Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to talk a little bit about the suburb of Griffin in my electorate Petrie. Griffin is a great suburb in the Moreton Bay region, in the Moreton Bay Regional Council area, just north of the state capital, Brisbane. The origin of the name of the suburb is the Griffin family, who migrated to Australia from Scotland many years ago.

In Griffin, we have seen some great wins locally. There's the Osprey House Environmental Centre, and we've also managed to build, through the federal government, the bird observation hut at the Griffin lagoon, where people can go along and watch many different types of birds. I was down there last week, and there were pelicans, ibises, spoonbills and a whole lot of different birds. I have fond memories of Griffin, growing up around that area, of mud-crabbing with my father down at Dohles Rocks. There used to be a boat hire down there—really great family memories. There are a lot of residential houses. There also used to be a lot of agricultural land. If you go back to the 2011 census, the population of Griffin was only around 2,358. Now there are well over 5,000 people, so we've seen a lot of growth in the suburb.

When I was down there just the other day, I was speaking to people on the street, down at the local gym and at Cafe 63. I was filling up at the Mobil petrol station and just chatting to locals. A lot of them were telling me about local roads that need upgrading, like Henry Road, and also Dohles Rocks Road, which runs right near Greens Road. There needs to be a lot of work. I have spoken to a local councillor, Julie Greer, who is looking at an upgrade. There needs to be a full upgrade because it does flood a bit, but the problem is they're waiting for the state government to make a decision in relation to another crossing—over the South Pine River. But I want people to know that as their federal member I have actually raised that with the local council, and there will be an upgrade of that soon. I'm trying to source some Black Spot Program funding, too, to help with a larger upgrade.

Griffin is also close to the freeway, and on the Bruce Highway we have a southbound entry to go to Brisbane, and a northbound exit. But I really would like to see a northbound entry onto the freeway for people who are heading up to the Sunshine Coast. When I was talking to those different people the other day, I talked to Tracy White and Jack Vicory, who both gave me feedback about the area, and I want to thank them, as well as Aiden from Griffin, who has been travelling to the Sunshine Coast for work for 12 months. He said it would be great to have a northbound entry. Mark, Tiffany, Annika and Skye all wanted it to the Sunshine Coast. There are about 75 per cent who want it northbound, and 25 per cent who want it southbound. I'll keep fighting for it.