Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister outline how Australians working in the tourism sector will benefit from the 2018 Commonwealth Games? What support has the Commonwealth coalition government given to the 2018 Commonwealth games, and is the minister aware of any risks to the timely completion of games infrastructure?

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for his question. I know, like the other Gold Coast members, he is personally very excited about the upcoming 2018 Commonwealth games. In fact, yesterday marked 500 days until the Gold Coast hosts the 2018 games. It will be one of the biggest sporting events in Australia this decade and the largest ever hosted by the Gold Coast.

The coalition recognises the significant benefits that will be associated with hosting 6,600 athletes from 71 nations in front of some 1.5 million spectators and an estimated television audience of around 1.5 billion people. The games will attract more than 100,000 visitors to the Gold Coast and generate an estimated economic boost of some $2 billion, as well as leaving a legacy of good quality sports and other infrastructure for the city. That is part of the reason why the coalition government has invested $156 million in the Commonwealth games, and I was pleased that we were also able to secure an extra $15 million for the redevelopment of the Metricon Stadium precinct, including the facilities for the Gold Coast Suns.

I note the member for Forde also asked about risks to the timely completion of the Commonwealth games infrastructure. I have to say that, unfortunately, yes, there are risks to that the infrastructure will not be completed in time for the Commonwealth games. You see, the unlawful activities of good friends of the Australian Labor Party, the unions, in particular the militant and extreme CFMEU, are providing a direct risk to the successful completion of games infrastructure and indeed of the games village for the athletes themselves.

For months, we have witnessed the CFMEU deliberately causing delays, threatening safety officers and blowing out costs for Commonwealth games infrastructure. Only last week, we saw reports of sabotage on the Commonwealth games village of Parklands. We saw the CFMEU—no doubt being very good-natured—lodge yet another complaint about the Parklands site, claiming concerns over safety. What we saw reported though was that there were a large number of pins, used to support the actual scaffolding around the sites themselves, that mysteriously vanished.

The CFMEU officials claim that this had nothing to do with them and had nothing to do with Grocon, even though, quite strangely, it just so happens that the militant and extreme CFMEU are in dispute with Grocon over an EBA. That is the reason the Labor Party and this Leader of the Opposition simply cannot be trusted to make decisions in Australia's national interest. They are not putting Australia first; they are about putting unions first. (Time expired)