Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to discuss a potpourri of projects and events in my electorate of Braddon on the north-west coast of Tasmania, and there is none better than the Building the Education Revolution projects in my region. I would remind you, Mr Speaker, and colleagues that my region has benefited from investment of some $100 million through the Building the Education Revolution for some 63 schools and 95 projects. These projects include new facilities which are available to the community and they have, importantly, enabled us to sustain employment during very, very difficult economic times. Indeed, times are tight and relatively difficult in my region today. We have experienced the closure of a number of paper mills, a carpet factory and a vegetable processing factory.

But we had great news the other day when National Foods—and I am sorry if it has affected other parts of Australia—chose Burnie, in my region, for a major upgrade of something like $120 million. Apart from the skills and the fantastic supply of milk in my region, there is the iconic name that our region has for cheeses. They are also the owners of King Island cheese and an upgrade of $12 million is being provided as well. That is great news for my region, particularly during these difficult times.

More specifically in relation to the BER, last Friday I was honoured to join the Vicar-General for Tasmania, Father Mark Freeman, at St Brendan-Shaw College, a Catholic college, for the opening of the science centre. I was able to reflect on the importance of science in our community and was able to share that with the students at St Brendan-Shaw College, who were also the beneficiaries of a trade training centre. I congratulate the Catholic system; they always seem to have projects on the shelf and they have greatly benefited from the BER and are very happy to say so throughout the whole country.

I was also at Marist College recently—again towards Burnie—which is another Catholic college. They opened a language and learning centre. It is a fantastic centre dedicated to the name of St Peter Chanel. That college has also been a successful beneficiary of a trades training centre, which they are going to benefit from very soon.

I was also at the Cooee Primary School—Cooee is a great name, along with Penguin, further along the coast. The Cooee Primary School has a new multipurpose hall. They are a fantastic little school with quality education and quality people. Further up the coast at Wynyard, at Table Cape—which you might remember, Mr Speaker, when you have passed through there on a number of occasions—the Table Cape Primary School also got a fantastic new multipurpose hall and new classrooms as well. It has been an amalgamation of primary schools. There have been some fantastic results from the BER, and there are so many more BER projects that I am looking forward to opening—and I know everyone in this parliament is pleased to see these projects in their electorates, although some pretend otherwise.

I have been referred to as many things, but sometimes I am referred to as the ‘lad from Brad’—just as the former member for Bass used to be the ‘lass from Bass’. There is an organisation in my electorate called BRAD, which stands for the Business Regional Analysis Database. It is an initiative by the Braddon Enterprise Centre, who have partnered with the Institute for Regional Development of the University of Tasmania. Essentially, they have set themselves up as a major database collector for small businesses and medium-size businesses for the region. Like many rural and regional areas, they know so little about each other in order to get together to be able to plan for the future. I congratulate that fantastic organisation from BRAD.