Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really excited to talk about some major events and announcements in my electorate over the past couple of weeks that really show how much the federal Labor government has been delivering to the North Coast and what a difference it is making in the lives of so many community members. First of all, I was very pleased to announce $5 million under the Regional Development Australia Fund for the Arkinstall Park Regional Sports Centre project. This funding, working in conjunction with Tweed Shire Council, will upgrade the centre there. It will upgrade the existing sports facilities with a high-performance tennis centre and a regional netball facility with upgraded court services and improved lighting. It will really make it international standard. I congratulate Tweed Shire Council on their application for the RDAF funding. It certainly was outstanding. The entire netball community of the North Coast is very excited about this, not just from the perspective of locals being able to use these upgraded facilities but also potentially it is a base for some of the training for the Commonwealth Games, which are coming to the Gold Coast in 2018. We are very proud in the Tweed to have an international standard facility for netball and tennis.

I was also very pleased to open the Murwillumbah Agricultural Trade Training Centre. The federal Labor government delivered $1.5 million for this project. You would recall, prior to the 2007 election, we made a commitment to having trades training centres in high schools, and this particular one is outstanding. It will provide training across a whole variety of industries including qualifications in agriculture, aquaculture and horticulture. It was great to speak with the students first-hand and see the immense benefit they are getting out of it. Congratulations to Murwillumbah High School for this great project and the entire community, who was involved with it. It will provide a very good training basis for many of our local students who really want to get into those areas of agriculture and aquaculture.

I was also very pleased to be at another education opening in my electorate which was fantastic. It was to open the multipurpose centre at Xavier Catholic College at Skennars Head. The federal Labor government contributed $2 million for this project.

Finally, I was very excited to open, with the Deputy Prime Minister, the world's first surfing centre of excellence at Casuarina on the Tweed Coast. The federal Labor government delivered $2 million for this outstanding project. This centre of excellence has state-of-the-art educational facilities and equipment, and accommodation, and is a mentoring facility for young surfers who excel in that sport. It was great to talk to some world champion surfers there on the day, particularly Layne Beachley, Mark Richards and Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew to hear about how committed they are to this surfing centre of excellence. There were some young surfers there who were training, and Layne Beachley told us about the courses she had been taking as well. So congratulations to everyone involved with that project—a world first, and delivered for the Tweed Coast with the assistance of the federal Labor government.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193 the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.