Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to highlight the fantastic work of the Creswick community and congratulate them again on the continued success of the Creswick Forestry Fiesta. This fiesta was held last weekend. It is now in its 14th year and is attended by not only the Creswick community but many in the surrounding district. Regional festivals and shows like this are run right across the electorate of Ballarat; in fact, we call this time of year show season because there are a number of them on. These festivals involve lots of hard work from volunteers and they are great contributors to the local economy and local tourism. The Creswick Forestry Fiesta proved once again be a hit and, although it was an extremely windy day, the highlight once again was the parade. I congratulate the many voluntary groups and primary schools for putting such an effort into the parade and the floats that they have each year.

The festival is also a great opportunity for me to have a chat to local residents in an informal setting not only about what is happening around the district and to receive feedback about the issues and concerns but also to receive feedback as to what is happening in their community with the Rudd government’s investment both through the Building the Education Revolution and the Community Infrastructure Fund. In Creswick itself there has been over $6 million worth of projects funded and, as a small town, it is making a significant difference to that community.

Creswick North Primary School received some $50,000 through the National School Pride program and $250,000 as part of the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. Creswick Primary School has received $125,000 from the National School Pride program and $2 million under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. The Catholic primary school has also received $75,000 from the National School Pride program and some $850,000 under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. That is $3.35 million going into education infrastructure in a small country town. It is funding that not only I support but the families in Creswick also support.

We have also funded the Creswick Interpretive Centre, a tourist information centre, which is now seeing many volunteers from the district help visitors who are coming in to see Creswick, Clunes and Daylesford as Creswick is the gateway to go through to the Clunes community. They have been very pleased with the investment of $450,000 from the Rudd Labor government. They are also very keen to see work start, and planning is well underway, on the Doug Lindsay Reserve, which has funding of $2.29 million under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure program.

As I said, in total the projects in Creswick have injected over $6 million into that local community. I look forward again to attending the Creswick Forestry Fiesta next year and again being part of a government that continues to support and place infrastructure funding for local communities as such a priority. It really has made a significant difference to the small town of Creswick. Again I would like to congratulate them on the work that they are undertaking and also for the Creswick Forestry Fiesta, which again was a terrific festival and I think that it was worth well worth attending.