Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I enter into this grievance debate tonight I want to take the opportunity to, among other things, wish everybody in this chamber a safe and happy Christmas. I want to wish the residents of my electorate of Flynn likewise and send my best wishes to all of them, including my hardworking staff. My hardworking staff make me look good. I want to thank the people of Flynn for giving me the opportunity to represent their interests in federal parliament. For me it is a great honour, particularly so as the first ever federal member for Flynn. I do hope I will be able to represent their interests for many years to come, and in that regard time will tell.

For a lot of people in the electorate of Flynn, Christmas has come early. In my electorate there is much excitement and long-term job security for many of my constituents with recent announcements of a number of job-creating projects. These include Hancock Prospecting and its Alpha project for a new coalmine, with an expected construction workforce of approximately 2½ thousand. When running at full capacity it will employ around 1,600 workers. Waratah Coal announced another coal mine at Alpha recently. This will create another several thousand jobs during the construction and mining phase of the operations.

When asked about the effect of the CPRS on the project, the CEO of Waratah Coal, Peter Lynch, said:

I don’t think the CPRS is going to have enough of an impact to present insurmountable problems.

The Belvedere joint venture is another new coalmine—this time proposed at Moura. It is expected to create another 600 jobs. Wesfarmers has just announced the expansion of the Curragh coal mine at Blackwater, which is expected to create another 300 construction jobs. On top of this, Boulder Steel has announced a proposed new steel mill at Gladstone and Xstrata a new coalmine at Wandoan. And, of course, the much awaited new clean energy LNG industry for Gladstone is expected to create thousands and thousands of new jobs. As I said when I first arrived at Parliament House, my expectations were that within 10 years Flynn would become the busiest electorate in Australia and the powerhouse of this nation. I have no reason to not restate those words here tonight.

But, of course, with such massive expected growth comes much responsibility—responsibility from both state and federal governments and big business to get the policy settings right and the social and other infrastructure in place for our future. With the Queensland state government expected to reap huge rewards from this growth by way of massive new increases in royalties, the people of Flynn want and expect—and deserve, I might add—a return for their royalties. To be frank, the people of Flynn are sick of working their guts out only to see most of their hard-earned money go to South-East Queensland. It is time, I believe, for the Queensland state government to deliver back our fair share. This is not an indication of treachery or disloyalty on my part but another timely warning to my party that for me my community of Flynn and the people I represent will always come first. It is also a plea to the state government to do better.

Big business has a share in the responsibility too. As I have indicated to all the players beating a path to my door, my community of Flynn expects that big business recognise their responsibility to leave a substantial community footprint. Otherwise, I would expect my community will eventually turn against them. Certainly I have received the promises and assurances; now they need to deliver once the green buttons are pushed. I wholeheartedly support all of them but, again, not at the expense of my community. With their development comes great social responsibility and I expect them to respect that, just as they have committed to me that they will.

For example, we still have plenty of things to fix in Gladstone, my hometown, when it comes to our social infrastructure. We need more childcare facilities, more affordable houses and an injection of funds into our sporting fields. This is critically important not only for the Gladstone community but for big business in order to attract and retain the workers and staff necessary to work and man their major projects into the future.

Against this backdrop, I am delighted that the Rudd Labor government has recognised the true value to this great nation of the people of Flynn. I could not be happier with my government’s support. I thank the Rudd government personally and on behalf of my constituents of Flynn. The Rudd Labor government is pouring millions and millions of dollars into Flynn to make it a better place in which to work, rest and play. The Rudd Labor government continues to deliver many great projects throughout the whole electorate of Flynn. The people of Flynn, I believe, are happy with the Rudd Labor government—as well, in my personal opinion, they might be.

Before I leave tonight I want to wish the farmers of my community of Flynn some good luck. A lot of them are doing it extremely tough with the current drought in Flynn. I do pray for them and I extend to them my sincerest best wishes.

Tonight I also want to outline, in the limited time available to me, some of the great projects in Flynn that have been delivered or are in the process of being delivered by the Rudd Labor government. They include but are far from limited to an announcement in relation to the Magavalis Sports Complex at Biloela, a $2.3 million investment in a sporting complex in that community, with the end result that no longer will the kids of Biloela have to play netball in the dirt.

There is also a $1 million public pool for the Blackwater community, or at least an extension thereof; a community centre for Agnes Water of some $1.4 million; $500,000 for the McIndoe Park at Emerald, which was desperately needed for junior sport; the Emerald priority national broadband network; the Gladstone breast care nurse; the North Burnett Trade Training Centre of some $1.1 million; the Banana Engineering Skills Training Centre in Biloela of $1.5 million; and a $25.3 million investment in stage 3 of the Kirkwood Road ring-road in Gladstone. In addition to that, we have committed $430,000 to critical black spot projects in Gladstone.

In addition to this funding, there is substantial funding for our schools throughout Flynn. Some 140 schools throughout Flynn will share in a total amount of $140,701,088. Banana schools will receive over $18 million, Gladstone schools over $43 million, Central Highlands schools over $30 million, Bundaberg schools in my electorate over $11 million, South Burnett schools over $4 million, North Burnett schools over $11 million, Barcaldine schools over $4 million, Blackall-Tambo schools over $2 million, Dalby schools over $1 million, Longreach schools over $6 million, Rockhampton schools in my electorate over $1 million, Winton schools in the far west of my electorate over $1 million, and Woorabinda schools some $3 million. These are great projects for the community of Flynn and I thank the Rudd Labor government for its investment in my community of Flynn.

Debate interrupted.