Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to speak about the Hornsby Eco Garden. This project in Hornsby is funded in part by the Turnbull government's Stronger Communities Program. It will be built on a site on the corner of Sherbrooke Road and Burdett Street in Hornsby, within my electorate, and will give members of the local community a chance to learn some of the principles of permaculture and to generally improve their health and wellbeing.

I want to congratulate Hornsby council for the work it has done in supporting this important initiative. I particularly also want to congratulate all of the members of the community who developed this concept, secured the support of Hornsby council and then put forward a compelling grant application under the Stronger Communities Program. I had the chance to meet a number of those involved in developing and championing this concept at the future site of the Hornsby Eco Garden just a few Saturdays ago. I was extremely impressed with the plans that the community has for the development of this garden and their vision of this garden as being a place where people who live in the surrounding area, including those who might live in apartments and who do not have a garden of their own, to come and enjoy the garden and participate in planting, tending and harvesting of the plants that will form part of this garden.

This is exactly the kind of initiative which the Stronger Communities Program is designed to support and I am very pleased at the range and calibre of projects which are being supported under the Stronger Communities Program in Bradfield. Some of the other projects which are being supported include the funding of a Meals on Wheels delivery van for $20,000, improvements to the Triple H broadcasting studio at Waitara for over $6,000 and the purchase of portable goals for the Northern Suburbs Football Association.

There is a consistent theme across all of these projects, including the Hornsby Eco Garden, which is that this funding supports the work of dedicated members of the community, typically meeting needs which they have identified and which they have taken action to address. This is an example of government funding, in a modest way, supporting very worthwhile community initiatives. I congratulate all involved in the Hornsby Eco Garden and all of the other projects that have secured funding under the Stronger Communities Program in Bradfield.