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

This evening I rise to speak about the Building Better Regions Fund and its predecessor, the National Stronger Regions Fund. These two fine funding initiatives have brought great benefits to regional Australia. They are further examples of this government's commitment to regional Australia and to my electorate of Durack—unlike those opposite during the six dark years that we endured when they sat on these benches and we saw very little happen. This afternoon in the other House I talked about what this government has done, in terms of big infrastructure investment in my electorate of Durack and in regional Western Australia as a whole, but what I would like to do this evening is take the time to look at the programs which I have just referred to, which are aimed at providing small- and medium-sized grants to regional communities, because often a small investment in a regional community will go a long way.

I've been incredibly fortunate that my strong advocacy, together with very strong local partnerships, has resulted in having around one out of every 10 projects funded through these programs in Australia over the past two years actually being placed in my electorate of Durack. Under the National Stronger Regions Fund, we were successful in the Wheatbelt, which received nearly $3 million to fund five separate projects across the region. In the Kimberley, we saw a sum of just over $5 million for the Derby Airport upgrades, which was through the National Stronger Regions Fund, and also $300,000 for the Kununurra Campdraft and Rodeo Association to improve their facilities in the far north-western town of Kununurra in the Kimberley. The Derby Airport upgrades were a big investment into that west Kimberley town, which needed the injection. It was a real win for my partnership with the shire of West Kimberley to get that project up.

I now refer back to the rodeo grounds in Kununurra. When I opened these rodeo facilities some two weeks ago, it marked the first rodeo for the dry season. Mr Speaker, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that you need to go to a good old-fashioned outback rodeo to know that you have lived, especially one that is well run and well resourced. I am so proud that our government invested $300,000 in this facility. It's really going to make a big difference to tourism in terms of the local tourist but also expanding the rodeo experience for people across Australia. There would be nowhere better to go than Kununurra to experience that. In addition to that, the new facilities will allow more rodeos to be held throughout the year, and the food and beverages facilities will allow the association to generate more revenue during these events. Of course, as it becomes more successful this, in turn, leads to more events—you know how it snowballs. That's what the future holds. It is great inspiration, I think, for that local community. In addition to that, really good facilities will give an opportunity for other local organisations to come and use them, so it becomes a broad based community set of facilities. I think that's the real benefit of it.

I turn now to the Building Better Regions Fund. We know that this has taken the solid foundation of good local projects like the one I talked about in Kununurra and built on it, with a commitment to projects that are guaranteed to enhance the local community that is receiving them. I've certainly had many of those in my electorate of Durack—projects like the culture and healing centre at Cable Beach in Broome, which is owned and operated by the Yawuru Aboriginal Corporation. This project will deliver another cultural tourist attraction to what is already an iconic tourism destination in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. But what this centre adds to the mix is Aboriginal people who will be able to perform stories, songs and dances from their cultures for visitors and encourage a real intermingling of cultures on their traditional land for what is an incredibly multicultural part of Western Australia.

The Shire of Ashburton has had some success. It received an amount of over $9 million for an industrial waste management centre in Onslow. Mr Speaker, a waste management facility is not sexy—I can guarantee you that—let alone the management of an industrial waste facility. But let me tell you, Mr Speaker, and my colleagues who are here, that the regional benefits of these funds alone, not including the benefits to the town of Onslow, are considerable. Currently, the waste is sent to Perth. So it travels thousands of kilometres from the Kimberley through the Pilbara, the Mid West and the Gascoyne to eventually end up in Perth. This is just one of the fabulous projects that this government is continuing to support.