Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always interesting to listen to contributions from my electoral neighbour the member for Rankin. The Morrison government have a great story to tell, especially in my electorate of Forde where we're delivering record investment in education, health, the environment and local infrastructure. That's in stark contrast to the comments we've just heard from the member for Rankin. What he neglected to share with the House in his contribution is what those opposite were prepared to do in the lead-up to the election. If they had won, they would have slugged the Australian economy with $387 billion of new taxes, and my electorate of Forde would have paid a direct price.

I'm proud to have worked and to continue to work with so many wonderful groups and people to deliver funding for some truly wonderful projects across my electorate—projects big and small, from upgrading the M1 to the tune of over a billion dollars to something as small as new equipment in our local schools to ensure they can continue to educate the bright minds of the future. Whether you live in Upper Coomera in the south of my electorate, Shailer Park in the north or Beenleigh in the heartland of the electorate, you're reaping benefits from one of the greatest investments in education, health and infrastructure in a generation. These are long-lasting investments that will see more money for local schools, more money for Medicare and hospitals, more money for roads and rail, more money for mental health—particularly for services like headspace—and more money to fix and ensure the sustainability of our environment.

There is no question that mental health, especially youth mental health, is one of the many great challenges of our time. Sadly, we are seeing more and more young people suffer from the devastating effects of depression, anxiety and many other mental health conditions. I'm concerned for the young people across Australia and in my electorate of Forde and the growing issues that they are facing in this space, but I'm pleased to say that this government, through its $503 million youth mental health and suicide prevention plan, is working to assist those facing mental health issues. There is $375 million to strengthen the headspace network and establish an additional 30 new headspaces, including in Upper Coomera in my electorate of Forde. I'm pleased to say that this is the result of work jointly done by myself and the member for Fadden, who's in the chamber, at the table at the moment. It just shows the value of colleagues working together to achieve an outcome for communities where we share a common interest.

We are strengthening our Indigenous suicide prevention programs by investing $34.1 million in tailored initiatives, such as the national plan for culturally appropriate care. We are strengthening early childhood and parenting support by investing $11.8 million in initiatives such as Kids Helpline. Locally, we are delivering $974,000 in funding in 2019-20 to headspace Meadowbrook for the essential mental health services for young people across Logan, including in the member for Rankin's electorate, and there is an additional $750,000 over three years, from 2019-20, to address demand and reduce wait times for services at headspace at Meadowbrook. I want to take this opportunity to thank the team at headspace Meadowbrook for the terrific work that they do each and every day. In addition, we've secured $761,000 in new funding for the establishment, through the Gold Coast public hospital network, of a new headspace centre at Upper Coomera with $926,000 of ongoing funding from 2020-21. The new services are expected to commence in 2020-21 and the residents of the northern Gold Coast, from Yatala and Ormeau, all the way to Upper Coomera, Oxenford and Coomera on the eastern side of the highway, and residents in areas up to Mount Tamborine, will benefit from the new services.

As the member for Fadden knows, the northern Gold Coast is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, with more and more young families moving there every day. These young families expect improved road infrastructure, better health services and great schools, all of which, I'm pleased to say, this coalition government is delivering. All these families are moving there because there are opportunities for them, and it is those opportunities we want to see them be able to pursue. Our retirees and our small-business owners across the northern Gold Coast want to see increasing infrastructure upgrades, particularly on the M1. During the election campaign we announced more commuter car parking for the Coomera train station—again, this was announced in partnership with the member for Fadden—Medicare funded MRI services and, as I just touched on, additional mental health support.

Last November I had the opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister back to the northern Gold Coast to make some key announcements. We went to exit 41, which is one of the worst traffic hotspots on the northern Gold Coast. It services the Yatala Enterprise Area. Congestion at this interchange, particularly in morning peak hour, can lead to long queues of traffic tailing back onto the M1. This creates a serious safety issue both for those seeking to exit and for those continuing to travel through on the M1. Quite predictably, with the traffic on the M1, the PM was late. But importantly, together with the member for Fadden and the state member for Coomera, Michael Crandon, who has been an advocate for the projects for many years, we announced increased funding of $1.9 billion to boost road and rail projects in Queensland, including an additional $46.3 million in funding to upgrade exits 41 and 49 in Yatala and Pimpana on top of the $50 million we had already committed at the election last year.

This will mean that businesses and residents in those areas will be able to get home sooner and safer. As I touched on earlier, the most important aspect of this is the safety aspect at those two interchanges. With funding to flow from next year, I know the residents on the northern Gold Coast will be excited to see the shovels hit the ground later this year at exit 41. Some of the plans released recently by the state government actually look very good. Business owners and residents across Yatala, Ormeau and Pimpana have been fighting fiercely for these upgrades for many years, and it is tremendous to be able to announce the federal government's commitment and funding to those upgrades.

The northern Gold Coast is also benefitting from the investments we've made in health, with the delivery of a fully Medicare funded MRI licence to Qscan in Upper Coomera, which will mean residents right across the area no longer have to travel to Southport or further south on the Gold Coast to obtain an MRI or a range of other radiology facilities that Qscan have provided in their new facilities. In talking to the Qscan team last week, they were saying that the need and the requirement for the services at their new facility at Upper Coomera has far exceeded what they had originally anticipated. Some 2,537 MRI services have already been delivered at Qscan Upper Coomera since their opening on 9 September 2019. Again, it just goes to show that these wise investments by the Morrison government in fast-growing communities right across my electorate of Forde have had such a positive effect.

This bill gives me the opportunity to remind those opposite that this is what is possible when good governance meets good economic management, which was simply unthinkable when they were last in power. Since coming to government, we have committed more than $25.7 billion towards infrastructure across the great state of Queensland and around $10.5 billion of that will be delivered across the state over the next four years. We have brought forward nearly $650 million in funding and committed more than $680 million in new funding: more money and more projects than what those opposite ever dreamt about. This includes new and fast-tracked funding for projects in my electorate of Forde, with funding to flow from the 2020-21 year. This includes projects like the M1 Pacific Highway upgrades between Eight Mile Plains and Daisy Hill. In addition, we've also made a long-term commitment to funding for the final part of those upgrades from Daisy Hill to Logan Motorway. In addition, on the southern end of the Gold Coast we've made commitments to funding the M1 upgrades from Varsity Lakes to Tugun once the current project from Mudgeeraba to Varsity lakes is completed.

There's the relocation of the Loganlea train station to meet future demand, with better integration with Logan Hospital and the TAFE campus, with $50 million in funding to flow from next year on top of the $15 million we already committed for new commuter car parks at Loganlea train station during the election campaign. There is the business case for the Salisbury to Beaudesert passenger rail. I know that the people out at Boronia Heights, Park Ridge, Greenbank and more generally in the west of Logan, which also goes into the member for Wright's electorate, are very happy to see further progress on this vital rail link to service these growing communities in the west of Logan City.

Since coming to government we've delivered record funding for health, which is delivering results right across my electorate of Forde. Funding for the Medicare Benefits Schedule is now up over $5.5 billion since Labor was last in government. In my electorate of Forde, MBS funding has increased by over $50 million since Labor was last in government. We've increased the GP headcount in Forde from 168 to 205. That's an additional 37 doctors in my electorate alone, an increase of over 20 per cent since we came to government in 2013. GP services in Forde have also increased by almost 300,000, to 1.4 million services on the most recent figures. PBS funding has also increased, with over 2,000 new medicines listed since we entered government in 2013. PBS funding in Forde has increased by over 30 per cent, with 21,000 new people accessing the PBS since we came to government in 2013. It is these figures that tell a story and show that our ability to manage the budget and the economy is delivering results for the Australian people: the ability to deliver record funding on health and ensuring that Australians can continue to access essential services to lead a stronger and healthier life.

On education we're delivering a record $314 billion package of recurrent funding from 2018 to 2019 under the Quality Schools Package. Locally, this means students in schools like Boronia Heights State School in my electorate can expect to see their funding increase from $3,095 per student in 2019 to over $4,600 per student in 2029. That's an increase of almost 50 per cent over the next 10 years. In addition to that, we were successful in obtaining funding for Norfolk Village State School and Eagleby State School to the tune of $500,000 each to build children's health and wellbeing hubs to bring critical medical services to the school, so that those parents who struggle to take their kids to various medical services during school hours in either Brisbane or the Gold Coast can have those services at the school. We hope that, through that, those students will get more timely assistance where they require it. The Australian people have been misled time and again by those opposite, whether it's on health or education, and time and again the facts have proved them wrong.

In conclusion, I'd like to touch on the issue of the environment, which is critically important to all of our communities. But once again it is this government that is delivering for my electorate of Forde by funding local projects and getting local results on the ground. The Communities Environment Program has provided up to $150,000 in funding for community led environmental projects in Forde, including $18,000 for the Indigenous Gardens for Wildlife project at Norfolk Village State School; $18,000 for Conservation Volunteers Australia to rehabilitate a Yugambeh site near the Albert River; $18½ thousand for Beenleigh State High School for a waste management system; $19,000 for North East Albert Landcare Group for their Ormeau bottle tree preservation project and many others. These are just some of the projects, along with record funding in health and education, that will continue to deliver better results for my community over the years to come.

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