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

I've got a list here, Member for Franklin, because it wouldn't fit on a spreadsheet! We've committed, since we came to government in 2013, to make this a better, safer, stronger country for all, through creating jobs, supporting local community organisations, delivering roads infrastructure, supporting our vulnerable, and enhancing opportunities for small to medium businesses across the country, and, importantly, in my electorate.

As I look back over the past nine years at this coalition government's record of delivery to my electorate of Forde, it's heartening to see the impact of that delivery making it a better community for everybody to live in. If I go through some of those things and the projects that have been delivered or are under construction or are planned, we can see significant changes to the safety of our local roads and we can see significant improvements to people's ability to get to and from work safely. But, in addition to those big infrastructure projects—which I'll touch on a little bit later—importantly, we've left more money in people's pockets.

Across my electorate of Forde, some 74,000 taxpayers have benefited from the tax relief that this government has put in place. We've already seen some 18½ thousand businesses across the electorate of Forde being supported through the expanded instant asset write-off to encourage investment and boost local jobs. I've spoken to many businesses, right across the electorate, who have taken advantage of these provisions to replenish their capital equipment, to improve their productivity and to improve their ability to produce new goods and services, and it's been very, very well received.

One of the important things for everybody in my electorate of Forde is health. We've seen, during the pandemic, the introduction of telehealth and the importance of that for people to be able to still get support and service from their medical practitioners without having to physically go into doctors surgeries. Some 622,000 telehealth consultations have occurred through Medicare in the past year, and these services are now being extended. We've added over 2,800, I think it is now, new medicines to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since we came to government in 2013, and the community of Forde has benefited to the tune of over 2.3 million prescriptions being subsidised through the PBS.

As I touched on, one of the really big deliverables in my electorate of Forde has been infrastructure. I represent one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia, and one of the things that have held back or impacted development, impacted quality of life, tradies' ability to get to and from the job site, people's ability to get to work safely in our major industrial areas—in Yatala and Loganholme, and now, over in the west of the electorate, in Park Ridge and Meadowbrook—has been the quality of our infrastructure. When I look at what we've delivered across the electorate of Forde, I'm very pleased to say we've made some significant investments.

The M3 Gateway merge, which the member for Bonner here is also well aware of, had a total investment of some $195 million by the Australian and state governments—$115 million from the federal government. That project, from the Gateway merge to Springwood, has now been completed. The next section of the M1, from Springwood to Loganlea Road, is now well under construction. Some of the northbound lanes, from Sports Drive to the Gateway Motorway, have now been opened. Part of that also is the extension of the busway from Eight Mile Plains to Springwood. In addition, I've secured the funding for the remaining part of that upgrade from Daisy Hill to the Logan Mortorway, which will be a $500 million investment by the Commonwealth government, matched by another $500 million from the state government. That project will get underway once the current panel from Springwood to Daisy Hill is complete.

Importantly, south of that area, in the northern Gold Coast, we have four major interchanges which are critical to access both our residential communities and our business communities. I'm pleased to say that exit 54 at Upper Coomera was completed several years ago, through a $10 million investment by the federal government in conjunction with the developers of Coomera town centre, Westfield QIC and the state government. This has made an enormous difference to the communities of Upper Coomera and Coomera. We've recently added to that with a $7½ million investment, bringing it, in conjunction with the state government, to approximately $15 million for a new car park at Coomera train station, because we know how important access to public transport is. The parking facilities at Coomera train station well and truly needed that upgrade, because people just could not find a park unless they got there very, very early in the morning. Many of those people would otherwise drive into Brisbane or other places. Now they will be able to get a parking spot and catch the train, reducing the pressure on the M1.

As we head north from exit 54, we have exit 49 at Pimpama, which will be a $110 million joint investment by the Commonwealth and state governments. Work on that will commence in the second half of this year. We've commenced construction at exit 45, with a $20 million investment to realign the southbound exit off exit 45, which, in the afternoon, will stop traffic banking back onto the M1 in a 110 kilometre per hour zone, which is an enormous safety issue. That will also free up some of the traffic movements around the roundabouts and the current bridge, particularly affecting Tillyroen Road and Peachey Road.

We're also upgrading exit 41, with an $82 million investment between the Commonwealth and state governments, with work now well underway to duplicate that exit. It will be along the lines of the model of exit 54, with a new bridge, increased lane capacity and much longer exits off the freeway. Again, sometimes at exit 41 in the morning, trying to get into the industrial estate, the traffic could be backed up for at least a kilometre on the M1 in a 110 kilometre an hour zone—incredibly dangerous.

In local roads, the Milne Street to Tallagandra Road upgrade again will be fifty-fifty joint funding—a $5 million investment. That's now in the design stage. Hopefully work will commence on that later this year, which will duplicate from Milne Street to Tallagandra Road. That work will start on Beaudesert Beenleigh Road, which is increasingly busy, given the development to the south of Beenleigh in Bahrs Scrub, Windaroo and further afield. We've seen the upgrade of the Jellicoe and Station Road intersection, where people exit off the Logan Motorway to get into Loganlea and to Waterford West. That $1.4 million investment, in conjunction with the Logan City Council, has made an enormous difference to an intersection which had a terrible crash history.

Further to the west, on the Mount Lindesay Highway, we spent $20 million upgrading service roads between Chambers Flat Road and Greenbank Road. Now that that has been completed, we're now working on the section between Stoney Camp Road and Chambers Flat Road, which is a joint $75 million investment. I recently had the opportunity to open the new Norris Creek Bridge, which I'm delighted at the design of, given how high it is, how wide it is and the way they've designed it to allow for wildlife to be able to cross underneath it rather than having to cross over it. Given that's an area where we have koalas and a range of other wildlife, I'm greatly appreciative of the work that Main Roads has done in its design to make it friendly for wildlife to cross the road. That duplication will make an enormous difference.

There are a number of other road projects where we've provided funding to Logan City Council and we're waiting for the council to finalise design to get on and build those roads, such as the duplication on Chambers Flat Road, from Park Ridge Road to Derby Road, and the upgrades of High Road and Easterley Street at Waterford.

Equally, in a growing community you need community facilities, and part of that is the support of our local sporting clubs. Through a number of community grants, we've supported Mustangs Brothers Rugby League Football Club to the tune of $150,000 for new lighting and water infrastructure to upgrade their fields. I'll say that Logan City Council and the state government also jumped in and helped with some additional works there, such that Mustangs Brothers have now got a completely new surface on their field, but that is now well and truly protected by the water infrastructure and the new lighting. It looks fantastic. They've also received a grant from the Commonwealth government, through the Powering Communities Program, for solar panels on their roof.

Ormeau Shearers rugby league club received some $500,000 to build a new clubhouse and dressing shed. The old one was an old steel shed that was well and truly past its use-by date. For the club at Ormeau, in the growing corridor of the Gold Coast, that's been a tremendous investment.

Loganholme Lightning Football Club have had two grants, one for their clubhouse at Cornubia. In conjunction with some state government investment, it has transformed that clubhouse and those dressing rooms, in reflection of the fact that the club is now playing in the National Premier Leagues in Queensland. The other upgrade will be at Chris Green Park in Beenleigh, with a $600,000 investment by the Commonwealth government augmented by a $1.2 million investment by Logan City Council to further build on these facilities. You can see, Mr Deputy Speaker, from what I've outlined in that list—and there's so much more that I could go through—what we've delivered for the community in Forde over the last nine years.

Other exciting and interesting projects as I look across the electorate have been on the environmental front, where we've provided funds to a range of community organisations for restoration of our local riverbanks; protection of rare and endangered species, such as the Ormeau bottle tree; and installation of solar power across various community organisations to help them reduce their power bills, which means that the small amount of funds they get for various things or through fundraising can be directed to their activities on the ground.

Another very interesting project is Australia's first biosolids gasification facility at the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant. This $6.2 million investment to Logan City Council will transform sewage sludge, or biosolids, into renewable energy and an environmentally friendly project called biochar. The project's construction phase has commenced and work is well underway. I believe we'll be opening that facility sometime in April.

Also, Logan City Council has been granted funds, through the Smart Cities and Suburbs program, for locals to prepare their houses and businesses to be more resilient to flooding and equip first responders with crucial information through modelling for disaster management. Equally, we've seen a range of grants to great community organisations, including our rural fire brigades, our Meals on Wheels, Rosies youth mission, Lighthouse Care, Nightlight and many others who do a terrific job across our electorate each and every day.

Importantly, what this shows is that the Morrison government is delivering for my electorate of Forde across a whole range of areas. Despite the protestations from those opposite, I'll continue to work with my community—

Opposition members interjecting—

Well, through the previous contribution, not so much those of you over there—which is unusual.

I'm pleased to say that the Morrison government continues to deliver for the community of Forde in a whole range of areas, and I look forward to the work we'll continue to do into the future.

See this speech in context