Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the statement by the Prime Minister that all election commitments made by the government will be honoured. As members may be aware, there was significant interest from both parties in the seat of Herbert, based in the city of Townsville.

The coalition was the first to commit to building Townsville a proper convention centre. With every promise we made during the campaign, there were two criteria which had to be satisfied for a commitment to be made: first, there had to be a significant saving to government; and, second, there had to be significant economic benefit from the installation to warrant that investment. Such is the case with the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre. Our entertainment centre was built as a basketball court for the then Townsville Suns—now the mighty Townsville Crocs. Townsville had to do it alone and therefore had to build it with as little added expense as possible. So what we have as our major convention destination is at present a glorified basketball court.

There are significant expenses on the horizon—and some well short of the horizon—with this building. The air conditioning is all but gone. The roof leaks excessively. In short, that building is in trouble. There have been a number of occasions where events have been all but cancelled over these issues. This satisfies the first criteria of savings to government—the significant cost of rectifying the building and still only having a basketball court would not make sense.

At present, our entertainment centre can support full convention centre functions for only about 200 people. The lack of breakout areas and display space severely limit my city’s chances of holding exhibitions and conventions, which would go hand-in-hand for a progressive city like Townsville. The cost of the convention centre would be $143 million and the best way to achieve this would be through a three-way split between local, state and federal governments. Our promise was $47.67 million, with an immediate $2.5 million to commence planning and design. Labor promised a straightforward $47.67 million.

The benefits of the convention centre to my city would be enormous. Recently, Townsville Enterprise released figures which told of our city’s growth as a convention destination. They stated: ‘North Queensland lifted the events it hosted by 55 per cent from 194 in 2009-09 to 301 in 2009-10. Delegate numbers rose 89 per cent, from 13,745 to 25,997 and their sleep nights jumped 47 per cent from 49,891 to 73,997.’

Figures supplied by Townsville City Council suggest that the convention centre will attract 263,000 visitors, generate $100 million per year in economic benefit and support 300 jobs. It will feature 5,200 arena seats, 12 meeting rooms, 3,000 square metres of exhibition space, a ballroom and banquet space for 1,800 people and 800 car spaces.

Australia has a $20 billion business events market. It is only natural that a city with the energy of Townsville should be a bigger player than it is currently. Townsville is already recognised as the sporting and cultural events capital of North Queensland and boasts that four of the five national sporting teams in tropical Australia are based in Townsville. Additionally, Townsville is the largest city in Northern Australia, yet it finds itself hamstrung without this convention centre facility.

I have written to the Treasurer to ask for details on the proposed funding for this project and also that urgent consideration be given to assisting my city with $2.5 million so that the design and plans can be called for and assessed. I await his expeditious and positive response.