Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to start my address-in-reply speech by thanking the people of Greenway for re-electing me and for giving me the privilege and honour of being their federal representative again. Over the past three years, prior to the recent election, I have worked extremely hard to ensure my community has access to services, infrastructure and equipment, and I will continue to work hard for the people of Greenway. The electorate of Greenway spans some 2,886 square kilometres and is bordered by the M7 to the south, the north-west growth corridor and the Hawkesbury and Penrith local government areas.

Three years ago I committed to the community that I would work hard to deliver much needed services and funding to the area. Over the past three years, I have worked hard to deliver services and assistance that include an Australian technical college; a family relationship centre; the first solar city for New South Wales; a Royal Life Saving aquatic training centre; a Medicare funded MRI licence for Blacktown Hospital; a mobile after-hours GP service for the Hawkesbury; additional home care equipment, particularly for palliative care patients, in the Hawkesbury; around $3 million for a new primary school at Second Ponds Creek; and half a million dollars for the upgrade of the gym at UWS Hawkesbury campus—to name a few.

I also want to note that several roads have already been upgraded or are in the process of being upgraded due to federal funding that I was able to secure. These include Racecourse Road at Clarendon, a roundabout at Fiveways in Oakville, upgrading of St Albans Road, and a safety upgrade to Old Bells Line of Road and Bells Line of Road at Kurrajong. Prior to the election, I also committed to keep Richmond RAAF base operational.

The electorate has schools that need equipment and facility upgrades. When the coalition was in government we listened and responded with the Investing in Our Schools Program. It was because of our strong economic management that many schools across my electorate were able to upgrade equipment through the Investing in Our Schools Program—equipment the state Labor government has failed to deliver—equipment such as computers, library resources, security fencing, toilet block upgrades and shade areas. And now we see the Rudd Labor government has abolished this successful program and replaced it with the digital revolution, a plan to provide new upgraded information and ITC to secondary school students—from year 9 to 12—only. This funding is only available to secondary school students. What about primary school students? The previous coalition government had a very successful school equipment funding program open to all primary and secondary schools. This has been replaced with a funding program only open to secondary schools and so now primary schools across our nation will miss out.

The coalition government listened and responded to rural Australia, providing rural assistance to farmers during the drought as well as additional funding to provide road upgrades to regional areas through the AusLink program—unlike the Rudd Labor government, who are sending in their razor gang who propose to slash regional funding. It is because of the AusLink funding that roads such as Racecourse Road and Fiveways, which I have already mentioned, and the intersection at Old Bells Line of Road have been able to be upgraded and people can travel safely. Ultimately, this is about saving lives.

Prior to the 2007 election, the then coalition government committed to funding an additional seven roads in the Hawkesbury under the regional program, including Freemans Reach Road, Comleroy Road, Terrace Road, Grose Vale Road, Scheyville Road, old East Kurrajong Road and Howse Creek. I call on the Australian government to recognise these roads as important and to honour the commitment made by the previous coalition government. Safety on our roads should be beyond politics, and the Australian government should do the right thing and fix these roads.

It has been six months since the equine influenza epidemic broke out in Australia and crippled the equine industry and associated businesses. It affected many people in the Hawkesbury. I was delighted, after lobbying the then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Peter McGauran, that the coalition government announced funding to assist the equine industry. I was pleased to hear the Australian government recently announced an extension of this funding. What concerns me is the lack of foresight by this current government in failing to recognise that, even though the quarantine zones are lifted, people will continue to financially suffer, in some instances for a period of two years. I recently met with representatives from the Arabian Horse Society of Australia, where I listened to the challenges breeders are experiencing now, and will experience beyond, as a result of equine influenza. I ask the Australian government to acknowledge the challenges and hardships faced by the equine industry and to continue to provide financial assistance to those who may still require it beyond the time period when the quarantine zones have been lifted.

Families are the core of our community and when a family needs help we need to have the services there to assist them. Prior to entering parliament I was a social worker. I saw the need for services which encourage families to work through the challenges they face and which support them to find solutions. I worked hard to ensure my electorate of Greenway was a beneficiary of one of the coalition government’s family relationship centres. The family relationship centre provides an opportunity for families to meet with experienced counsellors and work to resolve challenges, issues and conflict. I would like to congratulate in particular Anne Holland from Relationships Australia and the team, led by Cheryl Charlesworth, at Blacktown for the wonderful work being done to assist families requiring assistance.

Richmond RAAF Base in my electorate employs over 3,000 people and is home to the C130s. The potential closure of the base would have had a large impact on the community, given that the base adds over $401 million to the regional economy annually and contributes to over nine per cent of the total regional employment. Over 6,000 jobs across the New South Wales region come directly or indirectly from the Richmond RAAF Base and its existence. The RAAF Base Richmond offers support to Sydney based specialised Defence Force units, in particular the Tactical Assault Group (East), the 4th Battalion commando Royal Australian Regiment, 4RAR, and the Incident Response Regiment. On 11 August last year I was able to announce with the then Minister for Defence, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, that RAAF Base Richmond was to remain permanently operational.

The Hawkesbury region is also significant for both its environment and water. I will be holding and encouraging the Rudd Labor government to continue the commitment by the coalition government to provide $132.5 million to improve the Hawkesbury Nepean River, particularly the South Creek catchment area. I noted the member for Parramatta talked about many of the creeks which are shared by her and me in our electorates. They will benefit from the $132.5 million. The funding will have significant outcomes not just for the Hawkesbury region but for the greater South Creek catchment. They include: improved water quality in the Hawkesbury River from improved treatment of sewerage and stormwater discharges and reduced nutrient run-off from agriculture and open space area; additional water savings for use as environmental flows; increased water recycling and re-use; a reduction in the use of Sydney’s drinking water supplies for non-drinking purposes; and an improvement to the environmental and recreational values of the river.

Significant economic activity depends on the catchment. Agriculture in the region has an annual farm gate value of over $1 billion, and eggs, poultry, fresh vegetables, flowers and fruit are supplied to Sydney markets. The river also supports oyster and prawn farming, extensive horse breeding and a turf industry. The Hawkesbury-Nepean is a catchment of national significance. It supplies over 97 per cent of the drinking water from metropolitan Sydney, and its water supports the generation of approximately 70 per cent of Sydney’s income. As I said previously, I will be encouraging the Rudd Labor government to keep and continue the commitment by the coalition government to provide $132.5 million to improve the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. Sydney depends on it.

There are many much-needed services in my electorate of Greenway that run on a shoestring budget, such as Richmond Community Services Inc., an organisation that offers support and assistance to families in the Hawkesbury community. One of their sources of funding is Local Answers, a funding program which provides funding for organisations such as Richmond Community Services Inc. so that they can do great work on the ground. As of this moment, Richmond Community Services Inc. do not know if any further recurrent funding will be available to them through Local Answers after 2009. The Australian government has yet to confirm this. I can confirm that funding from the Local Grants Scheme has been cut. This funding enabled local emergency services to apply for funding so they could either start from scratch or upgrade equipment for areas such as communications and operations centres.

Last year, Hawkesbury council received over $39,000 in funding to upgrade communications at the SES operations centre. The Hawkesbury Rural Fire Service’s communications and operations centre need that communication equipment upgraded but now, because of this funding being given the axe, local emergency service control and communication centres will have no way to upgrade. I will be fighting to find ways that emergency services in the electorate of Greenway will be able to access funding for much-needed equipment.

As we move forward I have a plan in place. This plan includes holding the Rudd Labor government to account on commitments made that will benefit my electorate. It should not matter if they were made by the then coalition government; they should be recognised as areas of importance to a local community and treated as such. I will be putting pressure on the Australian government to ensure the $132.5 million committed to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River is honoured. I will also be putting pressure on the government to prioritise road funding for the roads that have been identified as needing a safety upgrade in the Hawkesbury.

It will also be important for the Australian government to honour the commitment made by the previous government to funding the Walking School Bus program in my electorate as a pilot program for schools in Western Sydney to promote a healthy active lifestyle and tackle the challenge of obesity that our children face. I will also be encouraging the Australian government to confirm the commitment by the coalition government that Richmond RAAF Base will remain permanently operational. In addition, I will be asking the Rudd Labor government to provide funding assistance, such as the Local Grants Scheme which has already been cut, so emergency services and councils can upgrade equipment and create community plans to deal with floods and evacuations.

A good local member is someone who listens to their community and acts accordingly. As the federal member for Greenway, I will continue to listen to the community and work hard on their behalf. I can assure the people of Greenway that, whatever challenges or issues arise, they have a federal representative who is looking out for and representing their best interests. Protecting and securing our lifestyle in the region is my priority.

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