Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak about the Belmont community centre and upgrades to key roads in my electorate of Swan. I've spoken many times in this House on the need for this project to replace the ageing facility that used to be at Faulkner Park, but I must take this opportunity to rebut one of claims made by the member for Lalor during her adjournment speech. In contrast to her claim, more than 13,000 families in the Lalor electorate will actually benefit from the coalition government's childcare reforms. I am just putting the facts out there.

Not long after I became the federal member for Swan, discussions began on a Belmont community centre. After close discussions with the City of Belmont and councillors on the design and plans for the project, I began advocating for federal funding to be allocated to help support the construction of this community asset. The place was in such disarray that the roof was collapsing and the place was locked up. The coalition government answered the call at the 2016 election and invested $9.67 million to support the construction of this $37 million project in my electorate of Swan. Again, contrary to the MPI this afternoon moved by the member for Grayndler, the coalition does do projects that Labor have not even thought about or even supported. This funding from the coalition meant be that the project was a go-ahead, which then saw it secure further funding of $3.837 million from the former Barnett state government.

This is a once-in-a-generation construction project for the City of Belmont, and I'd like to thank the former member for Belmont, Glenys Godfrey, who was and still is a strong advocate for residents of Belmont, both during her time as mayor and as the local member, in getting this project off the ground. I remember many meetings with Glenys and the City of Belmont, hashing out what I could do to help them get this project off the paper and underway for the community. When I was first elected, I recall visiting that Belmont centre. As I said before, the roof was just about falling in; you could see the bowing in the roof. It was later shut down or it was shut down at the time due to safety concerns. We didn't want aged people going in there and having the roof fall in on them. The building was from the 1960s and was no longer fit for purpose for our growing community in Belmont. The new Belmont community centre will include an expanded library, a senior citizens centre and a Belmont museum. This funding will also ensure that vital community services within the area of Belmont will be housed for free within this community centre. Many of the services they provide assist locals within the Belmont community, which is the second-lowest-SES-rated community in Western Australia. These vital community services are currently operating in facilities well past their use-by date.

You might not believe this, Mr Speaker, but, sadly, Labor did not support this project, and their local MLC actually wrote to the City of Belmont to advise that they did not support the project and would not fund it if they won government. It was absolutely disgraceful. Those opposite claim to support the community but would not support a much-needed development in the area of Belmont. They didn't think that the city deserved a community facility that will improve access to services and quality of life for many residents in Belmont.

Luckily for the residents of Belmont, Labor isn't sitting on these government benches, and those in my community will see the project go ahead with a funding agreement with the City of Belmont. The Belmont community centre project is currently ahead of schedule, and just last week I had the opportunity to attend the sod-turning ceremony. I'd like to extend my thanks to the City of Belmont for their hospitality and must say I'm very keen to watch the progress on this fantastic facility unfold. And, even though Labor opposed it, one of their MLAs turned up for the sod turning. Would you believe it? After they opposed it in writing, they turned up for the sod turning with their shovel and their cameras and everything like that. Unbelievable. According to the City of Belmont, the construction phase will create an additional 67 local jobs and, once complete, will create 17 new permanent jobs. We can now say that this government has helped create 1,000,067 new jobs since being elected.

On a separate note, I'd also like to update the House on the great separation of Kalamunda Road and Roe Highway, which is going forward with $68.8 million in federal funds and is due to be complete at the end of 2020. This is another infrastructure project which wasn't ever mentioned by Labor or ever funded by Labor. This project is based right on the edge of my electorate and that of my electoral neighbour, Minister Wyatt, the federal member for Hasluck. With this project going ahead and with the other separation, of the Great Eastern Highway bypass and Roe Highway, it will mean more jobs to add to the one million jobs that this coalition promised in 2013 and has achieved.