Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shellharbour City can look forward to another exciting project funded under the second round of the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. As we know, this program has provided the single largest investment in local infrastructure in the nation’s history, now totalling in the order of $1 billion. A total of $387,000 has been allocated for a new public exhibition space in Shellharbour Village, a place where we can exhibit local art and craft and promote the tourist potential of this area. This comes on top of the $900,000 provided in the first round of funding for lighting and landscaping works at the magnificent Myimbarr Community Park, which was officially opened by me and the council’s administrator, Mr David Jesson, on 16 December 2009.

Under the economic stimulus package, $2.23 million was provided to help revitalise Albion Park town centre. This will transform the retail and commercial centre, encouraging business investment and making it a more appealing public space. Several of the stages of development are now nearing completion, including the pathway through Con O’Keefe Park and the Russell Street shared use pathway, with work on the car park set to begin shortly. In addition, the council received just under quarter of a million dollars for the Elliot Lake shared use pathway, which will complete a missing link and enable a bike path to run along 12 kilometres of magnificent local coastline. Shellharbour Surf Life Saving Club is the recipient of $230,000 from the Jobs Fund, which will help to complete new facilities in a well-patronised community centre. That totals around $4 million worth of investment in infrastructure for the Shellharbour area. This infrastructure will stand the test of time and add to community amenity whilst sustaining and stimulating local employment.

I want to place on the record my thanks to Minister Albanese for his visit to our region in March last year and for his ongoing interest in progressing the projects I have talked about this morning. In addition, the residents of Shell Cove can look forward to work beginning shortly on the GP superclinic. Our government signed a contract with the Illawarra Division of General Practice for $2.5 million to help build a modern, purpose-built facility that will bring together GPs, practice nurses and allied health professionals in an area that has been under the pressure of doctor shortages for the past few decades.