Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No.1) 2021-2022. It's nice to have the Acting Prime Minister, Mr McCormack, come here in support of me today. Thank you very much, Acting Prime Minister!

That has not gone unnoticed! We're finally coming back to some normality after the drought and the fires and the floods and the pandemic and then more floods. These things have been devastating for many in my community.

One of the great funding programs of this government has been the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, which, through phases 1, 2 and 3, has provided an additional $27 million of road and community infrastructure projects in my electorate of Cowper. This coalition government is providing an additional $1 billion over two years from 2021-22 to extend the LRCI program to support all local councils to maintain and deliver social infrastructure, improve road safety and bolster the resilience of Australian local road networks. The investment increases the total funding under the LRCI to $2.5 billion.

An honourable member interjecting—

It's a big number, but it makes such a difference to our local communities, particularly in my electorate. I have five councils and they've all received decent funding under this program. Bellingen has received $2.52 million, Coffs Harbour City $7.1 million, Kempsey $5 million, Nambucca Valley $3.3 million and Port Macquarie an additional $8.9 million. These projects are making a real difference in our communities. In some instances, they're changing or saving lives.

I will give just a few examples from across the electorate. Nambucca, a great town, received $700,000 to construct major improvements in towns and public spaces right across the valley. They're not just beautifying the valley but providing better and safer access to pedestrians and mobility scooters. In my electorate nearly 30 per cent of people are over the age of 65. Proper access for mobility scooters and proper access on pedestrian walkways is so important to the older generation. Kempsey received $1.16 million to construct new bicycle paths and walkways, delivering improvements through the Macleay Valley and, importantly, supporting 56 local jobs during the construction. That's real recovery from the COVID pandemic. Port Macquarie, through the first round, received $1.8 million for seven projects which supported 31 jobs during rollout.

Of course, we can't forget the big-ticket items. This government has committed to funding 80 per cent of the Coffs Harbour bypass to the tune of $1.46 billion. It is a 12-kilometre stretch of the highway which will create 10,000 jobs during the life of its construction and, importantly, will every day take 12,000 cars off the road going through Coffs Harbour. That will allow the city centre to flow and to flourish into the future.

Speaking of big-ticket items, at the end of 2020 we saw the opening of the final section of the Pacific Highway between Woolgoolga and Ballina, a 15-kilometre section between Devils Pulpit and Woodburn. When I was growing up in Kempsey, it was a good nine-hour trip up to Brisbane or down to Sydney—it's halfway between the two. You'd get in the back of the Valiant with the seven kids and off you'd choof.

An honourable member interjecting—

There were no seatbelts! Now it's an easy 4½-hour drive either way. That's true investment, real investment, but it's also saving lives.

Very briefly, in my last 20 seconds, I will say that when the government invests in the local community it also encourages private enterprise to invest in the local community. The announcement yesterday by Russell Crowe and Peter Montgomery to spend over $400 million in our local economy for a new film studio was fantastic news, and it's all because of the government's investment.

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