Alby Schultz (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk in the grievance debate tonight on a number of issues that affect my constituency. I particularly wish to highlight the concerns of a community group in my electorate that has been needlessly caught up in this government’s determination to play politics with rural and regional funding. The Wingecarribee Community Services Centre Inc. applied for and received approval under the Regional Partnerships program to build a much needed community centre. The contracts were let and the work began. During the earthworks stage, one very large tree had to be removed. Underneath this tree an old well was discovered. It was brick lined and had been used as a rubbish dump by persons unknown. The well was not mentioned on any of the papers held by council or on the 149 certificate, nor was it discovered during extensive geotechnical drilling and surveys.

The presence of this old well led to some unexpected remedial work on the site: site decontamination, significant redesign of the footings and slab, additional concrete, further geotechnical advice and additional structural engineering work. All of this resulted in an additional cost of $171,062.41. Unfortunately, this situation became apparent at about the same time as the recent federal election was held. In fact, the Regional Partnerships variation form was submitted on 30 November 2007, six days after the election. The community groups approached their local government representatives, and the Wingecarribee Shire Council has made an additional contribution to this project of $93,500. Several representations have been made to Regional Partnerships to fund the shortfall of $86,062. However, three letters from the relevant parliamentary secretary have ruled this out, no doubt in line with the Prime Minister’s declaration that the program was simply pork-barrelling, was of no use in regional communities and had been cut.

This building was to house Meals on Wheels, adult day care, the Dementia and Alzheimer’s Advisory Centre, CareAssist, Schizophrenia Fellowship New South Wales and Volunteering Wingecarribee. I am sure that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all of my parliamentary colleagues would agree that this is hardly an example of pork-barrelling but instead an amazing achievement on behalf of a community of only 42,500 people. Over several years, the local services and community have raised $676,647 towards this project. That is how much this community services centre means to them. The tenancies have been signed, and the community services were due to open the new facility today, 2 June. Yet the building stands silent and incomplete, and the Wingecarribee community continues to fundraise. But this small community has little if any hope of raising over $86,000 any time soon. The front page of the local paper today reads:

Aged care support centre sends out SOS. $85,000 in 30 days.

The reason that they have to raise that money in 30 days is that the contractor will have finished his work and the building will be completed but, because this group of volunteers is unable to pay the contractor the additional half of the $170,000 cost blow-out due to this unforeseen problem, the contractor cannot hand the keys over. We have a wonderful community services centre complete and ready to go and people ready to move in, but we cannot get it underway because we cannot find, in the trillion-dollar business of this country, $86,000 to assist this community. I think it is disgraceful.

In the meantime, construction costs rise and security of the site will become a very serious issue. This is a good project. It will provide a hub for community services and allow people to more efficiently manage their funds through effective sharing of fixed costs, thereby freeing funds for caring for various target populations in the community. The works are not outside the scope of the application. The unexpected complication of the site was not discovered even with very careful and conservative planning and pre-construction research. For the want of $86,062, this project stands still, and the six community services that were due to open offices in the new centre today have nowhere to go.

Recently, some projects were recognised as deserving a second chance, and those projects that had been approved but had not yet completed contract negotiations have been notified of their success. The announcement on 28 May said: ‘The Rudd government’s commonsense approach will give not-for-profit groups the opportunity to complete their contracts.’ But the Wingecarribee Community Services Centre was not included in the list. This situation has arisen through unforseen circumstances and has been identified and dealt with in a prompt and professional manner. The proposed variation is to cope with additional costs for works with existing approval and not for works outside the intent of the contract. More than half of the cost of the additional expense has been raised through local government. No funding at all is available through the New South Wales state government. Today I wrote to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs asking her to intervene.

The six community services have been given notice on their previous accommodation. Yet, for the sake of political ideology and point-scoring, these six community agencies will no longer be able to deliver their services to some of the most vulnerable people in the community. I ask the minister and, indeed, the Prime Minister, to intervene in this situation and provide additional funds to this worthwhile project so that the Wingecarribee Services Centre can open and the six vital services can recommence operation.

I mentioned earlier that the Labor government succumbed to significant pressure from rural and regional communities through their representatives and the media and allowed some additional projects to be funded under Regional Partnerships. In my own electorate of Hume, I have heard through the grapevine that it was decided that construction at Gunning Preschool was not pork-barrelling and that the funding will be available soon. I have not been notified officially, even though our new Prime Minister said he would treat all Australians fairly and would be professional and transparent in his governance. If what I heard from excited local constituents is true, then that is good. But why haven’t I heard anything?

Will this be another one of those events where a community group works hard with its local member to convince a government that a project is worthwhile and will effectively deliver maximum value for money and then another government, through an unknown politician, tries to claim success? I had just that experience last Saturday in Crookwell at the official opening of Viewhaven Lodge. The former coalition government contributed $3.467 million towards this significant project which combines Banfield House and Harley Nursing Home into a single residential aged-care service. This is a good project but was just one of many applications from across Australia for funding, and it took significant lobbying to ensure it received well-deserved recognition. I might add that this lobbying was undertaken with the Hon. Julie Bishop when she was Minister for Ageing—well before she was Minister for Education—so that will give you a clue as to how long this whole project has taken.

In the true spirit of the new Prime Minister’s much-lauded professional, fair and transparent governance, the organising committee was aware that I had not been invited to open the new facility. But, to their credit, they invited my wife and I to be part of their special day of celebration. Labor sent one of its unknown senators as its representative, to take the credit on behalf of the minister. I was not even informed of the opening of this new building by the ‘transparent’ government.

People in rural and regional areas are not stupid; they understand effort and they have long memories. The sooner the Rudd government understand this and stop trying to take credit for work not done by them, the sooner they will gain respect in the area I represent. (Time expired)