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

It's a terrific opportunity to speak this morning about the wonderful work that is being done in Logan to promote tourism. Indeed, it's a great honour to represent the people of Logan, a great multicultural city that I was very proud to grow up in. We've seen an enormous number of things happen over the last few years. Many in this chamber may not realise that Logan is Australia's eighth-largest city by population and attracts 1.4 million visitors each year. Ideally situated between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and spanning some 950 square kilometres, it encapsulates some of our country's most diverse natural assets, including the Logan and Albert rivers, Daisy Hill Conservation Park, Eagleby Wetlands and more than 1,100 other environmental and recreation parks. More importantly, Logan is home to some of the most resilient, hardworking and resourceful people. With access to the M1 gateway and Logan motorways and a population predicted to increase to almost 490,000 by 2036, it's no wonder that last year Logan attracted more than 160,000 visitors with tourism, sport and various events, bringing $347 million into our local economy.

But, unfortunately, many people just dart down the M1 without much of a thought as to what Logan has to offer. As I said, it's a diverse city with industry and opportunity, a strong industrial and services economy and, increasingly, tourism. Tourism continues to mature in Logan as more visitors and travellers gain an appreciation of our unique offerings. Community events, such as Eats & Beats, the Beenleigh Show, the Queensland Pacific Island Cultural Carnival, Eagleby Festival, Loganlea Connect, the terrific Brigalow, Guanaba and Twin Rivers country music clubs and the never-ending array of quality productions at the Beenleigh Theatre Group.

We are seeing more people than ever come to our local community. I was at the Beenleigh Theatre Group on the weekend and speaking to a couple of people who had actually never heard of the Beenleigh Theatre Group, had come along for the first time and were thoroughly impressed with the performance. We've also got great sporting talent in Cameron Smith, Corey Parker, Israel Folau and many others. There are great tourism destinations like the Beenleigh Rum Distillery, the oldest operating facility in Australia, and the Beenleigh Historical Village, which aims to preserve the rich history of the Beenleigh area. Across some 637 sports, arts and community events held in Logan last year, 213 of them generated day trips and overnight visitations. Logan is a great city that has tremendous potential, and I congratulate everybody involved in our tourism industry.