Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is my sixth term in this place, and it's an honour and privilege to represent the people and communities that comprise the electorate of Blair. I have to say that the previous government was unlike any other government I've experienced, and the previous term was unlike any other. We had lockdowns, wearing masks, attending parliament virtually, working from home, travel restrictions and border passes—you name it. It was unlike anything I have previously experienced. Sadly, droughts, bushfires and floods are what we have previously experienced and, sadly, that experience was in my electorate. Troops were returning from Afghanistan. We have had people struggling to find or afford a home in which to live.

For me, the highlight, apart from increasing my margin in a marginal seat, was seeing Labor returned to government after nine years in opposition. The 2022 election was a significant event in Labor's history. I want to thank the people of Blair for putting their faith in me to continue to represent them in our federal parliament. Blair is one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and we need to invest in the jobs and infrastructure of the future. It's a future that's coming very quickly in terms of the needs of our area.

The election of the Labor government will deliver more than $82 million in local commitments to the western corridor. It's called the western corridor because it is west of Brisbane. This includes a number of initiatives for the booming greater Springfield area that will deliver Blair, together with the electorate of my neighbour the member for Oxley and the Speaker, $12.6 million for the Springfield BioPark to advance medical manufacturing. That will support up to 1,100 jobs in the Ipswich and Springfield region.

There is $3.5 million for a new Indian cultural centre. We don't have one in South-East Queensland. There is an Indian cultural centre in most capital cities in the country, but there's not one in Queensland. There will be one located in Springfield. I want to thank Jim Varghese, the Indian community and so many people who made that possible. There's $3.4 million for the Ipswich-to-Springfield rail line business case. This has been asked for by the Ipswich City Council. It has been committed to in the budget. This will be important.

Over the weekend—and I must congratulate the Melbourne Demons—the Brisbane Lions AFLW team tragically lost. But it was a great day anyway because we opened the new stadium, the Brighton Homes Arena, in Springfield. But we saw the challenges of roads being unfinished and pedestrian management issues. We saw the fact that we really need that rail link to be extended from Springfield out through Redbank Plains, to Ripley, to Yamanto and then back to Ipswich—an alternative spur. That would be critical.

In that area, Springfield Central State School will be provided $100,000 to upgrade their facilities. The playground area for the prep students is very old, and it's a very small area. That money will be provided, and it's being provided in this budget.

These commitments build on a range of transport and community infrastructure projects that we have committed to across Ipswich, Somerset and the Karana Downs area. They include $20 million to update the North Ipswich stadium—we call it the North Ipswich Reserve in Ipswich—which will potentially allow us to host NRL and A-League matches in the future. The A-League, in my view, wrongly decided not to grant the licence to the Western Pride some years ago. We got to the penultimate round but fell short and, sadly, the Brisbane Jets' bid for the NRL licence was rejected in favour of the Dolphins' bid.

One of the criticisms of the bid that was made was the fact that we didn't have a proper stadium. I think this $20 million will go a long way towards kickstarting that. The Ipswich City Council has previously said they will put in $10 million and I've called publicly for the council to put that $10 million towards it. I call on the Queensland Labor government to kick in some money as well, particularly with the Olympics coming up in the next decade. It would be a big boon for Ipswich to have an AFL stadium in the east and, in Springfield Central, a proper stadium that would be akin to Dolphin oval or, indeed, Parramatta stadium. That would be a big boon for football in Ipswich—and not just football, which we called soccer in my childhood; rugby league and rugby union could also be played at that particular stadium.

We've also committed $4 million to the Ipswich Showgrounds. This is absolutely critical, because the showgrounds are the main evacuation site for people in Ipswich and surrounds, and we saw the inadequacy of the ablutions block there. There weren't enough showers. There weren't enough toilets. Hundreds of people can stay at that particular site in any given flood situation. Tragically and very sadly, during my period of time in parliament and in my lifetime, we've had four major floods in Ipswich, which have impacted adversely not just the property of the people of Ipswich but their lives and their mental health. We've also had loss of life in our region. Of that $4 million, $1.5 million will be used for that purpose. It comes under the money that we're providing in the Disaster Ready Fund, and I thank the minister, Senator Watt, for that particular commitment.

There's $10 million for the planning stage of the final section of the Ipswich Motorway. That's the section from the Centenary interchange through to the Oxley roundabout. The Queensland government wants money for that, and we're providing additional funds in this budget for that. That's the final stage. One hundred vehicles a day go through that section of the Ipswich Motorway. It's the final, missing leg that needs to be done. The Queensland government wants to do it, and we're putting money in the budget for the planning stage of that. It's really important.

There's $2 million for a committee sports hub. The biggest high school in my electorate is Ipswich State High School. I want to congratulate Ipswich State High, as I have done before, for being undefeated. Their senior boys team won three cups this year. They actually won the NRL cup as well, beating a Sydney based team. That's not easy. I can tell you that it's always great when a Queensland team beats a New South Wales team at any sport—particularly in rugby league. It's great that they were undefeated. I congratulate nine of their team for getting NRL contracts as a result of the work that they did. Congratulations, Ipswich State High.

We're putting $2 million towards a committee sports hub there. That'll provide additional basketball courts. Basketball is a booming sport in Ipswich. It has seen growth of 50 per cent in the last 18 months. That funding will be important for Ipswich State High. The Queensland government will bring forward decisions in relation to that sports hub and that sports hall. There are other sports that will benefit from that. Volleyball, futsal and other sports will also be able to use it. These are sports that are often neglected in terms of their attention and their funding.

A couple of other schools in the local area will get funding. Just across the road from Ipswich State High is Brassall State School, which will get $60,000 for a new prep-safe playground. Honestly, at the moment, their playground looks like it was built when I was a child; it's so old. There's also $15,000 for upgrading an audiovisual system for Karalee State School.

One of the most important things in terms of flood recovery and resilience in my area is the money we're providing under the urban rivers program. That's $3 million that will help in terms of flood resilience and improving water quality and environmental values. We don't even have rain gauges or water gauges in some of our creeks. Unfortunately, there's repair required in those areas. That is a very, very important commitment that we're making.

I've been campaigning for the $5 million for the veterans hub for years. The previous government's candidate, back in 2016, made a commitment for a veterans hub and failed to carry it out. I wrote to then minister Dan Tehan about it after the election. They said, 'You're not going to get it.' In 2019, we committed to seven veterans hubs. The coalition committed to six and deliberately missed out Ipswich. We're going to deliver one. Even during the last election, they couldn't commit themselves to a veterans hub in Ipswich. So we're doing that.

The new Medicare urgent care clinic to take pressure off Ipswich Hospital is really important as well. And I'm looking forward to the new Head to Health mental health centre, which will be based in Ipswich. There'll be a spur up in Kingaroy. But that's really, really important. There's $2.5 million for the Kambu Health service for our local Indigenous community. Many years ago, I got $1 million for the Children and Family Centre to be located there. They cater for about 12,500 patients, but they need more rooms. Kambu Health service really does almighty work. They're going to relocate the Children and Family Centre out to Amaroo, which is near Silkstone State School. They've got a prep area and a kindy area not far from Silkstone State School. That will make a difference. There's $1 million for the upgrade of the facilities at the fast-growing Ripley Valley Football Club and $500,000 for Ipswich hockey, including irrigation and lighting, and $20,000 for a new toy library in the Redbank Plains community centre.

In this term of parliament, I'm going to work as hard as I can to make sure we progress the business case for the Cunningham Highway and the Amberley Road interchange upgrade. I know the member for Riverina was involved, when he was the minister for infrastructure, in the $170 million. There was bipartisan support for that, by the way. The business case is now being done with the federal and state government. There's been a bipartisan approach to that particular upgrade. It's needed from a federal government point of view. I think the state government made a terrible mistake in taking it off its priority list. They've now put it back on, which is a good initiative. They finally saw the need for it. The RAAF base at Amberley is located there, and 5,500 people work at the RAAF base at Amberley. We've got to get the infrastructure right in that area. I'll be working as hard as I can to make sure that happens. It helps my electorate. It also helps the member for Wright, who's sitting over there. It helps his constituents because they go through that interchange all the time.

There's also the Mount Crosby Road interchange. There's a business case being developed by the Queensland government with federal and state government money. That, of course, has been bipartisan as well, with funding from the previous government, and we have committed to continue that process. So there are those two important interchanges—one on the south side of Ipswich at Amberley and one on the north side at Mount Crosby. This is very important for my constituents, and I want to see real solutions in this term of parliament.

I want to thank a lot of people, too. I want to thank the people of Blair, as I've said, for the work they have done. I'm very pleased that this government has taken up the commitments I made as the shadow minister for veterans affairs and for supporting so many initiatives that I announced during the federal campaign. I pay tribute to the tenacity and bravery of advocates for taking action on veterans health and veterans suicide, like Julie-Ann Finney, Karen Bird and Nikki Jamieson. The bravery and commitment they've shown to our veterans and their families is exemplary.

There are a number of people I want to thank. I want to thank the traditional owners of my area, the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul people, and pay my respects for the work that they do and thank them for their tens of thousands of caring for country in my area. First Nations people comprise five per cent of the population in Ipswich, higher than the Queensland average of 4.6 per cent and the Australian average of 3.2 per cent. I'm proud to be part of a government that's committed to due recognition of treaty and truth and voice for our First Nations people.

I want to thank the branches and the unions who supported me, and the local residents and community activists who supported me on the ground. I want to thank Julie-Ann Campbell, the former state secretary of the party in Queensland and Zac Beers, our assistant secretary, and I want to thank the new state secretary, Kate Flanders, for her ongoing support.

The federal Queensland results don't reflect the great support and direction that we took at the state level, but that's politics for you. I want to thank a number of Queensland party organisers—Mitchell, Isaac, Izzy and Luke—for their work on the ground and behind the scenes.

I want to thank the unions as well. I particularly thank my union. I've been a member of the Services Union for a very, very long time. Thank you to Jen Thomas and Neil Henderson for their ongoing support and to all those members who came out to stand out on booths in the pouring rain in Springfield Central, like Justine, Rebecca, John and Jack. I thank the plumbers union, who've provided incredible assistance over a number of years to me. Thanks, Tom, Rian, Michael, Justin, Luke and all of the plumbers who did letterboxing, put up signs and worked in prepoll and on election day. Thanks to the TWU and especially Justin out at Tarampa and Lachy, who came up from the Gold Coast with his partner to work all day in a polling booth. Thanks to the Shoppies, the AWU and the meatworkers union in Queensland. The only union I've been a member of apart from the Services Union is the meatworkers union, and I think I might still have my 1979 meatworkers union ticket in the back of a drawer somewhere. There are hundreds of branch members across Blair, and I want to thank them all. They were the backbone of the campaign.

I thank the local branches from Somerset to the Springfield area. I want to thank my campaign director, Madonna Oliver, for her relentless work ethic, her wise guidance and her strong leadership. Blair has over 50 booths, and Madonna told me in the lead-up to the election, 'We'll have the best booth roster ever.' COVID tore through the electorate, and there was also a pretty nasty impact from flu across our people on election day. Thanks to the volunteers—so many of them. I want to thank Madonna's husband, Glen, a retired Army warrant officer who provided great insights into veterans issues and practical support.

I want to thank Chris Forrester, my former office manager and my mate. He's been a friend of mine for many, many years, and I appreciate the work and the guidance. We adopted what I've described as the Forrester strategy to get re-elected.

Thanks to Nick Hughes and Janice Cumming, the treasurer and the secretary of the Blair federal electoral council, who ensured the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted. Thanks to Ian Fraser, who became the high-vis master, ensuring that teams of people were standing on street corners, engaging traffic and passers-by, from August 2021. He was ably supported by a group of people who call themselves the 'cartel' and who promoted the member for Oxley and me: Neil Bennett, Vince Atley and Martin Grandelis, with the incredible support of Neil's wife, Judy.

Thanks to Peter Duffy, Pye Augustine, Rob Cox, Paul Whewell and so many others. I want to acknowledge Nayda Hernandez, who provided tremendous assistance in engaging the diverse cultures across Blair and Oxley, as well as providing additional volunteers from among her family and friends. A big thank you to Cate Oliver and Nicole Chapple, who are known as the prepoll whisperers. Together with Rhonda Nolan, they built on the great work of Peter Duffy in getting the booth rosters together. Thanks to Michael Watkins, who worked with Ian Cavanagh, Michael Pattemore, Tyler Brennan and many others to get signs up across the electorate. Michael Watkins transformed a ute into a mobile billboard and became a regular troubleshooter in the campaign

Thanks to the Ipswich Trades Hall crew, including Ipswich Councillor Jacob Madsen and Cameron Jeppesen. They transformed the spiritual home of the Labor Party and the labour movement in Ipswich into a staging place, and of course there was an amazing election night party there. I want to thank the branch members across the area. I particularly want to thank the state members Charis Mullen, Lance McCallum, Jen Howard and Jim Madden for the work they did.

Thanks to the volunteer base. I want to thank people in Toogoolawah like Beryce Nelson, who used to be a member of the other side of politics. She helped me out a bit. The Toogoolawah booth was staffed entirely by community members—people like Charlie and Jade Lewis, along with people like Carolyn Barker. Thanks to Arthur Needham in Karana Downs, Geoff Beattie in Glamorgan Vale, David and Jackie Martin in Ipswich, and all the regular and first-time volunteers.

Big thanks to Clair Parsons, who kept the electorate office going, served on the campaign team and liaised with party officers on so many issues. During COVID, Clair ensured my office made tens of thousands of calls to constituents while keeping the administrative things running effectively. Staff member Chris Condon provided exceptional advice and assistance in veterans affairs issues, and I'm pleased he's staying on in the office and providing policy, communications and constituent support. Janice Cumming is the face of the office to constituents and very much loved in the electorate. I think if she ran she'd probably get 99 per cent of the vote. Thanks to my casual staff over the last few years, including Grace Forrester, Shonna Lye—congratulations, Shonna, on the job you got with Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney-General—Laura Ketter, Terry Kent and Ed Uzelin.

Big thanks to all in my family for their support. My wife, Carolyn, has been a great support and has endured a relationship with me since 1983. Despite her own health battles, she has provided ongoing family support. We are now empty nesters. I am glad that I have raised two daughters, Alex and Jacqui, who are Christians, feminists and Labor Party members. My wife and I have begun a new adventure being first-time grandparents following the birth of our grandson, Joshua, to my daughter Jackie and her husband, Andrew.

To my brothers Regan and Darrin and my friends and confidantes together with Darrin's wife, Claire, and their son, Will, who provided great support in Kilcoy and Mount Kilcoy. LNP members know my family very well and always treat them well on election day. The LNP and Labor people up in those country areas always get on very well—even though they are a bit mistaken on the other side!

Big thanks to my mum, Joy Butler, and her husband, Rob, for their ongoing support and home cooking. My mum is like the godmother of the Labor Party in Ipswich. I'm sure the Speaker will testify to the truth of that. Her cooking is amazing, she is fantastic and we love her dearly.

In closing, I want to thank my colleagues, particularly those shadow ministers who visited my electorate and my colleagues with whom I spend so much time in Canberra. More than my colleagues, they are my friends who share similar values and desire for a better future for our constituents and for the nation, who believe in social justice, equality of opportunity and a fair go for all. That is what I believed in all my life.

I remain energetic, enthusiastic and excited about representing the people of Blair for another three years. I look forward to the coming term and getting much needed projects I've referred to going and continuing to work hard to fight for a better future for our community, because we certainly need it.

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