Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Capricornia is a large federal electorate spanning 91,047 square kilometres. Tonight I want to give you an overview of some of the things that we have achieved in the northern part of the electorate. This is an area that takes in small Queensland towns like Koumala, Ilbilbie, Sarina; areas on the outskirts of Mackay such as Racecourse, Ooralea and Walkerston; the Pioneer Valley district including Marion, Gargett, Finch Hatton and Eungella; and inland to Glenden and Collinsville.

I recently opened a new office in Sarina to help service northern Capricornia, which makes up an important part of the region. The new office is located at shop 8 in the Sarina Beach Road shopping centre. This was an election promise and complements my other office in Rockhampton. I encourage people in the northern part of Capricornia to contact me through this new office if I can be of any assistance.

In the past year, I have continued to fight for our local sugar industry in northern Capricornia, which faces increased pressure due to proposed changes to the one-desk sugar marketing system brought on by Singapore based sugar giant Wilmar. I am member of the federal sugar industry task force looking into the impact of such issues. I regularly meet with sugar industry leaders in the Mackay and Sarina districts and I continue to take a strong interest in their current dilemma facing local farmers.

Our government is striving to make highways safer in northern Capricornia through major road projects. I have successfully lobbied for $166 million of federal funds to fix up the Eton Range section of the notorious Peak Downs Highway, which runs from Walkerston west into the Central Queensland coalfields. This is not a federal highway, but Eton Range is considered such a dangerous black spot that our government is chipping in the bulk of money to fix it up. On top of this, our federal government is also providing $35 million to replace four old bridges on the Peak Downs Highway. We have also completed $8.5 million of new overtaking lanes on the Bruce Highway, under federal funding, making the highway safer between Koumala and Sarina.

Recently, to mark the Centenary of Anzac, the federal government provided a $21,416 grant to the Sarina RSL sub-branch's book committee for a new local history book. Titled More Than Just a Name, the book depicts the lives and service history of men and women who served in World War I from the Sarina region. At Marian, in the Pioneer Valley west of Mackay, the Australian government contributed $500,000 towards the newly revamped $825,000 Edward Lloyd Park.

Recently, I had the pleasure of opening the Sarina Art Extravaganza on behalf of federal Minister for Arts, Senator George Brandis. This is one of Sarina's most significant cultural events. In the recent federal budget, I was pleased to announce that up to 10 small Capricornia towns, including Sarina, Marian, Glenden, Dysart, Collinsville and Hay Point, will now find it easier to attract GPs thanks to an overhaul of the federal government's GP Rural Incentives Program. This spells good news for country patients.

Local food industries have also been highlighted at Parliament House. Matt West, President of the Australian Prawn Farmers Association, brought fresh prawns from his farm near Ilbilbie south of Koumala, as part of the association's prawn lunch to raise awareness about industry issues. Later this year, Capricornia will host parliament's Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia, which will focus on a hearing on the potential for more aquaculture in this part of Queensland. As our government focuses on the future development of Northern Australia, I continue to lobby for water and dam infrastructure, including the Urannah Dam project and the Connors River project as a longer term future scheme.

In other news, Marian State School and Sarina State High School were recognised by the federal government for taking action in their schoolyards to help protect the Great Barrier Reef. Both received cash grants under our Reef Guardian Schools program. During my travels in the northern part of the electorate, I was also fortunate to attend the 125th anniversary dinner of Homebush State School, about 50 kilometres west of Mackay.