Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I held 14 listening posts around my electorate. I spoke to scores of people in Landsborough, Mooloolah, Bellvista, Mooloolaba, Glass House Mountains, Golden Beach, Kawana Waters, Eudlo, Caloundra, Beerwah, Currimundi, Maleny and Peachester. It was instructive and energising. The people of Fisher are full of fantastic ideas and useful feedback, and I intend to speak about the issues that they raised throughout the coming sitting weeks.

As I move this motion, one theme that emerged from my listening posts comes to mind. The people of Fisher want their three tiers of government—federal, state and local—to work together. They are not interested in what tier of government has jurisdiction over a particular issue or which of us is in charge. The people of Fisher want us to cooperate as a team in their best interests and to get on with the job of delivering the infrastructure they need.

It's for this reason that the government identified the City Deals concept as one which could make a real difference for our changing communities. In early 2016 the then Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation released our cities agenda as one of the very first priorities of the new Turnbull government. This agenda, in effect, declared the Commonwealth's door open for state premiers, local mayors and the private sector to join us in a coordinated and effective approach to long-term planning. This government has provided a platform for cooperative long-term infrastructure investment, both public and private, which can help our urban economies to grow. In an era of what has been called 'Punch and Judy' politics, where fast news cycles, limited media resources and social media outrage encourage a partisan point-scoring approach, this was a bold agenda and one for which the government should be congratulated.

City Deals incorporate the best of the Turnbull government's approach to policy development. Each deal is founded on a defined area and clear outcomes, specific investments linked to specific reform, clear governance and accountability, private and public sector partnership, and the measurement of that performance. That is how to deliver lasting change, and I am pleased to say that we are already starting to see the benefits of this approach. We have seen work begin on the new, $250 million North Queensland Stadium under the Townsville City Deal. Local companies have taken up six major contracts on the project, already bringing hundreds of jobs to the community. Two hundred and sixty million dollars has been committed in Launceston to move the University of Tasmania's campus into the city centre and create not only a vibrant and innovative community but 2,700 new jobs. We should welcome, in particular, the fact that the first City Deals have been negotiated with regional cities like Launceston and Townsville. Throughout Australia, many of our regional centres, like my own, are growing and leaving behind their increasingly outdated infrastructure. In others, economic shifts have left communities in need of a new and bold vision which will ensure their prosperity for future generations. For both, City Deals have the potential to create the transformative change that they need. The regions have, rightly, been a focus of the City Deals agenda to date, and they should continue to be in the future.

On that note, I'm happy to able to add for the record that, since I gave notice of this motion, the government has announced that two additional City Deals are progressing toward being established—one in Hobart and another welcome deal with the regional Victorian community of Geelong.

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