centre. Many of the services they provide assist locals within the Belmont community, which is the second lowest SES rated community in Western Australia. These vital community services are currently operating in facilities well past their use-by date.

Labor actually opposed this centre in writing to the City of Belmont, which was extremely disappointing for the people of Swan. Thankfully, Labor's campaign was unsuccessful, and we, along with the City of Belmont, will deliver the community centre, providing an important boost for the region and delivering the City of Belmont's vision for the precinct as the centre of Belmont and a place for all community members to enjoy.

Another community infrastructure initiative that I have been heavily involved in is the Lathlain Park development. We are investing $13 million in the Town of Victoria Park to fund the development, which will drive local jobs and growth in Victoria Park. The development will be the new administration and training centre for the West Coast Eagles—who, I must admit, had some success in Adelaide last week, toppling the Adelaide Crows in the lead-up to the finals, and that means they will now have a home final next Thursday night at the current Subiaco Oval. That development will see the West Coast Eagles move out to Lathlain, in my electorate, with a $67 million infrastructure program. It will include tennis, netball and volleyball courts; a playground and BBQ area; and computer facilities, with a focus on modern technology to drive local innovation and education.

It will also house the Wirrpanda Foundation. I would like to thank Minister Bishop, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and member for Curtin, for coming down to Lathlain during the election campaign to announce the $3 million grant for the relocation of the Wirrpanda Foundation within integrated facilities, alongside the West Coast Eagles, at Lathlain Park. This supports local jobs as part of our commitment to support more Indigenous Australians to complete school and transition into work or further study. The new site will provide innovative, purpose-built spaces, setting new standards for community and recreational facilities. For those who are like-minded when it comes to the AFL, there will be two ovals at the new facility. One will be the exact dimensions of the MCG, for the Eagles to train on, and the other one will be the exact dimensions of the new stadium—again, in my electorate—which will be completed in the next 18 months and is well ahead of schedule.

The Lathlain facilities also house the Perth Football Club. My dear friend Vince Pendal, who was the president back in the late eighties for a while, then became president again in 2011 and has been president since then, unfortunately passed away two weeks ago from cancer. So Vince will not see the outcome of all his efforts to have his beloved Perth Demons housed in the same facility and grounds as the West Coast Eagles.

As the community of Swan continues to grow, so too does the need to ensure the safety of its residents. The government will provide $300,000 to upgrade 71 streetlights over eight kilometres in the Town of Victoria Park, under the Safer Communities Fund, to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. The streetlights will be upgraded to maximum capacity in East Victoria Park, the St James residential area and the Burswood industrial district adjoining the Burswood train station. These areas have been identified as crime hotspots. Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own neighbourhood, and better lighting is supported as an effective deterrent to criminal activity.

Just as we strive to protect our constituents, we strive too to protect our natural environment. Swan gets its name from the Swan River, which wraps itself around the north and west of the electorate and is named after the famous black swans of its local surroundings. In the south, the Canning River provides the electorate's border. Both rivers are landmarks not only within the electorate of Swan but also for the City of Perth and the great state of Western Australia. It is of great importance that we endeavour to protect, and aid in the recovery of, the Swan and Canning rivers. Stage 2 of the Swan-Canning River Recovery Program delivers another $1 million and a new Green Army project to help finish the job of eradicating the hydrocotyle weed. The Green Army team will work in partnership with local community groups to deliver the projects. This project will perform environmental restoration work on the Swan and Canning rivers to continue reducing the overall extent and intensity of hydrocotyle. It will also improve local riverbanks and protect threatened species' habitats, including those of the Carnaby's black-cockatoo and other local migratory animals.

This important environmental initiative is a much-needed project which will help to ensure that our local rivers and environment are improved and that threatened species' habitats are strengthened. In the Canning River regional area, there are 17 volunteer environment groups who regularly are out doing work, cleaning up and getting rid of noxious weeds, and who are part of the initiative that the funding went towards, which was to supply the necessary goods and tools for use by the volunteer groups—and they provided the labour free of charge. So it was a win for everyone, not only for the community and the volunteer groups, but also for the environment in the Swan-Canning regional area.

These funding commitments highlight this government's willingness to invest in long-term projects which provide economic benefits, not just in Swan but across electorates around the country, investing in jobs and community infrastructure. Through the commitments I have mentioned, Swan is receiving a total of $519 million for major local infrastructure projects, community safety and the environment. In doing so, this government is providing opportunities for the people of Swan.

In stark contrast to this, Labor offered its candidate for Swan only a $300,000 commitment to Swan's Sussex Street Community Law Service. It is an important service, nonetheless, but yet another disappointing offer for the residents of Swan—residents who deserve far more for the community in which they live and work; residents who continue to invest far more than Labor ever has done in their own community.

Whilst on the tone of Labor disappointing constituents, I would like to return to Labor's `MediScare' campaign, which appears to have been the only successful commitment they did deliver on. Over the campaign, my office received countless calls from concerned, scared and elderly constituents. One lady I spoke to was 85 and she received a call at 10:30 at night, which woke her up, and she was told we were going to privatise Medicare. It was a disgraceful way to campaign by scaring elderly people into changing their vote. Let's hope we do not see it again.

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