David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is good to have the opportunity to speak on the appropriation bills—Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2017-2018 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018—today. There are a significant number of very important initiatives for my electorate of Banks that I particularly wanted to focus on this afternoon. The federal budget is a very big thing—about $400 billion or so of revenue—but it is very important to focus on the local impacts of the appropriation bills. There are a number of important impacts in Banks.

Firstly, car parking in Beverly Hills today is a mess. There is not enough parking and it is causing massive problems in our community and, frankly, has been doing so for years. Some of the best restaurants in southern Sydney are located in Beverly Hills. We have cinemas—the GU Filmhouse, formerly Beverly Hills Cinemas—and a wide range of other small businesses that employ hundreds of local residents. The big problem at the moment is that, if you try to come to Beverly Hills on a Saturday night, good luck, because you are going to have to park a very, very long way away.

I am really pleased that in the budget the federal government has provided $2½ million of funding towards a much needed car park at Beverly Hills. This is a critical step in finally fixing the unfinished business of the parking at Beverly Hills. I want to thank my friend Cliff Yung, from D to D Cafe in Beverly Hills. Cliff has really galvanised the small-business community in Beverly Hills by standing up and saying, 'We are not going to put up with this anymore.' This is having a massive effect on the livelihoods of small-business people in Beverly Hills, and it is having a massive effect on the lives of local residents too because it is making it very difficult to access Beverly Hills, particularly on weekends. Cliff, along with the small-business community, has on two separate occasions organised petitions, signed in each case by about 1,000 people. I also conducted a community survey on this some time ago, which was very, very strongly supported in the community.

We have got $2½ million ready to go; what do we need now? We need Georges River Council and the state government to take action and build this car park. I have been very encouraged by recent statements from Georges River Council about it looking at this project and about plans being prepared. What we need now is a firm commitment to build this car park at Beverly Hills. We need that commitment from Georges River Council. We need it from the state government. We have got $2½ million of cash sitting on the table ready to be used to build this car park. Let's build it. It needs to be built.

Another important issue for my electorate that is covered in the budget is the issue of the M5 east-facing ramps at Riverwood. Back in the nineties, the M5 was built. As a former Sydney resident yourself, Deputy Speaker, I am sure you are familiar with the frustrations that people encounter on these roads every day. But there is a particular frustration at Riverwood in my electorate. If you want to go in a westerly direction, entering the M5 to go west, or to come off the M5 if you are coming from the west, you can. It works really well. You get on and drive away, and everything is okay. But if you want to go towards the city, or if you want to exit the M5 coming from the city, you cannot. The reason is that the ramps have never been opened. That is despite the fact that the space is clearly there. It was provisioned for in the original build of the M5 back in the nineties, but no-one has ever actually acted on it to open those ramps.

I was very pleased last year when the Prime Minister visited Riverwood to announce that the federal government would commit $15 million to opening the M5 east-facing ramps at Riverwood once and for all. The state government has also committed $15 million. In this budget, some funds are provided to get this project started. The state government is currently conducting geotechnical work on the soil structure and so on in the area, and we expect further documentation from the state government very shortly. We look forward to seeing that and to having a clear plan from the state government on the geotechnical and further works required to get these ramps built. It is going to make a massive difference to travel times in our area, and it is very good to see that this federal budget is allocating funds for that project.

Sport, as in all communities in Australia, is incredibly important in my electorate. I was again pleased that the budget provides for important funding for projects for the sports community in Banks. Now, the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre is somewhat misnamed, because whilst it does have aquatic facilities—and very good aquatic facilities—it also has a lot of non-aquatic facilities, such as basketball courts and so on. In my electorate of Banks, we have one of the largest table tennis communities in Australia. The table tennis community makes use of the Hurstville aquatic centre's court facilities. We have dozens and dozens of table tennis tables set up there every week, and people play.

As part of the million-dollar federal government grant towards the upgrade of the Hurstville aquatic centre and Penshurst Park, we will be getting two additional basketball court areas in the Hurstville aquatic centre. That means more space for more tournaments for the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association, arguably the strongest table tennis association in our nation. We were very fortunate to host the national titles a few years ago. I am very pleased that these funds will be available to improve the lot of the table tennis community, and I want to thank Douglas Flood, the president; David Sutton, the treasurer; and Connie Chan, a board member, and her husband, Simon, who are fearless and frank advocates for the table tennis community. It is going to be great when these new courts are opened, and it is great to see the money in the budget to do just that.

The increased number of basketball courts at the Hurstville aquatic centre is going to make a big difference for our local basketball teams. The St George basketball association, which is led so well by Ray Barbi, has about 1,500 members. There is frustration at times because it can be really hard to get access to the required courts. We have limited facilities. The bottom line is the Hurstville aquatic facility courts are pretty much it when it comes to quality basketball facilities in our area. Ray and his team, Anna Pazanin and others, have strongly advocated for the need for these additional courts. The money is there to build these additional courts. I am looking forward to Georges River Council making use of that federal funding and opening up these two additional courts. I thank the St George basketball association for their very persistent advocacy on this issue.

Another very important issue, related to traffic, is the duplication of the M5 East. The M5 East can be a carpark at times. For whatever reason, back in the nineties they built it two lanes in each direction, but it should have been three or more. We are going to duplicate it. The state government and the federal government, working together, will duplicate the M5 East. Over the life of the project there is $1½ billion of cash from the federal government and a $2 billion concessional loan that have assisted in bringing this project forward and making it happen more quickly. Work is underway at all of the key locations for the opening of these tunnels, which is expected by 2020. When that happens, just three years from now, that is going to be a massive improvement for residents driving to the city, particularly from the Beverly Hills area, because instead of having two lanes you are going to have four. Some people will use the new tunnel and some people will use the old tunnel. The bottom line is: more tunnels, more space for traffic and a faster commute to and from the city. So this project is very important. It is good to see that funding in this federal budget, as well.

There are a range of small community organisations in my electorate that play a very important role. They rarely call upon the government, because the vast majority of their efforts, their enterprise and their positive impact on our community are not driven by the government; they are driven by them, by their volunteerism and by them rolling up their sleeves and making things happen. But on occasion it is good when the federal government can provide some support through the Stronger Communities Program, and other programs, for these important local organisations.

An organisation I would like to highlight this afternoon is St Joseph's Riverwood Sports Club. St Joseph's Riverwood Sports Club does a fantastic job in our community and next year will celebrate its 50th anniversary. It does not provide sports just for kids from St Joseph's at Riverwood but also for kids from the broader community. It provides cricket, netball, T-ball, Oztag and touch football. There is a really strong sense of comradery in this club. It was great recently, on 6 May, to attend their annual trivia event. It was good to see Anthony Hayes, Mick Finn, Matt Carr and all the members of the committee. It was good that we were able to provide support through the Stronger Communities Program for some much needed storage facilities for the club, for storing their sporting equipment. I thank the club for their efforts. Over $8,000 was raised on the night and a lot of fun was had by all. Congratulations to St Joseph's Riverwood.

Another great organisation in my electorate, which in recent times has benefitted from federal government support, is the Riverwood squadron of the Australian Air League. In my view, there is no better unit of the air league anywhere in Australia. Through the efforts of its commanding officer, Chris Bailey, the Riverwood squadron has gone from being quite a small group to being a really central part of our community. More than 100 young men are involved in the air league. They visit its premises at Riverwood every week to learn about aviation. A lot of them learn about music as they have a very active band that has travelled to Japan and to Denmark in recent years to perform at international events. They are the sort of people who always put their hands up for the community.

An example of that occurred recently with one of our Anzac Day dawn services. A group that was scheduled to play a key role unfortunately pulled out at the very last minute. Riverwood Air League got a call at 3 am on Anzac Day asking, 'Can you please come along to the Mortdale combined Anzac Day service to provide the catapult party?' and they did. So the phone call was at 3 am, and a couple of hours later there is a group of young men from Riverwood Air League supporting this most critical community commemoration.

It is a fantastic organisation and it was great to attend their diamond jubilee celebration recently, at Dalton House in Sylvania Waters. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of the squadron to our community. The efforts of Chris Bailey are truly exceptional.

Banks has a wonderful geographic feature in the Georges River—it is the jewel in the crown of the Banks area. In the federal budget funds are provided for a significant number of environmental projects to clean up the Georges River. The Myles Dunphy Reserve at Oatley is a beautiful piece of bushland in what is a very beautiful suburb. As part of the federal budget we are providing funds for a team of people to work at Myles Dunphy Reserve for several months on various environmental remediation projects and also to put in place a walkway to enable the area to be better accessed. It is a really important area of our community. I thank the Oatley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society for their efforts in preserving Oatley. It was good to join them on a bushwalk last Saturday. But I do look forward to these federal funds being provided to help to preserve and protect the environment of Myles Dunphy Reserve at Oatley.

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