Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about Bracken Ridge, in the Brisbane City Council area, where I grew up. I grew up at 11 Toolang Street Bracken Ridge, a home that my father and mother built, and then at 19 Talgai Street Bracken Ridge. It is a great suburb. I spent much of my childhood training in judo down at the Bracken Ridge Scout Hall and running around McPherson Park playing with my mates—my good mate Ivan, who lived over the road; Derek, who lived next door; Jason McGregor, who lived around the corner; and Jason Watts, an old school friend of mine. We had a great time investigating the local creeks and so forth in Bracken Ridge. It's a great place for families. It sits on the outskirts of the Brisbane City Council. The rates are a little bit cheaper than other parts of my electorate, which is good in Brisbane. It has great sporting facilities including netball courts, the old Bracken Ridge Swimming Club, the new Emily Seebohm Aquatic Centre, football fields, pony clubs—there's a whole lot happening there. You can also get a great steak down at the Bracken Ridge Tavern. It has good meeting rooms. Bracken Ridge is just a fantastic place to grow up.

I am very proud to represent Bracken Ridge. I was pleased that the Prime Minister could come up the other week and bring some additional grant funding. As more people move into the Brisbane City Council and into Bracken Ridge, they need to be able to move around. I was happy to announce, with the Prime Minister, $7.5 million for local roads including the Hoyland Street upgrade, the intersection of Barbour Road and Norris Road and also upgrading Norris Road between Telegraph Road and Bracken Ridge Road. We also announced an additional $50 million for the Gympie Arterial Road, which the state government will implement, as well as, a few weeks ago, $100 million for the Linkfield Road over past, which is really important. The local roads in Bracken Ridge will be put out to tender. Brisbane City Council will match that funding and it will be built fairly quickly.

This comes on top of a whole lot of infrastructure that the federal government has invested in in Bracken Ridge, including almost $1 million for the Gateway Motorway; new CCTV and solar panels for the Ridge Hills United Football Club; the Telegraph Road upgrade, a joint venture with BCC, between Mustang Street and Norris Road; $150,000 for Bracken Ridge Little Athletics and Bracken Ridge Cricket Club, with the McPherson Park lighting upgrade; $10,000 for the reroofing of the Bracken Ridge Baptist Church; and a new mower and upgrades for the cricket club. We also got a cane toad sniffer dog for Moreton Island, which is a great little environmental project. I know that people from Bracken Ridge love to travel over to Moreton Island. The Bracken Ridge and Bald Hills Scout groups will get solar panels on their roofs. The Bracken Ridge Swimming Club is currently getting new toilet facilities. Sandbag will get new computers. And, of course, a national unemployment rate of five percent is good for Bracken Ridge people. I love to represent you and I will keep working hard. (Time expired)