Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I have done well by doing that. I will continue to do that because I know that investment in Northern Australia and in our area is very important. Defence is huge in our electorate. This year we have got some key capital works projects going on. I was on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works earlier in the parliamentary period. There is $19 million for the $72 million Robinson Barracks redevelopment and $16 million for the $49 million RAAF Base Darwin redevelopment. Those are significant investments in both those bases. There is also $9.8 million for the fuel installation at the Darwin naval base.

Defence Force homes have always been an issue and we were lucky enough in Solomon to receive the most funding for Defence Force homes—some 185 new homes for defence families. We can now get defence families into comfortable accommodation and, as we know, they deserve to have that sort of accommodation. They move around a lot and it must be very unsettling for families with young kids in school to continually move around. It is a great investment by the government into making housing much more comfortable for our defence families. They bring a lot to our community and they are very valued members of our community.

All in all, these appropriation bills signal a significant investment by the Rudd Labor government in the Northern Territory, particularly in the seat of Solomon. I do not like to make this public because some of my colleagues do get a little envious, but the Prime Minister has dropped in on eight occasions—which can be good but it can also be a double-edged sword because sometimes I think he is just coming up there to check on me—and his visits have been very well received by the people in my electorate. The more he is there, the more he gets an understanding of the challenges that we face in Northern Australia.

The Inpex project will be an investment in the Northern Territory of anywhere between $30 billion and $50 billion over the next 40 years. It is a very significant investment by Inpex, a Japanese company, that will see my electorate become bigger and stronger, and put more money into Australia’s GDP. I will continue to fight very hard for the people of my electorate. I believe that the federal government will continue to support me in those endeavours. I would like to thank all the ministers who make the effort to visit Darwin, hang around and listen to what the locals have to say.

See this speech in context