Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank everyone for attending my maiden Main Committee speech. I rise this morning to talk about the transition period, with the change of government, between area consultative committee work and the Regional Development Australia model and both the frustrations and the anticipation during that 12-month period. In particular, I highlight two particular projects—one good, one bad—in regard to relationship with government.

The first is a good news story: the Hastings Early Intervention Centre improvements. The facility will be opened on Friday. The renovations provide a larger classroom, parent therapy and meeting rooms, storage for toys, a nappy change area and kitchen facilities. The Australian government provided $158,897, which was pur towards the construction and fit-out of the project and the project audit. The upgraded facility will benefit the Port Macquarie community significantly by providing a facility which addresses intellectual, physical, emotional, social, speech and communication development for children in the local area. I would like to take the opportunity to thank a few of the partners. It has been a very good community exercise, not only by the committee and former committees and staff of the Hastings Early Intervention program but also by the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, which did a lot of work. Several local bowling clubs, West Port and Port Macquarie City, provided support. Support was provided by a local credit union, Coastline, and by the Port Macquarie Panthers Club, and there was also in-kind support from King and Campbell. It is very much a good news story and I congratulate everyone involved.

Now onto the bad news story. Through the Regional Partnerships program there was a period in the six months leading up to the last election when politicians were behaving badly. Handshakes were done for photos, fingers were crossed behind the back, and unfortunately good community projects were left swinging in the breeze. The Wauchope-Bonny Hills Surf Club is one example of that. They just had their 50th anniversary. They are desperately in need of a new surf club, a new building. It is a good project. It is a community facility, not just a local surf club. Unfortunately, despite handshake commitments pre-election, it is a project that government has not felt committed to fulfil, rightly or wrongly. I guess that is politics. I will continue to chase that project. I think it is a good community based project and does deserve the support of all three levels of government. I would hope, through speeches such as this and through lobbying, that the minister in particular can also see the benefit of supporting Wauchope-Bonny Hills Surf Club and similar projects in the Lyne electorate.