Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A big, big congratulations to Dylan Wright of Bangalow in my electorate, because last night Dylan won Australian Idol. He is absolutely amazing. Particularly, his rendition of 'Tiny Dancer' last night was sensational. Dylan, we are all so incredibly proud of your great achievement. The whole North Coast was behind you. Congratulations!

I would like to highlight to the House some of the election commitments that I made prior to the last election. I am delivering on all four of those commitments, so I want to update the House. First of all, prior to the election, we committed to building a veterans hub in Tweed to provide services and support for our valued veterans community. Just last week, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs visited Tweed, and we announced that more than $5.4 million had been awarded to RSL LifeCare to build and operate this very important hub. The Albanese government is committed to providing the best services and supports for defence personal, veterans and families. We will soon have that hub right in Tweed Heads.

Also prior to the election, we announced that a Labor government would invest $750,000 towards the building of a new social enterprise commercial laundry in Bangalow. Well, Beacon Laundry is now operating and will be officially opened on 10 April. It's the only commercial laundry located in the Byron Bay area or the whole North Coast. This project creates jobs and supports locals in our area, as well as providing a very, very important service for the tourism and hospitality sectors. We very much look forward to that opening.

Also prior to the election, we committed $1 million towards building a new animal pound and rehoming centre at South Murwillumbah. This funding was on top of the $1.76 million in more federal funding for the project. This pound is desperately needed since the other one closed in 2019. Just recently, Tweed Shire Council called for tenders for the design and construction of this new state-of-the-art centre. I want to especially acknowledge Friends of the Pound, the incredible not-for-profit animal rescue charity that works so closely with council and the community to ensure that all these wonderful animals are cared for. When we made the announcement on 21 October, Friends of the Pound came along, and I met one of their rescue dogs, Teddy, who is a half-chihuahua. We adopted him, and soon after adopted his lovely sister, Cindy Lou. They are both beautiful little animals.

Another election commitment was $1.5 million to build the final portion of the Lennox Head village upgrade. That commitment funded stages 2 and 4, which is wonderful, with improvements to Ballina Street and Ross Park, as well as stormwater and pavement reconstruction. Having that in place has made such a beautiful difference to Lennox Head, one of the many beautiful villages on the North Coast. I'm very proud to be delivering on my election commitments.