Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As 2015 draws to a close, I would like to speak about some of the things I have achieved in Durack this year. It would be remiss of me not to firstly speak about the government's Northern Australia white paper, which was released in June. Following the release of the paper, the Turnbull government will boost tourism in the region with a pool of $13 million—plus we established the Northern Australia Beef Roads Fund. These are just two of the many projects in the paper which will boost the Kimberley, Pilbara and Gascoyne in my electorate of Durack.

The Turnbull government's youth allowance reforms will encourage more students from the bush to further their education. Under the reforms, students will receive an average of an additional $7,000 a year. While on education, I have also hosted cyberbullying seminars in schools to combat childhood bullying and a higher education forum in Moora to shine a light on the barriers that students in the bush face getting a higher education. I have also improved Durack's mobile telecommunications reception, with 45 new or upgraded mobile base stations resulting in 123 new locations within Durack having improved coverage. This is just a very small but very important snapshot of all the things that we, together with the Turnbull government, are improving for Durack. I am very pleased to say that Durack's future is bigger, brighter and more exciting than it was 12 months ago. I'm very pleased to represent Durack.