Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to stand here today and recognise the important changes brought about across my electorate over the past 12 months through the government’s Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. The program is part of the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan and in round 1 it has seen more than $1 billion invested in communities across Australia since it was introduced in November 2008. The program was designed to stimulate local economies and support employment by building community projects. By providing funding, the government empowers local councils and shires to identify infrastructure projects that most benefit local communities. In my electorate, for example, nearly 40 projects received funding totalling $9,780,000 last year. These ranged in size from $5 million to upgrade facilities and amenities at the Eureka interpretive centre and $2.24 million for the construction of a multipurpose community recreation centre in Creswick, to a smaller and wonderfully diverse range of grassroots projects.

Across the Ballarat electorate we have seen footpath extensions and installations, drinking fountains installed in playgrounds, new playground equipment, resurfacing of cricket pitches, improvements to public pools and sporting facilities, improvements to public irrigation systems, and even the laying of a walking track in the township of Korweinguboora. While many of these small projects fly under the radar of media and wide public attention, we should not underestimate the power of even the smallest infrastructure improvements to have a profound effect on local communities.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pink batts!

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can tell you who is bats! Only last week I was out celebrating the installation of new public barbecue facilities with residents in the small town of Elaine, towards the southern boundary of my electorate. On a cool and windy day we sheltered under a pergola and shared cups of tea and cake. The residents told me that the barbecue had become almost a de facto town centre, a place for locals to meet, get together, cook a chop or a sausage and share news and friendship. They were also hopeful it might encourage travellers between Ballarat and Geelong to pull over and take time out from the road at Elaine. At $9½ thousand dollars, which also included resurfacing the reserve car park, it was one of the smallest RLCIP projects in my electorate last year, but it has made a significant difference to this vibrant community.

In the town of Ballan $56,000 was invested in refurbishing the outdoor pool. This included works to the change rooms, upgrading first aid amenities and plant controls. Again, the work was probably long overdue and it has made a real difference to the lives of Ballan locals over the summer. In Trentham, another small town in my electorate which has an increasingly vibrant tourism scene, $30,000 was invested in improving the public toilets. This included installation of water tanks, diversion of stormwater and other water-saving devices. In Bacchus Marsh the tennis courts at Maddingley Park have had lighting installed to extend their use at night.

I congratulate the three local councils in my electorate that have both recommended these projects and worked so hard to complete them within the allocated time frames. I am certainly proud of the way the City of Ballarat, the shires of Moorabool and Hepburn and also Golden Plains shire, a small part of which is in my electorate, have administered these projects. The federal government has pushed these councils hard and they have responded quite magnificently. The program has been a magnificent example of the federal government working in partnership with local governments to provide tangible on-the-ground benefits to communities.

I also note the program’s success in creating and sustaining jobs throughout the global financial crisis. Dozens of small businesses, tradies, building supply companies, local landscapers, plumbers, electricians and others across my electorate have all put up their hands for this work. I congratulate them on the quality of their involvement.

Last week I was back in Trentham, this time inspecting change rooms at the rec reserve. It was another cold, very wet and windy day and it was gusting through the broken windows. I just imagined what it was like for those local sportspeople to use those facilities. We were able to announce that the Trentham change rooms would be one of the first facilities to benefit out of the further 19 ready-to-go projects of $1.1 million across the electorate of Ballarat. That they convinced Hepburn shire their RLCIP project should be the first cab off the rank is an enormous testament to the way the Trentham Football Club and the recreation reserve put forward that project. It has been a very good program for local councils and I certainly commend it to this chamber.