Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Price, I should begin by congratulating you on your appointment to the Speaker's panel. We share the odd conversation in the House of Representatives, and I have been waiting for the day that I get the call from you. I must say it is a good day. I also introduce to the Federation Chamber a close friend and colleague who is with us this afternoon. He is perhaps the reason why I was a little late. He is the member for Mount Gambier, Troy Bell—a good friend and colleague who is in the House this day and over the coming days to pursue the interests of the good people of Mount Gambier and regional South Australia.

In the time I have this evening, I am going to reflect on some of my achievements in this place since September 2013 as a member of the coalition government that has delivered good government to Australia over that period. When I was elected, I committed to the people of Barker that I would work with them and alongside them to build a better Barker. I am pleased to say that, in all the things that we have done, I am confident that we are building a stronger, better, more resilient Barker. That is in the face of a one-in-100-year drought that we are experiencing at present and have experienced over the course of the last two seasons.

Since my election, I have delivered improvements in infrastructure across the electorate. As part of the then Abbott government, I committed to building the roads of the 21st century, as you did, Madam Deputy Speaker—a commitment that I continue to deliver on today. Needless to say, roads are the arteries of rural and regional Australia. They facilitate the flows of commerce and people across the vast geography of our nation. Both during the campaign and since coming to office in 2013, I have come to have an appreciation of the network across my electorate. Indeed, I travel some 100,000 kilometres a year, so, in a sense, I have a direct personal interest in the quality and safety of that interconnected road network. It is imperative to ensure better safety as well as better economic and social outcomes for my constituents. Driven by that understanding of the importance of these thoroughfares for communities across Barker, I am pleased to say that since my election in 2013 we have invested, as a government, a little over $73 million in the road network in Barker. Be it the Penola and Wireless roads intersection—which my friend and colleague the member for Mount Gambier knows well, and which he also knows is currently under construction—or the Penola bypass or upgrades to the Stuart Highway, these are roads that are improving infrastructure and productivity across the region.

I have also fought hard for infrastructure improvements through the National Stronger Regions Fund. This is a fund aimed squarely at areas of disadvantage to grow the strength and capacity of not just regional centres but of our nation in general. I thought I would take the opportunity to highlight the success we have had with respect to that program. Since my election, we have seen over $14 million invested into major projects, whether it be councils or non-incorporated associations, through the National Stronger Regions Fund. First, Naracoorte and Lucindale made a successful application for the construction of an access service road in the vicinity of Naracoorte—namely, a roundabout at $635,000. We also had Tailem Bend, an investment of $7.5 million in a motorsport park which will, effectively, bring motorsport to its zenith at Tailem Bend. It will be transformative for not only Tailem Bend but wider South Australia. The Bedford group was successful in attracting $562,000 for an additional processing plant in their facility at Mount Gambier. The Bedford group, and Bedford industries in Mt Gambier, provides employment opportunities for those with a disability. As someone who has a family member that suffers from a disability, it was particularly rewarding to attend that facility and announce funding which would provide for 18 full-time-equivalent positions for people with a disability and three supervisor positions. The Mid Murray Council was successful in attracting close to three-quarters of a million dollars for funding for the Mid Murray Maritime River Trail, which will provide the capacity for paddle-steamers to travel from Mannum to Morgan and return, and there is an opportunity down the track to work closely with the Rural City of Murray Bridge to enable them to progress downriver.

Regarding the Rural City of Murray Bridge, there is a $1.7 million commitment to turn a particular portion of that city into a regional cultural hub. It will transform the presentation of the inner CBD of Murray Bridge, and I know the community of Murray Bridge, the local council and the proponent are very excited. They made that application in the hope that they would be successful, but, in all honesty, I think they were quite surprised that the application met with approval. Those are sometimes the sweetest wins—the ones that you perhaps do not expect.

While I am talking about wins that you sometimes do not expect, the community of the Riverland, and Berri Barmera Council in particular, have been running campaigns consistently for 20 years for a sports precinct in Berri—an indoor basketball stadium. When I rang the mayor and told him he had been successful in the most recent round—round 2 of the National Stronger Regions Fund—he was almost moved to tears, as were many of the users of the current, clapped-out facilities. That is a $3.5 million investment which has, quite frankly, re-energised the community in the Riverland. As you know, Madam Deputy Speaker Price, because you, unfortunately, have to listen to me during question time, that community has experienced some very tough times as a result of the millennium drought. These are communities that have lived through zero or very low water allocations. These are communities that have seen farmers having to walk away from land they have invested in heavily, or land that their parents or grandparents established as part of the original irrigation schemes. To be able to come into those communities, partner with those communities and say to those communities, 'We want to invest in your community,' and develop capital—particularly in the form of social capital—to ensure there is resilience and sustainability for those communities is, quite frankly, one of the highest privileges in this place.

Talking about achievements—and I will have more to say and more opportunities to speak in this place over the course of the next few months, I hope—I want to point out one issue, and that is mobile black spot telephony. Round 1 of that program, as you would know, Madam Deputy Speaker, was a $100 million dollar allocation. Round 2, which is currently open, is a $60 million allocation. Sadly, the people of South Australia were dudded through round 1. We had a state government who have now admitted that they did not appreciate the significance of making a co-contribution. Unlike the Western Australian government, unlike the New South Wales government, unlike the Victorian government, unlike the good government of Queensland, the South Australian state government failed to make a contribution to this scheme. The net effect, of course, was that of the close to 500 towers that were allocated for upgrade, South Australian received a meagre 11. Of those, I received—that is, the people of Barker received—two. Barker is the size of Croatia. It is not nearly the size of Durack, Madam Deputy Speaker Price, but it is a large tract of land. Quite frankly, of the allocation, to receive two of 500 was unsatisfactory. That is why I am working with the member for Grey, who also has a specific interest in this as well, to ensure that what we end up with, as a result of round 2, a significant investment by the South Australian state government which results in a disproportionate number of sites in South Australia.

I am hoping to meet with the minister with responsibility in South Australia, Minister Maher. He has been a bit reluctant. We are hoping we will be able to encourage him to make a co-contribution. If he does not, he will fail the people of South Australia just like the state government did in round 1.

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