Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Liberal-National coalition government has carefully crafted a budget that is putting money back into real communities, as exampled in my own electorate of McMillan. This is a budget that is all about the health and wellbeing of our rural communities, with the incentives for small business operators, immediate relief for farmers, the upgrading of fences, spending increases for council roads and repairs to essential bridges that is so important. Among the most important budget funded projects for my electorate of McMillan are the $5.2 million for Karmai Community Children's Centre at Korumburra and the $5.12 million for the Leongatha heavy vehicle alternative route—among other projects, which we can come to at another time.

Both of these projects have been championed by local people who knew things could always be better in the place where they live, work and play. These two essential big-ticket items for local communities will have major financial and social benefits in their respective areas. Importantly, they have the full backing of their communities—councils and the broader community—because both started with a groundswell of support from within. Both projects reflect the heart and soul of what the communities needed. It is gratifying, as a local federal member, to see them delivered.

As the two central figures behind the Karmai Community Children's Centre, Rebecca Marriott and Bronwyn Beach will tell you that the greatest gift a child can receive is in education. That is especially true of early education, which is championed across the nation. We are saying increasingly that education starts at what we once called preschool. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, students who attended preschool for one year or more scored more than 30 points higher in reading than those who did not. Simile, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research found that attendance at preschool had significant positive effects on later NAPLAN outcomes, equivalent to 10 to 20 NAPLAN points or 50 to 20 weeks of schooling at a year 3 level.

Rebecca and Bronwyn dreamed a big dream. They dreamed it on behalf the children, the parents, themselves and the community. They swept others up in their dream, including me, along the way. This visionary project will be much more than a childcare centre. Seven years ago, the waiting lists for childcare places in Korumburra stretched to 50 or more. Something bigger and better was needed. South Gippsland Shire Council, to its credit, has backed this project at every opportunity, providing more than $2 million in capital and providing the land for the centre's site. The project also had the backing of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Community Child Care Victoria and the former state government, which gave $1.6 million—thank you, Peter Ryan—and the now federal government, which has pledged $1.6 million to the project.

It was never a community to wait for government aid. Korumburra, in its true tradition, has raised $100,000 towards the project. In a town of less than 5,000 people, that is a remarkable amount of money. It is a true reflection of just how much value locals put on this children's centre. Speaking of that, the project ticks all the boxes. Not only will it be a shot in the arm for local businesses in the Korumburra region, employing countless tradespeople and boosting the fortunes of local traders, but it will also provide a lasting and vital service to the community. The centre will provide child care and kindergarten, as well as maternal and child healthcare services. There will be a meeting room in the centre, as well as consulting suites. Plans are well under way to secure the services of speech therapists and occupational therapists. There may even be after-hours services directed towards alleviating, sadly, family violence.

Down the road at Leongatha, the safety of pedestrians, the difficulty in parking and the detrimental impact on business have long been an issue, because of the heavy volume of traffic along the main street, Bear Street—a link from the bustling South Gippsland Highway, a vital freight and tourist route between Melbourne and south-eastern Victoria. Shoppers and businesspeople have often said they would like to see improved parking and shopping amenities within the township. Providing an alternate route was seen by South Gippsland Shire Council as an important way to achieve this aim.

The Leongatha alternate route will mean a safer town, a more productive town—a town where there are more shoppers than trucks. In fact people will come first rather than B-doubles. You, Deputy Speaker Scott, know the changes in trucking in Victoria as they are affecting small communities. These local budget initiatives deserve to be commended. They are an investment in our present and our future.

While I have the time, a group of people came to see me in my office here in Canberra. They were worried about children too. They were people who are living in the remotest parts of Australia—mostly farmers. What we have done as a community is say, 'Look, early childhood education as has been pointed out by this capital project in Korumburra as extremely important to us, so we're putting children up there in early childhood education and right across the board.' From the seat of Werriwa, Macmillan—everybody is getting up and saying, 'Early education is important. Early education. Early education—the sooner you can get to the kids and how important it is.' How come there are 263 kids in rural Australia that are on farms, under five years of age and we make a huge fuss about making sure a child in the city gets the opportunity for early childhood education—and we subsidise it? But there are more than 263 children across remote Australia who do not get the subsidy.

Do we say as a community: 'Look. They're farmers' kids. Why would we give them early childhood education?' I am saying to you: we should be giving early childhood education funding for remote children in remote communities, because they are equal. They should not be discriminated against for living either in a regional centre or a city centre. Why is it that we as a government, as a parliament and as a community are not prepared to allow the funds from the Australian government—the cost will be $1 million? The point we are making is that those regional and very, very remote students are equally as important to us.

Deputy Speaker, I am acutely talking about residents in your electorate; I am not talking about residents in my electorate. You know who I am talking about and you know who the ladies are who came to see me. You know how determined they are. They said, 'Mr Broadbent, we haven't got a champion in the building.' I said, 'Actually, you've got a lot of champions in the building when it comes to discriminating against anyone who is not getting a fair rap of the parcel that we are prepared to give to a city child.'

I am saying to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, you might like to take that up with your party. I am saying to the member for Werriwa: you might like to take that up with your party—who are these 263 kids who are not getting the same funding that city kids get that they should also get? That is the only point that I make.

As for Korumburra and Leongatha, both of these projects are important facilities—infrastructure for small communities. We used to be very wealthy in those areas, and the communities' facilities have actually changed. When I say they have changed, I said to you before: the size of the trucks coming through the communities now were unheard of when we built these townships and laid them out. Particularly in Leongatha you come to a T-intersection. You have to do a right-hand turn where you cannot see from the left on the South Gippsland Highway to turn up to a roundabout where people are coming off the roundabout towards you to do a left-hand to go down to Murray Goulburn. Or you go up to the roundabout and down Bear Street to go out to the Prom or any other tourist destination.

This is an important change for what we are doing in Leongatha but, more importantly, it will take all of the trucks and all of the busy traffic around Long Street, out of Leongatha and it will be much safer for you and I and everybody else when we visit Leongatha in that main street. Deputy Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to put these matters before the parliament.

Debate adjourned.