John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take the opportunity this evening to wax lyrical and boast about a community in my electorate that I am immensely proud of. It is the township of Ouyen. It is an hour’s drive south of Mildura, on the verge of the extent of the Mallee region, and it has a strong pioneering heritage and spirit. It is a community that has confronted the worst drought in our modern history and met that challenge well. It is the home of prime Mallee lamb, which has restored, through the menus of Australians and of international markets, respect for the producers of young lambs that make fine food interesting to the palate.

Ouyen has had the advantage in the last four or five years of again being on the receiving end of water—this time piped—from the supply system that once supplied it, all the way from the south, from the Grampian Mountains, nearly 250 kilometres to the north. Ouyen had previously received its water through open channels and by the time it got to Ouyen it had faced evaporation so many times that it was an extremely poor water supply. But the Commonwealth has been able, in partnership with the state government of Victoria, to fund the piping of the northern Mallee, a historic achievement that has been the subject of a 100-year debate. That has given to the Ouyen community the confidence, in the worst drought in our modern history, to maintain their stock, including their prime breeding stock, and stay ahead of the march. It has meant of course that the community is fed reasonably well, better than other communities that have not got a reliable water supply.

I was really thrilled last week to announce a Regional Partnerships funding grant to help the Ouyen community restore their old picture theatre, the Roxy Theatre, with a funding allocation of $230,450. It is amazing how positively the community has received this announcement—so the powers in the rarefied atmosphere of Canberra actually care about their circumstance! It has been a difficult situation for the community. The only community centre to which they could bring the Scouts, the youth group or the Girl Guides was the Ouyen Club, which is an alcohol and poker machine facility—not the ideal environment. Now the community, with the assistance of this funding from the Commonwealth, will be able to have a meeting place—a magnet—to bring the youngsters of the community to, where they can watch state-of-the-art modern films. They could be watching the same films that the big metropolitan communities and provincial city communities enjoy. They could be watching the latest release of movies. I am so thrilled that we have a program that meets the needs of isolated rural communities.

Contrary to the negative response and attention that has been directed towards the Regional Partnerships program, here is a classic example of a community saying: ‘We’ll buy the real estate for the old theatre. We need a facility that we are comfortable with the youth in our community attending. It’s our solution to meeting the challenges of our problems. We’re not being told from up above about what is right and what is wrong.’ And the Commonwealth has responded. I will be really pleased to get an opportunity to next visit the Ouyen community. There are a lot of people to thank for the products of their determination. The Sunraysia Area Consultative Committee has done all the work in assisting the committee to submit their application. The community itself and Ouyen Inc., which is the local chamber of commerce, comprises a number of motivated people. They deserve to be congratulated. I am looking forward to catching up with them and celebrating this great announcement.