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

The ABS data that has been released in the last couple of weeks shows that Queensland’s population grew by 2.6 per cent in the last year, with a national average of 1.6 per cent. Queensland has had five new federal seats in this place in the last 25 years and will now add another one, the seat of Wright. The seats of Dickson, Longman, Blair, Bonner, Flynn and now Wright have been added to this parliament from Queensland, all at the expense of the other states. As I have said on numerous occasions, we beat New South Wales in the State of Origin and we beat them in the Electoral Commission!

South-East Queensland is growing at a rapid rate. Ipswich city, where I live, has a current population of 160,000 people. It is expected to grow to 434,000 by 2031. That is growth of 274,000 people over a 20- to 22-year period. That represents a 173 per cent growth rate. We are talking about growth that will need about 3,500 to 4,500 dwellings per year. That is why it is so important that the Nation Building and Jobs Plan that we have undertaken makes an impact in Ipswich. Nine social housing units, to the value of $2.4 million, have been approved for Blair. Construction commences this year with dwellings to be commenced by 30 June 2010. And 281 social housing units in Blair will undergo repairs and maintenance to the value of $1.2 million.

I was pleased to visit, at Flinders View in the estate of Fairview Rise, a number of Defence houses which have been built under the auspices of the Defence Housing Authority. I had a barbecue with the workers on the site at 12.15 pm on Thursday, 1 October 2009 at Spotted Gum Crescent, Fairview Rise, Ipswich. I visited 54 Defence houses being built there as part of our nation-building economic stimulus plan. Those new homes are part of the 133 Defence houses being built in Ipswich over the next two years. This is injecting $36 million into our local businesses, and the construction industry is seeing another 35,000 jobs created in our community, indirectly and directly. The construction company St Hilliers and Prospero Homes are building those homes under the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. These builders are generating and maintaining local jobs in our area. This is very important for the prosperity of Ipswich and will ensure that the vast number of people who are coming to our area receive jobs and receive housing. We have the biggest Air Force base in the country, at Amberley, and there are 133 houses under construction in my seat. The Defence Housing Authority maintains 436 homes in the Blair electorate. The majority of those homes are found in Brassall, Flinders View, Raymonds Hill, Yamanto and Deebing Heights. Twenty-two new apprenticeship jobs were created across Australia under that building program.

The federal government is providing $245.58 million in additional funds to Defence Housing, as part of our nation-building economic stimulus plan, to build an additional 802 new residential dwellings throughout Australia. The final construction under that program is scheduled for completion by June 2011. DHA is managing about 17,500 residences across Australia worth about $7.6 billion. DHA plays an important role in the relocation of ADF personnel. It arranges about 24,500 relocations each year for ADF personnel and their families. At the RAAF base at Amberley there are about 3,500 Defence personnel—in the Air Force and some in 9 FSB. These homes are particularly important for the Air Force and for the Army unit as well.

We in Ipswich have a strong affinity with the military, and providing good quality housing in good suburbs like Flinders View is extremely important for the lifestyle and family life of people in my electorate. When we bring people to Ipswich City we want to make sure that they are welcome and we want to make sure that they have the kinds of dwellings they would live in anywhere else throughout Australia. At the same time, the government is to be commended for the job creation, for the apprentices who were offered positions and also for the employment opportunities in the Ipswich area as a result of the nation-building and economic stimulus plan, which is being played out locally in my electorate and, curiously enough, in my suburb.