Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2008-2009 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2008-2009, I want to talk about what I call the ‘Page priorities’. Quite a number of them were commitments that came out of the 2008 budget. Importantly, they were commitments that would contribute to building infrastructure in our community. I do not just mean roads and bridges—they are important, and some of the money is directed to projects in those areas. I also mean community infrastructure—the things that are the glue of communities, that hold communities together and that make sure communities work—such as local halls and the like, which help to create the social fabric of our community.

One of the hallmarks of the Rudd Labor government is that it is doing exactly what it said it would do. The government said: ‘This is the sort of government we will be: ideas matter; values matter; and infrastructure and projects in communities matter. These are the things that we are committing to doing for the Australian people, electorate by electorate.’ It proceeded immediately upon election to do that at the national level and at the electorate level. Some of those commitments on the national stage were clearly honoured almost immediately. There were no promises that were ‘core promises’ and ‘non-core promises’; each and every one of them is being rolled out.

The Rudd Labor government also talked about and committed to stopping the blame game and working in a cooperative relationship with the states to make sure that some of those community and infrastructure projects could move ahead without the ducking, shoving and argy-bargy that go on around a whole lot of projects. We all know that that is a challenging task. We understand our federation and the challenges of working cooperatively, but it is another hallmark of the Rudd Labor government that we have proceeded to do that. Quite a few of the agreements and a lot of the cooperation in seven particular areas are happening through COAG, but it is also happening in a range of other areas. Most recently, it has been happening as well with the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. A coordinator-general has been appointed at the national level, and I am advised that counterparts are being put in place at the state and territory level to make sure that a cooperative relationship happens.

Some of the things that happened immediately on the national stage were that the Kyoto protocol was signed—the Prime Minister said he would do it, and it was done—and we said sorry. I know a lot of members of parliament felt good about being able to say sorry. That was the commitment of the Rudd Labor government and a commitment of federal Labor, but equally I know that there were people on both sides of parliament who felt good about being able to say sorry on that day. In the area of infrastructure, a big commitment was made by the government; this commitment is delivered within the appropriations bills. Three bodies have been set up: one for education, one for health and also Infrastructure Australia.

Then there is the relationship with local government, which is reflected in the appropriation bills. There are two parts to it. One is about relationships and working with local communities. Under the previous government’s regional development program, a lot of local government was actually cut out or sidelined and a lot of priorities that local government had worked up with their local communities never really got a guernsey. It was a completely different focus. Again a hallmark of the Rudd Labor government is the close working relationship with local government. That has been cemented by the meeting here in December last year when mayors and deputy mayors came from right around Australia. When I was writing about it in my local paper, I said it felt like a big town hall meeting except that we were in the Great Hall in Parliament House. That is what it felt like with all of these mayors and deputy mayors.

The program that is operating with local government is the local community infrastructure program. That is a program that obviously is well received, welcomed and popular at local level. It has allowed the local councils to upgrade areas that they have not been able to tackle for years, and it reaches right across the local community. I will give an example from the seat of Page. I have five local government areas: Ballina Shire, Clarence Valley, Kyogle Shire, Lismore City and Richmond Valley. As I have moved around the community—and I meet regularly with the mayors and the councils—I have been well aware of all the local projects that they have not been able to touch for years. We also know that local governments have an increasing responsibility—burden, some would say—to deliver projects at local level. As there is more legislation, more policy initiatives, they have the burden to deliver those. In Ballina Shire, for instance, they were able to get $712,000 from the program for infrastructure spending. In Clarence Valley they got $1,406,000 and they have been able to address a whole range of outstanding programs in the community with various halls, with upgrades and the like. Kyogle Shire got $401,000, Lismore City got $1,049,000 and Richmond Valley got $534,000. They might not seem like huge amounts but they are in local communities, where we have all of those very local projects.

Another commitment that is being rolled out within the time frame up until 2013 is universal access to preschool for all children four years of age. That is another one that will take a lot of cooperation with the states and territories because they deliver the services to the preschools. In my state of New South Wales I know there are about 800 preschools. About a hundred of those are in public schools under the department of education, and they are relatively free; there is no cost. But there are about 700 that are community preschools and the families have to pay. I am told it is somewhere between $35 and $40 a day. I have had a look at other states and territories where some of it is actually free. I have been meeting regularly with the local community preschools and talking about this issue because it is one of the issues that need to be further worked on and resolved before the program of universal access can be implemented. I have advocated that they all come in under the department of education, and then it would be easier to implement. Some community preschools agree. I got an email last night from the president of the Lawrence community preschool advocating that. Some of them say no—that they want to stand alone and keep their own unique characteristics. This is clearly one of those issues that we have to work on. I hope that it will all be free, because I see preschool for four-year-olds not as being about child minding or child care, which is fine, but as being about education.

What I call the ‘Page priorities’ in terms of infrastructure spending are commitments that I went to the election with—and the commitments have been honoured. Some of them are still being implemented, but they have all been honoured. An example is the Alstonville bypass. Bob Wilson, who is the chair of the Alstonville Bypass Action Committee, has beavered away for some 18 years on a 40-year design project to get this funded and operational. He said that if it would come to fruition—that is, if the money would materialise—he would dance in the street with me. And that is literally what we did last week. We actually went out and danced in the street in celebration. We were both a wee bit embarrassed because it was very public, but it was one of those things that we said we would do and we are in the local paper, dancing in the street. I am afraid we held up a bit of traffic while we did that. That was one of those things that I felt good about. It had dragged on for years—everybody had made promises, no one had ever really honoured them and I knew that when I made that commitment with Kevin Rudd that it would be honoured and that is why I did it for the first time.

There are lots of projects. A small commitment was $125,000 for the upgrade of the Grafton saleyards. We have a beef industry, as well as a timber industry, across the Northern Rivers in Page and in the Clarence Valley, and $125,000 made a big difference to what could be done at the saleyards with steel fencing and the like. I hope that is the start of one part of the upgrade. I said that I would endeavour to get some more funding if and when it becomes available. That is a significant industry, and industries like that really need supporting because they add to our local economy.

In Lismore there was $140,000 for the Lismore Flood Management Plan. Lismore is my home and I know a bit about floods because often when I say to people that I live in Lismore they will say ‘Oh, you come from the flood place’—it has that reputation. We are pretty used to floods—not on the scale that we see right across Queensland, and we have not suffered any loss of life in recent years, but we did in earlier years in my neck of the woods. So $140,000 makes a huge difference. The issue is that it was responding to local priorities and local needs. One of the ways of doing that is to work hand-in-glove with local government.

I would like to comment on the money that goes to aid and I briefly mention Timor-Leste, or East Timor as we call it. I know that all members of this place support our ongoing commitment and program with Timor-Leste, as we do with many other neighbours but with that one in particular. It is one place for which I hope we can continue to enjoy bipartisan support, because they are neighbours and friends who really deserve any assistance that we can continue to give through appropriations and budgetary support and, equally, through friendship, the parliament and all the other mechanisms that we have at our disposal. I lived in that country for 3½ years and worked for the Timor-Leste government so I have not only a good working knowledge of the country, the people, the culture and the government but also an understanding and, obviously, a commitment to it. I commend the bills to the House.

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