Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since 2007, the Labor government has been highly supportive of, and has invested heavily in, my region. The budget last night continued to support my region and I thank this government very much. I would like to mention at least five really good activities and programs that I have been able to share with my community recently. The first is the Mersey Bluff development—I was representing Simon Crean, who was the architect of the Better Regions Program. That program provided $1 million in funding for the Devonport Surf Club, part of a $7 million recreation and wellbeing precinct in Devonport. I want to congratulate the government and the Devonport council, in particular its mayor, for the tremendous investment in what is one of the most beautiful parts of not just the north-west coast but indeed Australia.

The second enterprise I would like to mention is what we call the Community Infrastructure Development Group in my region. Through the jobs fund and more specifically the Get Communities Working project, $900,000 or a little over was allocated to the O Group to create a program using construction supervisors and a number of apprentices and trade experienced and unemployed people who worked on a whole range of projects for the last 12 months, in particular the Picton Grange building at the Latrobe Sport and Recreation Centre. Representing Minister Ellis, the Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare, I was able to congratulate the Latrobe City Council staff, members of the Latrobe Sport and Recreation Centre management committee and the O Group on what is a fantastic community facility, a gymnasium which will be available to that community.

A third area of investment by this government—indeed, I was able to do this with the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice, Brendan O'Connor—was the allocation of $250,000 to, again, the Devonport City Council for the setting up of CCTV cameras as part of the community safety program. Again, I congratulate the council, the local community and the local police representatives on getting funding for the CCTV cameras in order to enhance even further the liveability and amenity of the beautiful city of Devonport.

A fourth area I was able to take part in, and very proudly so, is one of the few projects throughout Australia at the moment launching the local connections to work at Burnie, particularly the Centrelink area. This is a unique service bringing together all the services helping long-term unemployed and youth who are facing barriers to social inclusion and economic participation. So under the one roof, you have employment services through Job Services Australia and disability employment service providers and services to help people with carer needs, housing, advocacy, legal issues, mental health needs and youth services including educational services, as well as working with Medicare in order to allow for electronic funds transfers, trying to get people into a 'tell it once' wraparound service surrounding customers with assistance. I want to congratulate Centrelink at Burnie for the fantastic job they do.

Finally, there are two fantastic social housing initiatives. On 28 April, I was in Ulverstone at Grove Street where we had supported accommodation of some 20-unit complexes put together by the Tasmanian government through their housing fund, an additional six units costing $1.65 million by the Commonwealth and finally the Optia units in Mussen Court, Burnie, 20 one-bedroom units designed for persons living with a disability at a cost of $3.3 million with Optia providing $700,000 and the land provided by the Burnie City Council. (Time expired)