Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, as of today, over 90 per cent of the eligible Queensland population are fully vaccinated, a fact I'm sure you will celebrate as much as I do. Unfortunately I cannot be in my electorate of Lilley today to celebrate this joyous day that we have waited so long for, but I would like to take this opportunity that we have here tonight to thank our healthcare workers, nurses, general practitioners and everybody who has helped in the vaccine rollout in places like the Doomben Racecourse and the Boondall entertainment centre over the past 11 months to achieve this record. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the vast majority of northsiders who have collectively agreed to roll up their sleeves and get the jab, to protect our community. This major milestone signposts the next stage of our social and economic recovery beyond COVID.

In January I sent a survey to every household in Lilley asking for feedback on which local infrastructure and community projects we need funded to create new jobs and boost our local economy. The responses I have received to this, in addition to feedback I have received from conducting mobile offices across every suburb and at community events across my electorate, have been used to inform our 2022-23 Lilley budget submission. This is a budget submission by the people of Lilley, for the people of Lilley. It includes a list of our local funding priorities relating to sporting infrastructure, roads and transport, the Urban Congestion Fund, health, education and community initiatives. I seek leave to table the 2022-23 Lilley budget submission for the consideration of the Treasurer ahead of the release of the next federal budget, in March.

Leave granted.

Lilley residents will remember this element of cooperation to try and get all of our local projects funded in the coming budget that we will see from the Treasurer in March. It was disappointing that literally none of the budget projects that we submitted last financial year were accepted by the Treasurer, but I have hopes that generosity will prevail in the coming weeks and that we will finally get some of these much-needed infrastructure projects.

In the 2019-20 financial year Brisbane recorded the highest population growth rate of all Australian capital cities, at 1.9 per cent. In 2021, despite extended COVID lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales, more than 30,000 new residents called Queensland home. You can't blame them. We are the best state in the country. This significant population influx has a ripple effect on employment, housing affordability and the cost of living and infrastructure needs. We need more support for small businesses who have been affected by COVID. One Nundah business owner recently wrote to me asking for help. She said: 'It is so sad to see shops closing all over town. We are struggling to make ends meet and we feel like we are doing it all alone.'

The Prince Charles Hospital desperately needs a fully funded MRI licence so northsiders have access to life-saving scans through a public system. We need a planning study to identify solutions to fix Gympie Road. Since 2015 Gympie Road has been identified by the RACQ and by the AAMI Crash Index as the most dangerous and one of the most congested roads in Queensland. The Brisbane Netball Association at Bradbury Park celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. The ageing clubhouse is a constant drain on the association's resources, and they desperately need a new facility. These are just a handful of the projects that my electorate of Lilley are asking the Morrison government to fund in their upcoming budget, in late March, when we come back to this place.

There are so many more worthy projects that we could get onto, but let's start with these most urgent ones first. I urge the Treasurer and the Prime Minister to put their money where their mouths are, to take the submission that we are tabling here in the House tonight and to deliver the funding for these projects that our community needs. It will be such an exciting time for Brisbane in the next 10 years as we approach the 2032 Olympics and all of the opportunities that that presents us. Every single sporting club is coming to me and saying, 'If we have the capacity to house an international standard, with different countries coming to visit, that will provide us with legacy infrastructure that will allow us to support the communities that we love in the years to come.' I look forward to us working across the aisle—I see the member for Fairfax there—with our state government, with the federal government and with local government to make sure that each of these worthy sporting clubs get those opportunities in the 10 years coming, alongside other worthy projects like road, infrastructure and supporting our health infrastructure like the great Prince Charles Hospital.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the time to speak tonight. I wasn't expecting to get to do it in the end, but I'm very pleased that we have used this opportunity to table the Lilley budget submission for 2022-23.

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