Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also would like to talk on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2014-15 and related bills. In particular, I very much want to focus on my electorate of La Trobe. For those who do not know, La Trobe covers up to the Dandenong Ranges and down to Berwick, Officer, Boronia and the basin. It is a rather large electorate which covers both rural and residential areas. It is great to be a local representative in La Trobe. During the election campaign we made a number of commitments.

I was very pleased to work with the Emerald sporting clubs and in particular Bill and Robyn Kuys. I have known them since 2007. That is when I first made a commitment to fund $500,000 towards the Emerald sporting complex. It was only ever going to be a coalition government which would support this project as the Labor Party would never match this. The great news is that they have their $500,000. The funding has been delivered and now they are in the planning stage. I very much look forward to the opening. At the same time, the South Belgrave Football Club received $250,000 for a pavilion. This is a great asset for the local South Belgrave residents which will be widely used by the community.

The basketball centre at Emerald Primary School, with the Emerald Lakers, received $1 million. That is something I am very proud of. Again, the Labor Party did not match this funding in the last election campaign. It is so important for young people to be involved in sport. I congratulate the principal, Mark Carvar, for his dedication and perseverance in making this project a reality. I have already been at the opening of the lights at the Olinda Reserve. As a former player with the Olinda cricket club and football club, I was very proud to be involved—not that I was a good football player, but it was great to see the lights being used. I acknowledge the great work of Steve Scott from HillTop and all his committee. This facility is used by so many sporting areas in the hills. That is what this is about. It is making sure that we not only fund football but cricket and netball and get them all working together. Again, the focus is on young people.

The Rythdale-Officer netball club received $380,000. Again, that supports young people in sport. It is such a very valuable and important aspect of their lives while they grow up, but it also helps deal with issues such as depression and it builds teamwork. It is basically a great project to be involved with. Then there is the Upwey-Tecoma Community Recreation and Sporting Hub. We committed $500,000 towards that project. On Sunday morning I was out with Andrew Peterson and all the people from the Upwey community. It was a fantastic morning. We must have had 200 or 300 people there. I have a message for the Yarra Ranges Shire Council: we want to make sure that this project goes ahead with the agreed terms, where the club is looking at having a pavilion and toilets upstairs. We want to make sure that this project and this building last for 30 years, not 30 minutes.

We also had the building of the Toomah Centre in Officer—a very fantastic organisation in Windermere. I congratulate the CEO, Lynette Buoy, and her team. They do so much fantastic work in the local community, helping families in times of crisis. That is something I was very pleased that we announced under the coalition: to provide this funding. It is pretty tough out there on the ground and we want to make sure that we give our families the best services they can possibly receive in the local area.

Also, $500,000 went to the Ash Wednesday memorial at Cockatoo. This is one of the projects for which it looked like the funding would be cut, but I am so pleased that we are able to ensure that they receive that funding. For those who can go back in time to 1983 and the Ash Wednesday bushfires, Cockatoo was savaged in those fires, as were surrounding suburbs. I recall as a student at Ferntree Gully Technical School, at the age of 16 when the fire started that day, a large plume of smoke came from Belgrave South. This is the only memorial of its type in Victoria that recognises the tragedy of the Ash Wednesday bushfires. The Cockatoo kindergarten in particular was an area where so many people stayed during the fires. Those residents are very lucky to have survived. This is a way of not only remembering and honouring those who passed away but also recognising that CFA members put their lives on the line every bushfire season. That is what they do: they go in front of a large fire and tragically nearly every year a CFA member gives their life in protecting others. Again, it is another worthwhile project. Through the capital grants program, we upgraded the Dandenong Ranges Steiner School—a $500,000 commitment. We also built a general learning area and administration block for St Thomas Aquinas Primary School for $1.8 million. We made a contribution to three general learning blocks for Rivercrest Christian College for $600,00.

Minister Hunt has been a great friend to La Trobe and a great ambassador for the environment, and especially the Dandenong Ranges. There has been a wide range of projects, not only addressing weed management but also bushfire fuel reduction. This year we have been lucky in the Dandenong Ranges; to my knowledge there have not been any fires, but the danger is always that the next fire season is just around the corner. The Community Weeds Alliance received $5500. The southern Eastern Dandenong Ranges Protection program, which involves habitat protection and restoration on the significant biolink between Mount Dandenong and Bunyip, also received $5,500. The Community Weeds Alliance of the Southern Ranges Environmental Alliance's Green Tracks program—which involves habitat protection, restoration, vegetation management along the all-important Puffing Billy railway line—received $6000. Again I would like to acknowledge the volunteers at Puffing Billy who do such a tremendous job. If you are coming to Victoria, you must visit Puffing Billy—it is truly a fantastic Australian icon.

The Cardinia Creek Neighbourhood Restoration project by Landcare Australia received $20,000 from the coalition government. We are delivering 30,387 trees over three years through the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater to improve the habitats of the Helmeted Honeyeater and the Leadbeater Possum, which are endangered species. They received $99,000. Funding the eradication of wandering trad in conjunction with the CSIRO's study in biocontrol was an election commitment I made 2007, 2010 and finally a coalition government delivered funding of $450,000 for wandering trad. Back in 2007 Malcolm Turnbull, when he was environment minister, committed $450,000 to the eradication of wandering trad. For those who do not know, wandering trad is a weed that gets into creeks, sucks up all the water, stops the platypuses and basically clogs up entire creeks. The sad reality was that once Labor came to government, Peter Garrett, as environment minister, scrapped the funding, but now we finally have had that funding delivered. We are also working very closely with scientists at the CSIRO to beat wandering trad—it is doing enormous damage in New Zealand. The only real way to beat it is with a biological control, which is being developed at the moment.

The big one we have is the creating the Dandenong Ranges Environment and Bushfire Fuel Reduction program, worth $2 million. The reason the funding is so significant is that fire is a great danger to all the residents of the ranges. I am very proud we have made that commitment. The Bullen Bullen Bush Tours was granted $150,000 to develop its bush tucker and medicine tours. We are in the process of getting people involved to get the project off the ground. Through the Black Spot program we received $88,000 to paint the median strip island and raise reflective pavement markers on the notorious McNicol Road in Belgrave. All these projects are being delivered by the coalition government.

Through the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the government has committed to upgrade the Wally Tew Reserve at a value of $69,000. For the Hills Hospitality Trade and Training Centre for Belgrave Heights Christian School—and what a fantastic school it is—we have committed $1.3 million. I always say to Andy Callow, the principal, and his fantastic team: 'Are you embarrassed by how much the government has given schools in La Trobe?' That is what it is all about: we really care about educating our students because they obviously are our future. The hospitality centre is so important because young people learn the skills so that they can walk straight out and get a job in hospitality. Instead of walking into a cafe or a restaurant and being asked about their experience and having to say they have none, they can say: 'Well, I've undertaken a program at Belgrave Heights Christian School in hospitality.' The owner will say, 'Well done. Come through the door.'

Another project I am so proud that the government has funded is the Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired. I must make special mention of Minister Greg Hunt and Senator Mitch Fifield here. This is the only blind and visually impaired school in Victoria. I was talking to some students here earlier today and said, 'Imagine being blind and going to school and not be able to read Braille.' Sadly, most teachers do not have that qualification. When Alan Lachman told me his daughter was blind, he asked how she could fit into a mainstream school. Like everyone else in this place would say, I had to say that it was totally wrong. I was so proud to be involved in the opening of that school and the commitment of funding the government made. That commitment was made on the Thursday night before the last election campaign. Why was that significant? It was one of those rare days when the media was not there. I must congratulate Prime Minister Tony Abbott because this project was ticked off by his office before the election. I am so pleased that that became a reality.

With the Anzac Centenary grants, we have had 12 local projects totalling $126,000 dollars. I am looking forward to next Wednesday, 11 March, when we will have the official opening of the Emerald RSL Anzac Walk by the Governor-General himself. I must congratulate Peter Maloney and all the guys up in the Emerald RSL for the fantastic work they have done. It has been a very good year for the residents of Latrobe with regard to the election commitments being honoured. Although, the one they are very frustrated with is the East West Link—it needs to be built. It makes no sense to pay up to $1 billion—

Mr Husic interjecting —

I hear the Labor Party member supporting that the money be paid in compensation—what a disgrace! He does not even live in Victoria. In the City of Casey, 72,000 residents per day use the road. The crying shame about the Labor Party is that they like throwing money away. You do not mind borrowing $100 million every day for interest to be paid by the Australian taxpayer. We want to see the roads in Victoria keep moving—not like the Labor Party. They do not mind if the residents get stuck in traffic. It is an absolute disgrace. Shame on Labor. We need this road to be built for all residents of Victoria.

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