Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk about some of the good news in which the Commonwealth is involved in my electorate of Braddon, on the north-west coast of Tasmania. This is in addition to the Commonwealth entitlements that people receive and the major components of the two stimulus packages. In particular, I would like to mention that, in the housing affordability programs that the government has announced, Wynyard in my area will get savings on 30 dwellings. That will be a significant contribution to much more affordable housing in my region. King Island is being funded for 19 new building lots, which will come in very handy on that beautiful island. Tasmania will pioneer the first rolling out of the National Broadband Network, which was announced in April in my electorate by the Prime Minister and the Premier. We hope that by July the first digging for the rollout will take place. I look forward to the benefits of that for my electorate and Tasmania. There will be good lessons learned, as this will be rolled out throughout the rest of Australia.

I am very pleased the government has initiated the National School Pride program, with its fantastic investment in schools and in particular in primary schools. In round 1, $4 million was allocated to my electorate and, in round 2, there was $4.5 million allocated. A total of $8.5 million will go into not just much-needed refurbishments in our primary schools but providing employment—that is, lots of employment for local people who will use local products and local services. Like those of other members in this House, 14 primary schools in my electorate will benefit from a total of $21.5 million from Primary Schools for the 21st Century. Again, that is $21.5 million for jobs—that is, for jobs locally, for jobs services and for those things that will be used to equip many of these projects. That $21.5 million investment in our primary schools will aid the teaching and learning process as well. There is $1.2 million for computers in 21 of our schools. That is much-needed assistance with computers. Of course, this will provide employment for people as well. Again, it is stimulating our economy by investing in our schools and investing in our infrastructure. That is at the very heart of our budgetary strategy. We are also getting $1.5 million for a trade training centre at St Brendan-Shaw, to be shared with Marist Regional College in Burnie. That will be very welcome indeed.

Health is an area that needs investment and one that we are continuing to invest in, and we need to do this in partnership with the state government and health providers. Over $180 million is allocated to the Mersey Community Hospital. It is great to see the positive health outcomes from that, particularly integrating with the North West Regional Hospital as well. There is $7.5 million for two new superclinics in our region, and they have both gone to contract. There is $60,000 for the Penguin clinic and $1.25 million for the Sisters of Charity to provide much-needed trauma counselling and mental health services. For patient transport there is $10 million. For patient accommodation, for those who must travel from the north-west coast, particularly for oncology services, there is $1 million. For additional and augmenting north-west cancer services there is $1.4 million, and there is $1.2 million for developing a pioneering health IT service to integrate amongst services providers from the coast. There is $8.65 million under the Better Regions Program, $12.3 million for roads and a further $1.72 million for the community infrastructure program for our region. On top of that and to complete this, there is $12 million for the Enterprise Connect service that has been established in Burnie. (Time expired)