Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow a start-up company will open its operations centre at Koolewong, and I rise to congratulate Solar Monitoring Australia on its decision to base itself in the heart of my electorate of Robertson on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It is a great local success story—a small business promoting leading-edge technology—and tomorrow will be a great day for Solar Monitoring Australia and the wider Central Coast, because its decision is a vote of confidence in our local economy and it is a great endorsement of the coalition's NBN rollout, which is already delivering superfast broadband to businesses and households on the Central Coast faster and more affordably than was the case under the previous Labor government.

When new businesses arrive on the coast, I am delighted to welcome them with open arms, because we know it is not government that creates jobs; it is business that creates jobs. While the number of jobs being injected into our local economy by Solar Monitoring Australia will be modest at first, at around six, they predict they will expand to 16 employees over the next six months. For a residential suburb like Koolewong, on the shores of the beautiful Brisbane Water, this is a genuine vote of confidence and opportunity. It reflects on a wider scale what the coalition government's policies are delivering in terms of benefits and opportunities for people and businesses who want to invest on the Central Coast.

Just 15 minutes up the road, in Gosford, this government is delivering 600 new jobs for Gosford in a purpose-built Commonwealth agency for the Australian Taxation Office—a centre of excellence on the Central Coast. The economic multiplier effect of this will be significant. In fact, yesterday's Daily Telegraph carried the headline that there will be a 'wave of jobs' for our region, with hundreds more employment opportunities to come from the flow-on effect of this agency. Five hundred of these roles will be with the ATO, with an additional 100 jobs to come from other Commonwealth agencies that will reflect the right skill mix for our region. Just think of the demand for hundreds more coffees, lunches, newspapers, haircuts and other retail and professional business services for 600 more people working in Gosford every day. For a region that has more than 30,000 commuters in my electorate, this is a game changer for Central Coast families, for local businesses and for our region. There will be additional jobs generated in the construction of a purpose-built building for the ATO. With expressions of interest to build the agency closing next month, we are already underway to delivering this important commitment.

This is great progress and great news for start-ups like Solar Monitoring Australia, which has ambitions to grow from its base in Koolewong. The company's research shows that solar installers and customers are asking more and more for the sorts of services they provide. Solar Monitoring Australia provides a cloud based online software platform that enables the remote management of solar equipment. It is Australian designed, developed and manufactured technology that aims to make it easy for installers and retailers to manage large fleets of residential and commercial solar PV systems through a single portal. They have set up their space in Koolewong; they have already signed up a number of partners.

What is also significant about this investment is the vote of confidence that it represents in this government's commitment to delivering superfast broadband on the Central Coast. In fact, I have been advised that one of the main reasons the company chose this location is its access to the NBN. We know fast broadband is crucial for small businesses like this. Thanks to this government's commitment to delivering the NBN on the Central Coast faster and more affordably than under Labor, we have seen decisions like this from great companies like Solar Monitoring Australia.

Recently another 25 suburbs have been included in the national rollout on the Central Coast, in addition to suburbs like Point Clare, Koolewong and Tascott, which were announced in April. This means that superfast broadband is now a giant step closer to reality for tens of thousands more households and businesses on the Central Coast. Contrast that with the previous Labor government's record of 203 premises connected in the six years they were in government. Over the coming weeks, people can expect to see workers out in their street planning the new network to get the rollout closer to completion. They can have confidence that other companies are looking to invest in the coast, and I am looking forward to telling more success stories to the House about local businesses like these in the near future.

So congratulations to co-founders Mark Locchi and Mark Elliott for backing the Central Coast. They chose the coast ahead of locations like Queensland because they could see the benefits and opportunities for our region's growth. They have indicated they can link up with programs being offered by the University of Newcastle, and this government is all about generating the sorts of job opportunities that we have seen with a decision like this today.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 13:00