Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk today about some of the things that have happened in the Gilmore electorate. I notice the member for Cunningham sitting opposite and I know she will not be very pleased about the MRI licence that has come to the Shoalhaven.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Bird interjecting

Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. Nonetheless, thanks to the MRI licence we now are taking on about 30 people a day, and I would say almost 20 of those would come from Wollongong; therefore your numbers will probably be reduced because of the MRI licence being available for the Shoalhaven. I cannot begin to tell you the joy that it has brought to a lot of people in the area, particularly now that they do not have to travel to Wollongong. As you know, the trains are very slow, even when they leave on time, so that is one of the benefits we have had from the MRI licence.

We have also had a number of water grants being delivered to our area in Gilmore. In particular, the schools, the golf courses and some of the nursing homes have benefited greatly from the water grants, thereby eliminating the waste of thousands and thousands of litres of water in the electorate of Gilmore, so I am very pleased to see that happen.

We have received almost $2.3 million in the electorate of Gilmore through the Investing in Our Schools package. Most of our schools have now participated; there are only a few left to go. I am very pleased to see that happen. Again, I cannot begin to tell you how pleased the schools, the parents and the P&Cs in particular, who put these submissions together, have been about this.

Also, we have a pilot program running in conjunction with the seat of Cowper to relocate our unemployed to areas with employment opportunities, particularly in Western Australia. I know that in the electorate of Cowper the first group left about six weeks ago, and I am really happy to announce that as of next week at least 20 of our local people from the Shoalhaven area in the Gilmore electorate will be relocating with the government’s blessing to Western Australia. At the moment they are being trained in Coffs Harbour, and again it is a project that is being very well received by the community in the electorate of Gilmore. It is a project that I certainly encourage any other member of the House to apply for if they have very high unemployment in their electorates.

I also want to say that our medical school at the Shoalhaven campus of the Wollongong university will be opening its doors in January 2007. That is, again, an initiative of this government. Some $10 million has gone into this project in conjunction with the Wollongong university. It is a first for our area. Mature age people can train to become doctors so that we in the country areas will have doctors of quality who can stay and practise in the areas where they trained. Again, it is a very good initiative and I am very much looking forward to opening those doors in the near future, in January.

The small equipment grants for the electorate of Gilmore, some $73,000, have been handed out. That is a very worthwhile project. For smaller community groups, the Australian government has now recognised the work that volunteers do. It is extremely important that we do recognise our volunteers from areas that you would least expect, be they from Meals on Wheels, Rotary clubs, Lions clubs or other community groups that participate by supplying volunteers. I do not think the nation realises how much we do rely on volunteers. Normally it is not something that the Australian government have been able to recognise. It is work that they have done and, again, I am very pleased to see this happen. Overall, the electorate of Gilmore has been very blessed with grants from the Australian government. I cannot begin to say how important they have been and how much and how well they have been received in our community.