Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on several issues of significant concern to my electorate and which, in the spirit of Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2009-2010 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2009-2010, will deliver excellent value for money to our nation if they receive the support of this federal government. I take up the contribution of the member for Solomon, in particular his final references to those valued members of our community: Defence Force personnel. It is in that spirit that I refer to my first issue of concern relating to the East Sale RAAF Base. I am sure the member agrees with me that on issues of defence there is no room for politics and that a bipartisan approach has to be taken by both sides, and decisions facing the future defence needs of our nation should be based entirely on merit.

It is on that note that I raise the future of the East Sale RAAF Base within the context of the current review of defence facilities right across Australia. I know that reviews often lead to some ill-informed speculation and rumour. I recently had the opportunity for a briefing from the Department of Defence and an adviser from the minister’s office—and I do appreciate the courtesy extended to me by the minister’s office—in relation to the future plans for a Defence Force base at East Sale. In that meeting, I stressed the case for East Sale’s continued role in meeting Australia’s future defence needs. I highlighted the fact that East Sale RAAF Base has many advantages in terms of its geographic location and the availability of airspace for training Australia’s next generation of defence pilots. I know the future operations of the base at East Sale have strong support from the Wellington Shire Council and the local community are very much behind it. The council have been very proactive in protecting land for future development which may take place at the East Sale site.

Following the successful development of the officer training school at East Sale—driven in large part by my predecessor, Peter McGauran—I have been in regular contact with the Minister for Defence to seek support for the future expansion of the East Sale RAAF Base. I make no apologies for continuing to lobby the minister at every opportunity and to support the council in the work it has done to show its full support for future development at the site. The East Sale RAAF Base is well regarded and I am confident the base will continue to grow.

In relation to the specific opportunity of Gippsland hosting the interim basic flight training program, I have made representations to the minister and there is certainly strong support from the local community and Wellington Shire Council, and the Victorian government have been on board with this particular issue. I urge the state government to continue to do everything in its power to talk to appropriate people amongst Labor colleagues to help secure the facility for Gippsland. I recognise it will be a hotly contested contract and I expect the decision to be based on merit. I am sure the state government is well aware of its regional development responsibilities and will continue to support Wellington Shire Council in that regard.

The opportunities that would be available in Gippsland from the interim basic flight training facility coming to Gippsland would be significant in terms of local contractors and businesses supplying the facility. It is anticipated that it could start operations in 2012 and it would operate for six years. There would be scope for local contractors and businesses to assist in the supply of fuel, building, security, health services and transport amongst a range of other needs. If it gets the go-ahead for Gippsland, there is a forecast of a $90 million boost for the regional economy over the school’s six-year life cycle—before a permanent basic flight training facility is established. I am sure, Mr Deputy Speaker Washer, you would understand why it is a matter of great interest to the people of Gippsland where the interim basic flight training facility is located and where it is located in the longer term. I am very confident that East Sale RAAF Base will expand in the future and continue to play a very important role in meeting our nation’s future long-term defence needs.

12:09:30 I recently had the opportunity to meet with the new senior ADF officer, Group Captain Glen Coy, and Wing Commander Sharyn Bolitho. They were outstanding service personnel in the way they recognised the need to keep building links with the local community to ensure that the great reputation that the East Sale RAAF Base has in the Gippsland community is enhanced into the future. I really appreciated the opportunity to speak to both service personnel and to discuss the opportunities for the community to work closely with the base in the future.

I certainly welcome the news that there are plans to spend $140 million upgrading the base. A step forward has been taken with the construction firm Thiess being signed as the managing contractors to undertake the scoping work for that project. It is certainly positive news for the region. In the past, Thiess have held the management contract for the officer training school development which I referred to previously. In that case, local firms like GBG Concrete and Construction and Laser Plumbing were able to subcontract, generating significant employment spin-offs to the local community. It really does underline the importance of putting locals first.

In that vein, I would like to refer to another organisation in my electorate that also recognises the very important need of putting locals first—Centenary House in Latrobe Valley. I have spoken before about the important work that Centenary House does in my community. It is worth repeating, though, just to remind the government that we have such an outstanding asset in Latrobe Valley. It does, however, need support looking towards the future. Centenary House provides support for patients and their families attending Latrobe Regional Hospital, primarily the patients attending the Gippsland Cancer Care Centre. These patients and their families are at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives and it is reassuring to know that they have that support available. Centenary House is only 400 or 500 metres away from Latrobe Regional Hospital. It provides on-site accommodation units for people at vastly discounted rates. No-one has ever been turned away for not being able to afford to stay a night at Gippsland’s Centenary House. It is something that the volunteers from the Rotary clubs right across Gippsland wear as a badge of honour. It is a matter of pride that, over a few years now, they have been able to establish these units which have been servicing people who do not even live in the local community.

That is the remarkable thing about the Centenary House project. While it is based in Latrobe Valley, the patients and their families, rather than being people who live in the immediate vicinity, tend to travel from 200 and 300 kilometres away, from East Gippsland, West Gippsland and South Gippsland. So it is a real credit to the business houses and the Rotarians of the Latrobe Valley that they have been able to establish this facility even though the benefits extend to a far broader region. I have had the opportunity to visit Centenary House and to attend their fundraising functions on various occasions and I am always amazed at the spirit of the committee and its dedication to raising funds on an almost continual basis.

There are always improvements being made at the facility and quite often the improvements are being made by the ‘guests’, if you like, of Centenary House. You will have, perhaps, a mother in for some treatment for a few days and she may be accompanied by a husband or partner who has some skills in a trade and is happy to help out around the place. A lot of improvements have been made on the basis, with new barbecue areas constructed, a playground installed and a range of facilities created which you would not have been able to get in any other way than by members of a regional community helping each other out and providing voluntary services in that way.

The current facility contains six large ensuite units and two smaller self-contained units, along with a communal kitchen, a dining room and lounge facilities. As I said, there is also a children’s play area and there is a quiet room for family consultation and privacy. The first stage of the work received significant state and federal government support. It was a coalition government at federal level and a Labor government at state level, so it certainly had bipartisan support and, as I said, Rotarians across Gippsland answered the call and raised a considerable amount of money for this first stage, which was a $2 million project.

I have spoken directly to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Ms Roxon, about Centenary House and I invited her to inspect the facility if she ever got the opportunity to come to Gippsland. She would certainly be very much welcomed by the committee. They are not interested at all in playing politics, I can assure you. They just want to see some extra support coming forward in the future. It is an open invitation, so if the minister is ever in the area and has the opportunity to drop in for 10 or 15 minutes, she would be very much welcomed by the committee. They would love to show her around and let her know exactly what it is they do there. They are very proud, and justifiably proud, of what has been achieved at Centenary House. Of course she would be particularly welcome if she turned up with a large cheque.

The Centenary House board has recently applied for funding from the Health and Hospitals Fund under the regional cancer centres initiative and I sent a letter of support to the minister. Naturally enough, I pointed out that Centenary House is, perhaps, a victim of its own success in the sense that it is quite tragic that the demand for units is outstripping supply and is continuing to grow. With an ageing population in Gippsland, it is almost inevitable that we are going to require more of this sort of service in our community. Plans have been drawn up for another nine units and some of those will include facilities for people with disabilities. I strongly recommend the project to the minister.

Supporting the next stage of Centenary House would have to be about the best $1.5 million the federal government could spend in the Latrobe Valley this year, if it has it within its capacity under this program. I urge the minister to support the outstanding and selfless efforts of the local community and to do everything in her power to assist this project both now and in the future.

The issue of Centenary House is about delivering an improved service. I have another concern with a service that does not even exist in my electorate. For the benefit of the House, I want to give a brief history of the lack of childcare services in the small community of Yarram. Prior to the 2007 election, building a childcare centre in Yarram had bipartisan support. My predecessor, Peter McGauran, and the Labor candidate both indicated to the community at that time that they would support the development of such a facility if they were successful at the subsequent election. I draw the House’s attention to the headline in the Yarram Standard on 31 October 2007. While I am on the topic of the Yarram Standard, I would like to congratulate the staff and the owners of the Yarram Standard. It is a magnificent little country newspaper which this year received the award of best country newspaper in its circulation category in Victoria. It is well-deserved recognition for a little country newspaper. It is very critical for us in regional seats that these community newsletters are able to prosper into the future. They are such an important part of community life.

Back to the topic at hand, on 31 October 2007, under the headline ‘Labor backs childcare centre’, the story reads:

The Labor Party has pledged to offer child care services in Yarram if voted to government on November 24 … Ms Rowe—

The Labor candidate—

has pledged a child care centre would be incorporated into a broader community centre, rather than a stand alone complex.

So it is fairly unequivocal. We had a strong endorsement by the Labor candidate at the time, the coalition candidate at the time also expressed strong support for the establishment of childcare services in Yarram but, unfortunately for the community, precious little has happened in the subsequent months which have passed. Since the election and the change of government, there has been a lot more talk in the community about the need to establish such a service, but here we are almost three years later and the issue of Yarram childcare services has not been resolved and I am certain that it will be an important election issue again for the local community as we move forward in 2010. I am personally frustrated and disappointed—and I know the community is as well—with the lack of progress, but the community does remain determined to secure such a service in the future, and I will continue to back the Yarram community 100 per cent on this very important local issue.

There is a committee in place to investigate a range of issues, including the best location, what sort of operational model will work best, and funding opportunities, and there is strong support in the local community. In fact, I would suggest that support is stronger now than it was 2½ years ago. Without childcare services, it is very difficult for a small regional centre to secure professional services and professional people in a whole range of industries. Yarram is currently experiencing quite a bit of difficulty in recruiting doctors, and I have no doubt that it is going to be easier to attract such professional people in the future if support services such as child care are in place. The provision of appropriate childcare services for Yarram remains an issue that I would like to work in partnership with the federal on to solve in the months ahead.

Mr Deputy Speaker, in case you get the feeling that I am being a bit too negative, I would like to give some bouquets to the government in relation to some funding announcements in my electorate which have been very well received. There was a timely announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in May 2008. Given that the Gippsland by-election was in June 2008, it was very timely that the minister announced a funding commitment to the establishment of Cunninghame Quay in Lakes Entrance. I understand that it is a $4.4 million project with the East Gippsland shire receiving $1.6 million for the on-land works—the car park, the paving works and the boardwalk access and bollards. It has been very well received and I am happy to report that construction is underway on the esplanade at Lakes Entrance on this project. Gippsland Ports will also receive $2.8 million for the on-water component of the project.

The federal government’s commitment in this regard stands in stark contrast to the state government’s attitude towards the Gippsland Lakes and towards infrastructure on the Gippsland Lakes. It seems to be a situation where the state government has dropped the ball in relation to the future management of the Gippsland Lakes in terms of both its environmental management and its infrastructure. We have seen from the federal government a small commitment of $3 million over three years to the environmental health of the Gippsland Lakes and catchment, and I have written to the minister previously in that regard to encourage him to ensure that funding is ongoing in the longer term.

The environmental pressures upon the Gippsland Lakes are growing on an annual basis. For those not familiar with the Gippsland Lakes, it is quite a large waterway—it is the largest inland waterway in the Southern Hemisphere. Even though it is a large lake system, it is actually impacted on by a massive catchment which stretches right throughout the Gippsland-Latrobe Valley region. The environmental characteristics of the lake system have changed dramatically since an artificial entrance was opened more than 100 years ago. The lakes have been the subject of much debate. Graham Harris told me I think eight years ago that CSIRO research showed that the lakes were at an ecological tipping point as an estuarine system heavily impacted on throughout the catchment. Major work is required to address these very significant signs of stress, with algal blooms occurring throughout the lake system on a far too frequent basis.

It disturbs me greatly that we do not seem to have a commitment by the state government in particular in terms of the future environmental management of the Gippsland Lakes system. I look back to 2002 when the state government allocated $3.2 million per year over a four-year period to the Gippsland Lakes and Catchment Task Force, primarily directed at reducing the amount of nutrients entering the lake system. Contrast that to four years later, 2006, when the funding was cut by 50 per cent—it was cut to $2 million per year over the future three-year period. Last year the state government made no allocation whatsoever to the Gippsland Lakes task force in terms of ongoing funding. It is an appalling situation. I urge the federal minister and any others with any influence over their state colleagues to see what they can do in terms of raising the pressure on the government in that regard. We have seen the federal government’s announcement of its Caring for our Country program, and they talk a lot about the Great Barrier Reef and making it a national priority. As far as I am concerned, the Gippsland Lakes are the Great Barrier Reef of the south—they are so critically important to the future of my region, to the environmental health of the Ramsar wetlands that are there and to the future of the tourism industry. It is a critical issue for us.

In conjunction with the environmental needs not being addressed, the infrastructure needs of the lake system are not being met either. I referred to the project which the federal minister for agriculture announced a couple of years ago. That stands out as a beacon amongst a couple of years of neglect—more than a couple of years of neglect; it goes back decades. The Gippsland Lakes system has become increasingly popular and recreational vessels are getting larger and larger. But the infrastructure in place to accommodate those vessels has not been replaced in the Gippsland Lakes system. You can only wonder how organisations like the East Gippsland Shire Council and Gippsland Ports can continue to stretch a shoestring to try to accommodate the future needs of a very popular lake system. The boating community is demanding improved facilities in terms of jetties and wharves and boat launching ramps, and the infrastructure backlog is getting out of control. Without the state government taking a greater interest and perhaps without the federal government also taking a greater interest, I fear for the future of the tourism industry in the East Gippsland region and the Gippsland Lakes in particular.

I would like to end my contribution on a more positive note by referring to the Lakes Entrance Surf Life Saving Club. It is about to host the Victorian state junior and senior titles, in March this year. The Lakes Entrance Surf Life Saving Club is one of those little institutions in regional towns that you take for granted to some extent until you realise just what sort of contribution they make to your town. I am a member of the Lakes Entrance club and three of my children are enrolled in the Lakes Entrance nippers program. Last year Lakes Entrance was awarded the Australian Surf Life Saving Club of the Year, which is an extraordinary effort for a small country town of only 6,000 or 7,000 people and when you compare the size of the surf clubs it was competing against.

The surf club does play a critical role in the social life of our town and the economic life of the region, providing the safe swimming beaches which are so important for the tourism industry. As I said previously, tourism is a major industry in the East Gippsland region. Without the surf club providing those controls on the Ninety Mile Beach on a daily basis through summer I am sure it would be very difficult for us to attract any families to that beach. Perhaps the greatest service that the surf life saving club does provide to our town is the development of our young leaders of the future. It is an incredible program to see the young people develop through the nippers program, to take on responsibility as only 13-year-olds on surf patrols, and it really gives them a sense of the importance of belonging in the community, of making a contribution to their community.

It is with great pride that I inform the House that Lakes Entrance will host the Victorian junior and senior titles in March this year. It is an incredibly important event for the town in terms of the economic benefits it will bring over that weekend, with thousands of competitors and their parents in the town. We are hoping for perfect weather so the young nippers can enjoy their stay in Lakes Entrance, and we hope for some bigger waves for the seniors to be well and truly tested as they take on the elements. The club did a magnificent job of holding the junior titles in 2008. It is a credit to them that, only two years later, Surf Life Saving Victoria has seen fit to give the club both the junior and the senior titles on the one weekend. This will inject thousands of dollars into the local community. More importantly, it will give the region an opportunity to showcase its attractions and encourage people to return in the future. I commend the Lakes Entrance Surf Life Saving Club on its efforts to secure these titles. To finish on a positive note, I commend the state government for providing some assistance with the future infrastructure needs of the club and allowing for the expansion of the clubhouse in the future.

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