Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Please come up and have a holiday, anytime you please! This rapid growth presents challenges. I've been pleased to work with my Morrison government colleagues, including the Deputy Prime Minister, to deliver vital infrastructure for our city. And I must disagree with the member for Lyons, who talked about $100 billion as being 'rotting'—$100 billion across 10 years is not infrastructure rotting away; that is the Morrison government delivering for all Australians around the country, including in my electorate of Moncrieff.

We are still celebrating, actually, the additional funding that we received in November—the $157 million extra that was injected into the Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A, which will go from Pacific Fair, my local shopping centre, all the way to iconic Burleigh Heads, where, I must say, we have fantastic fish and chips, and a beautiful view of the ocean from a grassy knoll where you can sit and watch surfers surfing away on the waves, and of course it's a wonderful local domestic holiday destination. But locals and visitors alike will be able to jump on board at Broadbeach at Pacific Fair and they'll be able to ride all the way to Burleigh or go the other way and ride to Helensvale and then catch the heavy rail to Brisbane if they need to. This connection will make the Gold Coast an even better place to live and work and will also take cars off the road, to bust congestion. It will create more than 760 jobs in my electorate, which I'm thrilled about. It'll boost the local economy. And, ultimately, it'll deliver more customers to small business along the route.

In addition, $45 million was brought forward for the M1 Pacific Motorway upgrade, which affects all those who travel to and from Brisbane and Tweed Heads. Funding for this upgrade will flow through this year to deliver on our promise to the people of the Gold Coast on getting home sooner and safer—a Morrison government promise across the board.

I'd like to talk about aged care and what we've delivered in that sector. Improving aged care for senior Australians continues to be the government's key priority. Every Australian has the right to age well and with dignity. Our older generations have fought to defend our democracy and have worked hard to build the Australia that we all enjoy today. That's why one of the first acts of our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was to call a royal commission into aged-care quality and safety, and I commend him for his leadership. The findings of the interim report into Australia's aged-care system demonstrated that aged care in this country needs significant change to ensure our older Australians receive the best possible care in their most vulnerable years. We do not shy away from our responsibility as a government to ensure our elderly are looked after and respected.

In our very swift response to the interim report, the government announced a funding package of $537 million. This response focuses particularly on three areas. The first is: more home-care packages to reduce wait times and connect people to care sooner. The second is: to better manage medicine and physical restraints. And the third is: to help the transition of young people out of residential aged care. We've set an ambitious target: to end younger people entering aged care by 2022. Since the election of this coalition government, we've delivered increased investment across the aged-care system. We'll deliver $5 billion in funding boosts in the forward years to 2022-23. The government remains committed to supporting senior Australians to live in their own homes longer.

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