Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Before I finished my remarks last week, I was talking about the important role that local government plays within our national system of government and the need for a stronger and more effective partnership between our federal sphere of government and the local councils around the country. The councils in Capricornia, my electorate, want a genuine two-way equal partnership with the federal government. When I spoke to the mayors, they stressed that term ‘equal partnership’—not the one that we often see in action at the present time where the federal government is happy to take the revenue from the coal boom that is occurring in my electorate but leaves much of the responsibility for the infrastructure and the communities that sustain the coal industry falling to the local councils.

I want to raise some examples of what is happening around Central Queensland and the kinds of projects that local councils are raising with me in the hope of attracting much-needed and, I would say, well-deserved federal government support. I will start at the heart of the coalmining boom in the shire of Belyando, which includes the towns of Moranbah and Clermont. These towns are under massive pressure from the growing population of workers in the mines and associated industries. The demand for housing and water resources is particularly acute, and the councillors have been working overtime to get solutions to both those issues. Of course, while they can come up with the solutions that will best meet the needs of their communities, they are always reliant on other levels of government to come on board with funding and support to fully realise their goal.

The Belyando Shire Council is certainly not sitting on its hands, waiting for other levels of government to do the heavy lifting on this issue of affordable housing in Moranbah, in particular. To the contrary, the council has been proactive in trying to find a solution to the shortage of affordable housing. I will just put it into perspective for other members. The cost of renting a three-bedroom house in Moranbah at present is $1,200 per week. So we really are talking about enormous pressures on affordable housing in the context of the coalmining boom. The council has already introduced an infrastructure charge on developers on each block of land. The additional $2,700 infrastructure charge will be allocated towards the council’s affordable housing initiative. The council intends to build 10 accommodation units in the next year and will develop land by offering it for sale at cost plus $10,000. Again, the profits from those activities will be directed towards affordable housing.

The council is seeking assistance from the federal government and will propose a motion at the upcoming Australian Local Government Association conference outlining its suggestion of a direct payment from the federal government to local councils to increase the supply of affordable housing, similar to the concept behind the Roads to Recovery program.

This is a classic example of a council getting in and addressing a problem that is not its core function, but the council sees the impact the problem is having on the community and feels it has no choice but to act. This motivation was summed up in a statement the Mayor of Belyando, Peter Freeleagus, made to me. He said that the council’s role is to create a community, and I know the Mayor of Belyando really believes that and fulfils that goal in the things that the council does.

The impact of the coal boom is not, however, restricted to those towns next to the coalmines. In Rockhampton the effects of a growing population and new industrial developments associated with the mining sector are putting pressure on local infrastructure, as well. The Rockhampton City Council is responding to the increased presence of heavy vehicle traffic in some of the city’s residential areas and the general growth in vehicle numbers with several road projects, and these projects are particularly at the interface between residential areas and the growing industrial section of the city.

The council has applied for funding under the Roads to Recovery strategic regional funding program to upgrade two roads, and it is also asking for additional funding to conduct a study to identify potential future routes in order to remove heavy vehicles from residential areas and the CBD. The council has identified a couple of projects. One is the construction of an industrial access road along Maloney Street between Alexander Street and the Bruce Highway. The idea of that is to improve access to the southern portion of the Parkhurst Industrial Estate, and it will enhance the safety of the general public through the reduction of heavy vehicle traffic utilising the residential areas and school zones on Farm Street and Carlton Street. That project has my full backing, and I know it is very popular in the community, because we want to get the heavy vehicles away from those residential areas and areas near the Glenmore schools.

The other project is the Norman Road-Moores Creek Road arterial roads corridor. Both Norman Road and Moores Creek Road are experiencing, and are expected to continue to experience, significant traffic growth as a result of the development in the adjacent urban areas and continued growth on the Capricorn coast. Although these projects are within the boundaries of Rockhampton, they do have regional significance, as Rockhampton is the major service and industrial centre for many of the mines to the city’s south and west. It is also the place where many of the mineworkers and their families settle or travel to in order to access, health, education, financial and other services. Safe and efficient travel into and through Rockhampton is important for the entire region.

These projects have my support, and I have written to the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads requesting that he give these projects priority in recognition of the importance of the coal industry to our national economy and the necessity for that industry and surrounding communities to be supported by adequate infrastructure.

While the councils in our region are engaged on a daily basis in trying to address the human side of the coal boom, the federal government is yet to show it is even aware that these issues exist—and I suspect that will not change any time soon. I wrote to the Prime Minister this year inviting him to tour my electorate to fully appreciate the impact that the coal boom is having on Central Queensland and to see how the federal government could do its bit for a region that has effectively funded its budget handouts for the last few years. The Prime Minister has answered my letter, and I am disappointed to report to the House that he declined my invitation. However, as the councils of Central Queensland know all too well, the issues of infrastructure and social services will not go away. The Prime Minister has to decide whether he is truly governing for all of us or whether, as I suspect, he will continue to ignore regional Australia—even those parts that keep this country afloat. (Time expired)

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