House debates

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

Statements by Members

Swan Electorate: Stronger Communities Program

1:37 pm

Photo of Steve IronsSteve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I'd love to comment on that, but I have something else I need to talk about. I rise today to talk about the coalition's Stronger Communities program, which just had its application period finish recently. It's great to be part of the coalition government which has continued this community focused program for its third round. This program allows many community groups and organisations access to alleviate some of the costs of capital projects, and this year was no different.

The success of this program has spread through the community groups in Swan quite quickly after the previous two rounds, which saw many groups become beneficiaries of this program. This meant my office was inundated with many interesting and worthy projects for the third round from the suburbs of South Perth all the way out to High Wycombe and Belmont, ranging from applications for trailers and equipment for local scouting groups to major refurbishment of local sporting clubs to ensure the community can gain the most benefit from their applications. I'm pleased to see the enthusiasm and drive of many of these local groups, which generally do all their work through volunteers. I thank them for their expressions of interest and their dedication to our community.

The quality of these submissions meant it wasn't easy for the consultation committee to decide on the projects to endorse, as many submissions were received. I'd like to thank my consultation committee for giving their time to assist in recommending projects to the department. I wish all the successful projects good luck with securing funding from the department and am looking forward to visiting many of the fantastic projects once completed.