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

First, I would also like to add my voice in recognising the achievements of Mary MacKillop. She obviously has a very strong connection with the Central Coast, where I come from, which is where she last resided before her death, with the Joeys there. Certainly I strongly support her canonisation and her recognition as someone who has really contributed to the life of Australia and someone who, as well as being a religious person, was also a great Australian who I would very much like to see recognised in the future. I joined with the opposition for that call.

But that is not the reason I am speaking today. I want to talk about the Marine Discovery Centre in my electorate. You may recall, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I have reported to the House on two previous occasions in relation to this matter. I can now report that some great success has been achieved. The Marine Discovery Centre was a joint proposal of the Central Coast Environment Network and the Ourimbah campus of Newcastle University, located in my electorate, assisted ably by the Department of Education, with the support of the tourism and hospitality industry on the coast. It was proposed to have the facility at Terrigal to provide educational facilities in relation to the marine biology of the coast and also to attract tourists. A number of stakeholders came to see me about it almost as soon as I was elected some 18 months ago. I was enthused by their proposition and I saw its great merit in promoting tourism, education facilities and economic activity. As a result I convened a number of stakeholder meetings to promote the activity and try and gain support in the broader community and with government.

As a result, I am happy to report that last week a site was identified for the project, the site of the previous Terrigal tourism office, which has been abandoned, or should I say unoccupied, for some months. It has now been handed over by the New South Wales Department of Lands to the Marine Discovery Centre for their use. There will be a range of work done to refurbish that building and by December, in time for the Christmas tourist season, that office will be open and operating. I am absolutely thrilled to see that that has come about. This is a provision of the site for some five years and will certainly allow the people that are involved in the project to get it underway and operating without having to invest to much in rent, so they will be able to invest in refurbishing and really developing the facilities.

It really works very well because there has also been a very important announcement in the last few weeks in relation to another tourist facility on the Central Coast, and that is the announcement by the Defence Minister, John Faulkner, that $5.8 million would be invested in sinking the former HMAS Adelaide off the coast at Terrigal. For those who are involved in the diving industry or have an interest in it, they would know that ships such as those sunk off the coast are a big tourist attraction and have great interest for many divers. This is going to be a great facility and something that the tourism and diving industries on the Central Coast have really been calling out for. I am hoping that sometime early in the new year that will be finalised and that we will see the joint attraction of the Marine Discovery Centre and former HMAS Adelaide as a dive site co-located close together and being a fantastic testing facility.

All these things have only been able to come about because of the support of the Labor federal government, and I want to particularly thank Minister John Faulkner and of course the previous minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who I lobbied, along with the present Premier of New South Wales, Nathan Rees, to bring this project about. I am thrilled that this will bring about greater tourism, greater economic activity and of course ultimately more jobs for my electorate of Robertson on the Central Coast. I congratulate all people involved, particularly the CCEN, the main promoters of the project, John Asquith and Jill Smith, who have done a very good job. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.