Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will. I withdraw them. Let us get back to the fibs or the nontruths that are being told in this chamber. I hear Liberal senators carry on about the poor mining industry that is going to be shackled and not invest in mines in Australia because if they dare get $75 million of profit they may have to pay the minerals resource rent tax. What a load of bollocks! If that is incorrect parliamentary language, I withdraw that. What a load of rubbish to whinge and carp because they may have to pay a tax after they earn $75 million of profit.

Let us get back to what we should be debating. We should be debating the truth. I will debate the truth, unlike some on that side—and one of them is still in the chamber. Before I do talk about the great stuff that the Gillard Labor government has done in the north I want to take this opportunity to congratulate a very good friend of mine Josie Farrer. Josie is a very highly regarded Gidja woman from Halls Creek. Josie was a very well respected shire president. Josie won the seat of Kimberley in the last state election. It is fantastic to see an Aboriginal woman being replaced by another Aboriginal woman in the Kimberley. It was tight for a while there. Have no doubt, there was a four-way contest. In the end Josie had a resounding victory. So all good to Josie and all good to the Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.

This gift from Senator Fifield is about the north, but I want to talk about the Kimberley. I want to talk about the East Kimberley Development Package that was negotiated between the federal government under the leadership of the Hon. Gary Gray as the parliamentary secretary for northern Australia and the Hon. Brendon Grylls, who is a member of the National Party, in his role as regional development minister in the Barnett government. The federal government tipped in some $195 million and the state government tipped in some $221 million I think. Let us have a look at what it has delivered to the Kimberley.

I have the greatest respect for Senator Eggleston. Sometimes Senator Eggleston can wander off a little bit on some of the mistruths about the mining industry and how bad they are going to go if they have to pay a tax on their profits, but I will forgive Senator Eggleston because he is, was and should be highly regarded in the Pilbara. As I have said before, Senator Eggleston and I have a lot in common: he used to deliver babies to the Pilbara and I used to deliver furniture, but no-one ever congratulated me!

Let us look at this $195 million package. It delivered $54 million to the Kimberley for health. I want to let the Senate know of some of the things that were delivered under this fantastic package. There was $20.5 million for the Kununurra hospital expansion. There was $3.4 million for the refurbishment of the Wyndham health facilities. There was $5.1 million for the short-stay patient accommodation in Kununurra. The residential rehabilitation facility in Wyndham got $3.2 million. There was $4.5 million for remote aged-care services. Then there were a few remote clinics in Kalumburu and Warmun. If you do not know the Kimberley, Warmun is on the blacktop, but Kalumburu, goodness me, is not. That is a fantastic achievement right up the top there. There were environmental health measures in Kalumburu and Warmun as well. It has also delivered health service provider housing in Kununurra to the tune of $6.8 million. That is a fantastic initiative.

For education and training $64 million was delivered. What did it build? It built the Wyndham Early Learning Activities Centre. That is fantastic. It built the Warmun Early Learning Centre. There were Kununurra school precinct upgrades and expansions—to the primary school, the high school, the community library and teacher training—to the value of no less than $48.9 million. While we are on education, there was the Kimberley TAFE upgrades in Kununurra and Wyndham of another $10 million.

Then we go to housing. There are those of us who have an interest in remote and rural Australia and achieving everything we can to close the gap in Indigenous communities. Under this program there was $46 million for housing. There was social housing in Kununurra and Wyndham and there was transitional housing in Kununurra to the value of $46 million. I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr Ian Trust from the Wunan Foundation. Mr Ian Trust is a wonderful human being. Ian is also a Gidja man. Ian heads up the Wunan Foundation. Part of their dream is to provide transitional housing for Aboriginal people. He proudly took me around and showed me the transitional housing project and we met and talked with young people and working couples in Kununurra and Aboriginal people who for the first time in their life actually have a house, somewhere they can call home. It is a magnificent achievement and a fantastic outcome from a very good project under the Gillard government.

In transport some $15 million has been spent. I know under the guidance and leadership of Senator Heffernan the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee will be in the Kimberley in a couple of weeks time. We will be proudly showcasing the Kimberley and the improvements that have been achieved because of the federal government and the state government working cohesively together. There has also been $16 million of community spending for sports facilities, swimming pools and art centres. This is wonderful stuff.

I am not the only one who thinks that the East Kimberley Development Package is a fantastic thing. Mr Brendon Grylls was the regional development minister in the Barnett Liberal government. I do not know Brendon enough to share a couple of beers and have a few bets on a Saturday with him, but I have met Brendon on a number of occasions and I can say is that he is committed to rural and regional Australia, particularly the north. Mr Grylss made these remarks at the opening of the new Ochre Health Centre in Kununurra on 22 November 2012, and he was with our federal regional development minister, Simon Crean. I know Simon has a passion for the north, being the Pilbara and the Kimberley. How do I know? Because he came up with me on no less than two occasions in the last six months. He has had a commitment to the Kimberley and the Pilbara for many years. This is what Mr Grylls goes on to say—it is part of his speech and I am quoting him:

Politics is sometimes tough but this should be a huge celebration for the Federal Labor Government to have come to your community and essentially rebuilt it.

Mr Grylls also goes on to say:

And thank you, Simon. Please pass that on to Prime Minister Gillard. Please acknowledge former Prime Minister Rudd when you next see him. This is a spectacular achievement of a partnership between the Federal government and the State government and local traditional owners and the local community.

I concur with him. And further:

We—

that is, the state and federal governments—

closely engaged the traditional owners and working with them closely to understand their needs, celebrated their culture, made them part of the process and listened to the local community about the sorts of needs and aspirations they have for the future so, Simon, I'm almost speechless.

Well done, Brendon. I agree. So there you go. We have wild accusations in this chamber that are unfounded, but we have Liberal and National counterparts in Western Australia doing everything that they can to stand beside the federal government—and so they should—to acknowledge the fantastic opportunity the Kimberley was given under a federal Labor government. But that is not the end of it. What happens from here? I was reading The West Australiantoday, and I note that sources have downplayed speculation that Nationals leader, Brendon Grylls, will lose regional development but the Nationals may— (Time expired)