Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to again talk to the Senate chamber about Australia's sixth biggest city, and Queensland's second biggest city, the Gold Coast. As I think I've previously advised the Senate, I was very pleased to officially open my Senate office on the Gold Coast, in Southport, in October last year. It's been around 20 years since the Gold Coast has had a senator based there, with an office based on the Gold Coast, and I think it's going to make a difference to have some representation in the Senate chamber for that big city, which has such an exciting future. I think many people know that the Gold Coast is a fantastic place. It's obviously somewhere people go to a lot on holidays. But, as I always say to people, sure, it's a fantastic tourist destination—and it really is—but it is a real city with real needs that need to be addressed by government.

Senator Smith interjecting—

Senator Smith would think it was wrong of me not to mention that the Gold Coast recently got even better by getting its first Labor state member of parliament in several years, in Meaghan Scanlon—