Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in relation to the record funding announced by the Rudd Labor government to help local councils maintain vital infrastructure in my electorate. My electorate contains two-thirds of the city of Ipswich, all of the Lockyer Valley and the old Boonah shire and the Scenic Rim. The Scenic Rim is an amalgamated council taking in areas of Beaudesert and Mount Tamborine, so there are some challenges for Mayor John Brent and the new council. The Lockyer Valley takes in the old shires of Laidley and Gatton and the council is working hard under the good stewardship of Steve Jones to make the transition to one Lockyer Valley shire. I am pleased to see that the mayor and each councillor are wearing Lockyer Valley pride pins on their lapels—because it is important that the local councils have a sense of identity. For a long time, Ipswich has had that sense of identity, and it is important that the Lockyer Valley also has that.

I am pleased to announce that, in Blair, the three local councils—Ipswich City Council, the Lockyer Valley Regional Council and the Scenic Rim Regional Council—will receive record funding from the Rudd Labor government of $11,351,550. The announcement that the Hon. Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, made on 27 August was part of $370 million in financial assistance that Queensland received and is in addition to the $85 million available to Queensland councils through the Australian government’s Roads to Recovery program.

As I drive around my electorate, I can see the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway being undertaken. I recently accompanied the member for Oxley on a visit to the construction site of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, and it is going ahead very well. It is only the Rudd Labor government that is delivering that. As I drive on Redbank Plains Road, I can see the federally funded upgrade of Redbank Plains Road and also the construction of the Swanbank-Enterprise Park link road. I am pleased to say that the much-maligned McGrath bridge near Mulgowie pub will also receive $360,000 from the Rudd Labor government.

All of this funding is a terrific spend for the electorate of Blair. Blair deserves this because it is an electorate of 5,300 square kilometres. It is over 90 per cent rural while over 40 per cent of my constituents live in rural communities or on farms. Travelling around the electorate on a regular basis, as I conduct my mobile offices, I can see the challenges that the local councils will have in terms of road funding. Some of our roads are not as good as they should be, and this funding will go a long way to improving local road infrastructure. I am sure that the Ipswich mayor, Paul Pisasale, will welcome the $5,557,257 which Ipswich City Council will receive under this funding announcement. The Lockyer Valley Regional Council will receive $2,767,373—I am sure that will put a smile on the face of Mayor Steve Jones. The Scenic Rim will receive $3,026,920, which I am sure will be much welcomed.

This funding is important because it will assist a range of local community projects, not just local roads but parks, pools, libraries, community centres, health and childcare services, and water and sewerage services. This record financial assistance and Roads to Recovery funding will help the local communities in my area and meet the challenges that people in rural and regional areas face. They do not face the same difficulties as those people who live in cities, but they face other difficulties. As their federal member, I am acutely aware of the need to maintain vibrant regional and rural communities because they make an important contribution to our nation’s infrastructure, its productivity and its wealth. For a long time under the previous government they were neglected and their votes were taken for granted. I am pleased to see that the Rudd Labor government is committed to funding rural and regional communities, because they are the heart and soul of our nation, and I am pleased that the electorate of Blair will receive this funding. I warmly thank the minister for his commitment to the federal electorate of Blair.