Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Crows—sorry. The area of Karara has been long touted as the location for a Gold Coast AFL team. We know of the announcement that the federal government, in cooperation with the state government, will build a stadium. That is another $36 million that is being invested by this government in not only a sporting facility but the game of AFL, which is a very popular game. In Queensland, it has grown from strength to strength. It is important because of the jobs that it will bring to a region like the Gold Coast, a region that is set up for tourism and which can accommodate and cater for that sort of development.

The Gold Coast will see many benefits. There has been discussion that once the stadium has been built there will be 9,000 jobs created within that region because of sporting tourism. Quite often infrastructure, if it is chosen correctly, it can benefit many people. In this case, those who are sporting minded and those who are in the tourism industry will benefit from that major piece of infrastructure. There will be other benefits from it being an events venue.

There were 12 years of neglect of infrastructure by the previous government. I have heard arguments about this in this House. I can give examples on the ground of where the electorate of Forde missed out. As I continue to see, it was somewhere in a black hole. No-one seemed to care; no-one in government seemed to understand that a very vital part of South-East Queensland was being neglected.

The business sector is a major partner in what we do as a government. They are the people at the front line when it comes to the security of the future. Without business, we do not have jobs. Potentially, the sector hardest hit will be small business. But as a government we have invested in small business. The government has announced that it will provide additional immediate assistance by increasing the small business and general tax break to 50 per cent for eligible assets that are ordered and in place between December 2008 and December 2009. This allows small businesses to invest in the equipment that they need. For example, a construction company needs to invest in equipment to fulfil the demand for the construction of new homes due to the extension of the first home owners boost and for numerous infrastructure projects that the Rudd government is rolling out across the country. Not only are we giving the incentives for people to go and invest and purchase homes in this case but we are also providing the tools by way of tax incentives to small business, which enables them to be a major beneficiary.

Councils are another issue. The area of Forde has three councils: the Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim Regional Council and Logan—all areas that benefit greatly from the rollout of our community infrastructure money. The Rudd government will support jobs right now by building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow. I congratulate the Treasurer for having the foresight to invest in our nation’s future.

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