Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to discuss some of the developments for community services in the vicinity of Koo Wee Rup, Tooradin and Lang Lang, all towns on the northern end of Western Port within my electorate of Flinders. There are some tremendous developments. The first one, which I am particularly pleased to talk about, is the opening this week of new classrooms at St John the Baptist Primary School at Koo Wee Rup.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Broadbent interjecting

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a beautiful little Catholic school well known to my colleague the member for McMillan. It is headed by Simon Dell’Oro, the principal, and this week we will be opening at the school new classrooms, a new administration area and a general update to much of the school area.

It has been an expensive project of $635,000. Most significantly, the school community should be congratulated. A community which does it tough from time to time has raised $160,000. The people of Koo Wee Rup, Tooradin, Lang Lang, Bayles and Catani—a fantastic farming community, and also the people who are serving the farmers—have raised this money. They have contributed to the St John the Baptist school. Of course, the Commonwealth has made a contribution. We have contributed $475,000 and I am delighted that we have been able to do that to support them in some way. But the real recognition should go to Simon Dell’Oro and to all of the staff, parents and family members, as well as the students, who have simply gone out there and raised $160,000 in an area where that amount of money really matters. That is an outstanding sign of the health of the community.

The second thing I wanted to talk about is that we have recently announced $146,800—or nearly $150,000—for respite accommodation at Koo Wee Rup Health Services, which is more widely known as the Koo Wee Rup hospital. This is extremely important. It is to assist carers by giving them a break by providng respite accommodation for those that are under care. That may mean young people or it may mean elderly people or those with disabilities. It is a real challenge for carers. They need time, whether it is to work or for themselves—to exercise, for example. They are absolutely the foundation of a healthy community. The work that they do to support people who are most in need and most at risk of extremes is outstandingly generous. I am delighted that we are able to make this small contribution to take the burden off carers in the Koo Wee Rup, Lang Lang and Tooradin area.