Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In terms of population, my electorate of Blair in South-East Queensland is made up of 70 per cent in Ipswich, eight per cent in the Fassifern Valley and 22 per cent in the Lockyer Valley. This morning in a three-minute speech I talked about what the Rudd government is doing locally in the Fassifern Valley and I am happy to talk about what the Rudd government is doing locally in the Lockyer Valley.

For many years both the Fassifern Valley and the Lockyer Valley were represented by conservative federal representatives and it is quite clear that when it comes to road and school infrastructure in both areas they have been neglected—simply taken for granted—by representatives at the state level, who were National Party, and at the federal level, who were Liberal Party.

The local Lockyer Valley is an amalgamation of the Gatton Shire Council and the Lockyer Valley Council. This year the Lockyer Valley Regional Council, which is the new council, will receive $2.7 million in financial assistance grants and can expect to receive a similar amount next year. Also, the Lockyer Valley Council has received $661,000 as part of our Community Infrastructure Program to undertake upgrades and programs across the whole of the Lockyer Valley from Withcott in the west through to Laidley in the east. There are 12 upgrade projects, including the upgrade of playground equipment at the Apex park in Gatton. There are also other amenity and park upgrades thanks simply to federal government funding. There are so many projects across the Locker Valley that are receiving federal government funding, which was sorely needed in the circumstances and neglected under the previous Howard coalition government when the area was represented by a conservative member.

The federal government has approved so much money in the Lockyer Valley that it is a credit to the Rudd government. Not only that, the Lockyer Valley looks to Ipswich in terms of health services, work, recreation and sporting facilities so the Lockyer Valley will benefit from the Better Regions funding that we are doing in Ipswich itself with the Ipswich CBD redevelopment costing $10 million, the refurbishment of the Ipswich Basketball Association costing $660,000 and the George Alder Tennis Centre in Ipswich costing $575,000. It has 12 clay courts making it the premier clay court facility in Queensland as a result of what is being done.

Road funding in the Lockyer Valley will benefit as well. And the farmers in the Lockyer Valley and the people in the rural communities in the Lockyer Valley will benefit enormously from the Rudd government’s commitment to the Ipswich Motorway upgrade—$884 million in this budget. And across the whole project there is a $2.5 billion commitment to the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, which will upgrade it to six lanes with services roads down the side. It was sorely neglected by the Howard coalition government, who refused to undertake the work. That project is supporting up to 4,000 jobs. It is a great example of the Rudd government’s commitment to nation building for recovery, supporting local jobs in the Ipswich and West Moreton corridor and also in the Lockyer Valley.

We are also building 133 defence homes in the Ipswich and West Moreton area, which will also assist tradespeople and other workers in the Lockyer Valley. We are putting $60 million into the RAAF base at Amberley. Many people who go to work on the RAAF base at Amberley and the aerospace precinct there come and live in the Lockyer Valley, particularly areas like Glenore Grove and Hatton Vale. It is not just the Ipswich Motorway upgrade; we have also put $880,000 into the Minden Crossing, an area in the federal election of Dickson. When you travel between Ipswich and Toowoomba you actually leave my electorate at about Minden and come back in at about Laidley. We are fixing an area in the federal electorate of Dickson which was not fixed by the federal member for Dickson. We are also putting $2 million into black spot funding to improve the state of the Warrego Highway. Again, the Warrego Highway was neglected under the Howard coalition government. There is also $8 million going into the Warrego Highway from Ipswich West to fix up the road, improve the servicing and improve the connections. These areas are important for farmers and farming communities in the Lockyer Valley. It is a tragedy that these upgrades, these improvements to the Warrego Highway, were not done by the Howard coalition government when represented locally by one of its members.

The reality is that the Lockyer Valley is supported enormously by the Rudd government. We are committing huge amounts of money not just to Building the Education Revolution but to road funding in the local area and it is a credit to the Rudd government. I intend to fight hard for the rural communities in the Lockyer Valley for further funding in the future.