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

I also rise today to speak on the report by the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government into funding regional and local community infrastructure. I certainly acknowledge the comments made by the member for New England and the member for Longman and also their intense understanding of what this report is challenging us all to consider. But I should say that, from my perspective, we have moved forward from where this report details methods by which governments should engage communities in providing them infrastructure. The report is very good. I applaud the secretariat. They did a lot of work in providing not only the information and the logistics for the hearings but also a quality report from this inquiry.

The notions of probity and integrity in terms of how a system like this should operate are very important. My own personal experiences have brought this home to me, especially when I was campaigning for the seat of Forde prior to the election. We all know the program that existed prior to the election—the Regional Partnerships program. Some communities appeared to do very well out of the commitments made by the then government. I have spoken many times in this House about how an area like mine, the seat of Forde in south-east Queensland, has been underresourced in terms of community infrastructure. The reality then was that we were a black hole when it came to be being on anyone’s map in terms of the infrastructure that we required as a community.

In the lead-up to the election campaign, letters from the then minister, who is now retired from this parliament, had committed the then government under the RPP to three major community projects in the Forde electorate. When the election was over and there was a little bit of backtrack over the detail, it was found that there were no contracts and no commitments made. This indicated to me that this was very much an election campaign against my attempts to be the local member. We understand that these things do happen, and I think this report goes a long way to understanding the direction that we now need to take. The community of Forde has essentially been passed by on many occasions, but it was eventually promised some fairly crucial pieces of social infrastructure only to find out later found that there was no veracity to those claims or commitments. So, as the member, I have had had to go back to the community and say that these commitments were made but were unfunded and uncontracted.

Of course, good things do come: the fact that this report was commissioned and the inquiry took place and built along the way an understanding by our current government, the Rudd government, of the need look at how we might provide community infrastructure; and, of course, the large commitment has been made, the $800 million that is going into community infrastructure via a process of engaging local government. I certainly reflect on the words of the member for Hinkler and his concern about the private sector or organisations for profit could not actually benefit from this funding and, of course, there is a fundamental problem with that approach. Of course, you are suggesting that the only way that community infrastructure can be rolled out is by the private sector and, of course, the one good thing about this report, one good thing about the approaches we have taken as a government now is that this is about a partnership.

It always has been about a partnership and while it is clear that the private sector has a role to play, the private sector is very much that, give them the incentive, give them motivation, give them some direction in terms of how they can be involved in investment in the community and they can make their business decisions based on that. In one of the recommendations, of course, we talk about local government and local government involvement, of course, to have local government who, as the member for New England said, are elected representatives, they are people who have an understanding essentially of their community needs and, of course, the priorities for the community.

As I mentioned, those three projects that were promised by the previous government in my electorate had very little input from the local authority and, of course, when you looked at the liabilities that were being placed on a local authority through those commitments, it is not just the building of infrastructure but, as we all know it is the recurrent costs that may go into provision of any infrastructure. To have a process that has the integrity that I believe has been outlined in our report and the way forward, to look at some of the application of how we as a government are providing that infrastructure on the ground right now.

As I said, the 24 recommendations very much put in place the approach and some suggestions about how government can certainly provide a process that is watertight, so that we have those accusations and, of course, it is a perception of wrongdoing that is more damaging than the actual, the fact that there can be allegations. There are accusations made about a process that is not complete and so this report outlining through those 24 recommendations a way forward I think is very, very important.

As I said, to look at what we have done as a government to certainly to take the intent of the report even at this stage, the rollout of infrastructure and certainly the ability for local government in my community to now put their hand up and ask for some very, very important pieces of infrastructure, and I would like to actually detail a little bit of that investment. Given that, prior to certainly this government and our approach and the suggestions and recommendations made by this report, the approach forward seems to be working very well for many communities.

We have had and currently have, of course, the Australian Council of Local Government, which formed last November, again in Canberra this week in conference talking about their move forward and their ability to engage the federal government, or the federal government certainly to engage them and all levels of government. So federal, state and local government working together to provide essential community projects. Can I say, in the seat of Forde, and you have heard me almost complain in this House about how we have been overlooked, I am very pleased to say that now we have some leverage on the ground, we have got good projects, getting support certainly from the federal government, at the local government level and also being supported at the state government level.

I can name a couple of large projects in South-East Queensland in which I have been involved and those are some just outside of my electorate. You are aware of the AFL Stadium on the Gold Coast, a large investment, but by three levels of government, having those three levels of government working together to provide that outcome. On Tambourine Mountain, a very beautiful part of my electorate and an area that, can I say, they boast as a very conservative community traditionally, they boast that they now have their first Labor member, and it is interesting that they can see that Labor governments, we have a philosophy, we have an understanding of what we need to provide to communities, and we have been able to provide their community with a number of very, very important but very fundamental resources, sporting facilities. On the Tambourine Mountain, obviously I always consider mountains like islands, you have got limited resources, and so for a community like Tambourine Mountain, which has something like nearly 9,000 residents, they had no sporting facilities of note, a park somewhere, another little bit of equipment somewhere else.

With cooperation from the local government—the Scenic Rim Regional Council, once known as the Beaudesert Council—and with the state government and the federal government’s commitment of $3.6 million to that community, they will be able to build very, very important, very fundamental basic sporting facilities. This means that children and families on that mountain now no longer will have to travel for an hour or an hour and a half for sporting events down on the Gold Coast or further north towards Brisbane. They will have their own facilities, and it is through this partnership that we have been able to create this, in a very, very short time. This was a project that has been on the drawing board for nearly eight years. The community have lobbied, have spoken to state members, to their council, to the federal government. They were essentially ignored by the federal government, though, to the point that their concern about those other projects that were promised under the RPP left them somewhat dissatisfied. They believed that not only did they not get a look-in but these other projects certainly did not warrant the support that they got or the political involvement that was providing those particular projects.

While we have received a commitment of $3.6 million to the community for those sporting facilities, there is also a restoration of a very important iconic piece of community infrastructure: the Zamia Theatre, which has a long history. As you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, I am a bit of a thespian; I tramped the boards for a couple of years in my early life. So theatre and that kind of cultural expression is very, very important for a community. The Zamia Theatre company, on a promise from the federal government—what was a bogus promise—undertook with their own money to strip the facility of its lining, its roofing and make major changes to its foundation. Of course, it could not proceed—no money. The federal government commitment at the time was not forthcoming, yet here was an iconic community facility that was certainly being challenged by weather conditions and was very much in a poor state.

Through the Community Infrastructure Program, and with the Scenic Rim Regional Council, we as a government were able to commit $179,000 to that particular project. This will now bring that community facility back to use and also protect the heritage that is very much a strong part of the mountain community.

Other proposed infrastructure includes projects like a skate bowl and park in Tamborine Village. If you know the region, you have Tamborine Mountain and Tamborine proper is actually a village at the bottom of the slopes of the mountain. For that community, we are providing some very simple infrastructure that they would not have otherwise been able to use or have installed.

In talking about this report, I mention that it is about partnerships and the three levels of government working together. The fourth column to this is the private sector. I know the member for Hinkler’s concerns, and I would like to allay his concerns. As the member for Longman mentioned, there are opportunities that the private sector can tap into. If the community is getting a basic piece of infrastructure and there is an economic outcome that can be generated further by private investment, that is essentially the stimulus that that community needs.

Let me give you an example of a little bit of infrastructure that has been provided very recently in the electorate of Forde. You have heard me in the House and this particular chamber talk about the ‘great south-west’ and the development of a strategy to open up the electorate of Forde as a major transport corridor. We talk about Australia’s freight effort and of giving alternatives to the region, in terms of how we might move freight and other forms of transport through a region. Some of the simple infrastructure that we will be providing to the region essentially allows the private sector to come on board. The private sector will tell you that all they want is certainty about what infrastructure will be provided. And that provision of infrastructure by government agencies—in this case, the federal government—means that they can invest with some certainty. So, while I understand the member for Hinkler’s concerns, I would like to allay his fears and say that the private sector will be supported, as it has been by our general rollout of infrastructure around the country. Communities generally cannot afford the total provision of infrastructure, but the stimulus that local, state and federal government working together can provide—

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