Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to inform members of the progress being made towards the establishment of a marine discovery centre on the Central Coast of New South Wales, in fact in my electorate of Robertson. This centre will provide the Central Coast with an environmental, educational and tourist facility that will become, I am sure, a benchmark facility for its type in Australia. A marine discovery centre at Terrigal will provide a marine research and educational facility for the university and for local environmental groups. It will also be used by community groups and will have a number of associated small businesses operating in connection with it.

The HMAS Adelaide, which will be the real drawcard, will establish the centre and the Terrigal site as a must-see tourist destination. Dive wrecks and artificial reefs based on ships similar to HMAS Adelaide have proved very successful and sustainable tourist destinations in other parts of the country and have been based on dive wrecks such as this. There is already considerable interest in the project among dive shop operators, the hotel industry, restaurants and other small businesses on the Central Coast. The centre has the support of Central Coast Tourism, the peak tourism body on the coast, and they have already indicated that they will assist by taking the necessary steps to have it listed as a secondary tourist information office.

Since I last spoke on this matter there has been a continuing and vigorous campaign from interested stakeholders to bring this project to the Central Coast. Earlier this year I hosted two meetings at my electorate office which brought community and industry partners together. Those meetings included representatives of the Community Environment Network, the peak environment body on the coast; the University of Newcastle’s Central Coast campus, which runs a highly regarded marine research centre; the New South Wales Department of Lands; and the New South Wales Premier’s Department. Among all these stakeholders there continues to be a real sense of excitement about the possibilities that the marine discovery centre can open up for people and the economy of the Central Coast.

The stakeholders pushed hard to have Gosford City Council nominate the marine discovery centre as its preferred strategic project under the federal government’s Community Infrastructure Program. This would have brought significant funds to the project and helped kick-start the establishment of a marine discovery centre at The Haven at Terrigal, which was initially the preferred site for the facility. In the end Gosford City Council chose another project in its submission to the Community Infrastructure Program, which ultimately received more than $3 million in federal funds and is a matter of great value to the community as well. But it was an opportunity lost for the project team of the marine discovery centre.

However, a major breakthrough occurred recently for the marine discovery centre when it secured a new home right in the heart of the tourist destination of Terrigal. Through representations made by me and others to the New South Wales Department of Lands, the centre was granted a five-year lease on the former Tourism Central Coast information centre in Terrigal—a lease for five years at no cost. Securing a permanent base for the centre in such a prominent position is a wonderful milestone. A marine discovery centre has real potential to deliver ongoing economic returns for the Central Coast economy. This centre can be an icon attraction for the area and certainly will pay its way in the future. This is a project that builds on strong and already existing partnerships across the community. The linkages that are emerging between education, community interest, environment, tourism, local businesses and major infrastructure provision makes the centre an extremely attractive proposition.

A marine discovery centre at Terrigal will provide a marine research and education facility for the university’s marine research and teaching centre, which is based presently at its Central Coast campus. It is important to see an extension of that. It will also become a focus for local environment groups, such as the CEN, and they will continue to do research there as well as in their present centre. Its links to the vibrant Central Coast tourism industry are worth while, and I am sure these will grow and develop over time. Securing a permanent base for the centre was the next step towards achieving a marine discovery centre for the coast. This has been achieved. The centre is expected to be operating by the end of 2009, in time for the Christmas season, and I am thrilled to see it occur. (Time expired)