Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

we all know that the Sunshine Coast is a much finer place to live and to bring up a family than the Gold Coast.

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council will be able to emulate the successes of the Gold Coast council. What Gold Coast council members have been able to do is to work together as a body. We all know that the Gold Coast is an entity. When we were in government, Gold Coast representatives, led by the mayor, would come to Canberra and knock on the doors of ministers. Ministers knew that, when dealing with the Gold Coast City Council, they were dealing with a body which represented the whole of the Gold Coast. Ministers like to know who they are dealing with.

The Sunshine Coast, however, has Noosa, Maroochy and Caloundra. While we have had the Sunshine Coast Regional Organisation of Councils and they have sought to work together, at times despite the best of intentions Noosa, Maroochy and Caloundra have worked in different directions. Happily, after the council elections next month we will have a Sunshine Coast council which will be able to speak for all of us on the Sunshine Coast. I think that the process followed by the state government, with its lack of consultation with the community, is something for which the state government ought to be condemned, but the outcome is positive because we will have a new council which will speak up for the Sunshine Coast, which is undoubtedly the best part of the country in which to live and to bring up a family. The opportunities on the Sunshine Coast are absolutely limitless.

This brings me to one of my favourite hobbyhorses. After the Prime Minister was elected, he said he was going to govern for all Australians. In fact, I think the new honourable member for Blaxland said in his speech that we do not want to see government decisions made by postcode. The Sunshine Coast will have its population double over the next 10 to 15 years. I am pleased that Infrastructure Australia will be set up, as we have so many infrastructure requirements. We need to upgrade the Bruce Highway all the way from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast. The previous government funded the upgrade as far as Caboolture to six lanes, and now we need to extend that upgrade all the way to the Sunshine Coast. As a community, we have so many infrastructure requirements. I have been in touch with the Prime Minister’s office to stress that some of those needs must be met. I will certainly be knocking on the Prime Minister’s door to guarantee we get as much infrastructure as we possibly can.

In the run-up to the election, the Labor Party ran very strong campaigns on the Sunshine Coast. With a Queenslander, Kevin Rudd, being the Leader of the Labor Party, I suppose all conservative candidates in Queensland had only one opponent, and that was Kevin Rudd; the quality of the specific Labor candidate did not matter. But Labor candidates did promise a lot of spending on the Sunshine Coast. I will certainly be doing what I can to hold the government to those promises, to make sure that, even though the previous government was not successful on the Sunshine Coast, the promises made to Sunshine Coast people are completely delivered.

In the time available to me, I would also like to say how sorry I am that the state government has decided to proceed with the Traveston dam. I am all about there being adequate water supplies for the future, but the Traveston dam will be poorly located, it is not a good dam site, and over a thousand families will be affected. I read in the Sunshine Coast Daily today that apparently some considerable amount of Australian government money is being spent building a new bridge in an area which will be inundated by the Traveston dam. One just has to ask whether that is a sensible use of Australian taxpayers’ money.

On 24 November we had an election. We also know that the government won and we, the opposition, lost. We focus a lot on the outcome, as indeed we should, but, while we might not like the outcome, as Australians we always ought to respect the process. We are singularly fortunate as Australians because we are able, come elections, to put a government in or put a government out. The sort of right that we have is not a right shared by people right around the world. One only has to turn one’s television set on at night to know that people elsewhere do not have the freedom, the stability, the way of life and the tolerance that we have as Australians. While we might be upset over the fact that we did not win the election, as Australians we ought to focus positively on the process because it means that as a country we are able to select the government we want. If there is a feeling that the government ought to move on—as was clearly the case on 24 November last year—so be it. What will happen is that the government opposite will run out of steam and, in the fullness of time—hopefully sooner rather than later, particularly if we form one non-Labor party—we will see a change of government and a return to good and sound government.

In summing up, I again congratulate all honourable members, particularly new members, on both sides of the House on their election. We are a very great privilege to serve in the Australian parliament. Just over a thousand people have served in the Australian parliament since Federation. We are a wonderful country. I know that we will not agree on everything. I respect your motivations for standing and being elected, and I would like to wish you well in your political careers.

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