Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to raise three issues in relation to the people and the development of Phillip Island, in my electorate of Flinders. Phillip Island, of course, is a magnificent tourism site. It is the home of the little penguin and it has the Koala Conservation Centre, Churchill Island and incredible north-facing beaches with calm waters.

I want to start by congratulating Amanda Drennan, who will, over the coming week, be part of the Australian Paralympic team in Beijing. I have met Amanda. At 20 years of age she has shown real courage, in the true sense of the word, in overcoming difficulties. She has a great, positive attitude to life and is a fantastic sportsperson. She will be competing in the 100 metres breaststroke, the 100 metres freestyle and the 400 metres freestyle. I want to wish Amanda all the best as she embarks upon her Paralympic campaign, as well as everybody else who is representing Australia more generally. I note that she is an inspiration to kids on Phillip Island. I have met young kids at the primary school who talk about Amanda as ‘one of ours’. She is a great example not just of personal endeavour but of taking a very positive message to everybody on the island and to young people in particular.

This brings me to the second point. Amanda is a swimmer. One of the challenges she has had to overcome is that of training facilities. It is a considerable distance from Phillip Island to the next major swimming pool at Wonthaggi. The islanders have long had a plan for a swimming pool; it is a plan I believe in and support. We had it in a position where it was ready to go. It was prepositioned and had been through preliminary stages for approval under the Regional Partnerships program. That program has now been abolished. The source of federal funding for the pool has disappeared. I grieve for the loss of that source of funding. I say to the new government: please reconsider this decision or, alternatively, find a new source of funding for communities such as Phillip Island to have access to a swimming pool.

The community have raised well over $1 million themselves, either in kind or in cash. They are on track to reach the $2 million mark. They have done all of the right things that a local community should do to support itself. Above all else, they had relied upon the notion that they would have support from government matching that which they have raised themselves so that young kids, inspired by Amanda, would have the chance to train on Phillip Island and to be part of not only the Olympic future, but, if it is less than that, the development of their own health and self-discipline. So to the federal government I would say: please reconsider what you have done to communities around the country such as Phillip Island with the abolition of the Regional Partnerships program, to no good end and with no effective replacement in sight.

This brings me to my third point, which is in relation to a proposal by the Bass Coast Shire Council for closed-circuit TV in the town of Cowes, the main centre on Phillip Island. As I mentioned at the outset, Phillip Island is a great tourism centre. It attracts numerous people in summer and, increasingly, around the clock. The result is that, sadly, from time to time we have outbreaks of street violence or street crime. So the council did the right thing: it planned, under our National Community Crime Prevention Program, to install closed-circuit television cameras. It was to its surprise and to its great disappointment that, not long after the election, it discovered the program had been axed and its chance for community safety had been abolished. Assuming that the program would still be in place, it had completed its plans; it had applied for funding. It was something which it had done in good faith. It is not a large council; it is not flush with funds. It is trying to protect the people of Phillip Island and provide a safe environment for families visiting the island for tourism purposes. Bad move again, in abolishing this program.

I would say to the federal government: please find a way of supporting local communities who are doing their best to reduce crime, to improve local security. It is a poor decision and was simply done, I believe, to abolish a previous government’s program for the sake of it. The losers are the local communities. (Time expired)