Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Southern Moreton Bay Islands in my electorate are home to over 8,000 people. As the crow flies, these communities are close to Brisbane, but, in terms of infrastructure, remoteness and economic challenges, they resemble many of Australia's regional communities. In 2017, community-led efforts resulted in the former coalition government enabling these islands to be eligible for funding through the Building Better Regions Fund. Sadly, Labor's new eligibility conditions for the Growing Regions Program have excluded the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and North Stradbroke Island projects.

I recently joined with 24 local community groups to write a joint appeal to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government voicing our community's concerns. In a response which dismissed our concerns, the minister identified the wrong set of islands as the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. The minister's response claimed that projects on the islands would be eligible for regional funding. However, her office later backtracked when it was pointed out they had mistaken the uninhabited Cobby Cobby, Mosquito, Eden and Crusoe islands on the Gold Coast for the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. I even provided the minister's office with a map of the islands, but this didn't seem to help orientate them. It would be laughable if it weren't so serious. The residents of SMBI are unimpressed, as am I, that the federal infrastructure minister's office and department do not know where or what they are. I'll keep up the pressure to ensure our islands receive their fair share of funding.