Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always good to rise after a Greens, and I thank her for that Venezuelan inspired vision for the future.

I'd like to turn to more important local issues and honour some great achievers here in the ACT. It was wonderful to attend the Australian Hotels Association ACT awards night recently. I want to pay tribute to a number of the wonderful hotels that were honoured at the awards. I also want to thank Michael Capezio and Anthony Brierley, from the local AHA, who do a great job advocating for their industry. It must be said that many of the venues acknowledged at the awards will be known to many in this place and beyond. QT Canberra, in Acton, did particularly well, winning no fewer than three awards, including best food and beverage talent. Other venues recognised would be familiar with honourable senators. They include Hotel Realm and East Hotel.

Without wishing to take away from some of these outstanding venues, I'd like to take this opportunity to draw the Senate's attention to the bars, pubs and clubs that they may be less familiar with that were honoured. Relatively new, Canberra venue 88mph was recognised for its outstanding sales and marketing. I congratulate Antony Arena and all his team for their hard work. 88mpn is an eighties themed bar. And speaking as someone who spent much of his formative years in the eighties, it was a magnificent time in our nation's history and it was great to relive some of those memories.

Another of Antony's venues, Molly, was recognised as Canberra's best cocktail lounge or small bar. Molly is another throwback, this time to a prohibition era speak-easy. During prohibition, speak-easies were somewhat ahead of their time. They were some of the original pop-up shops. They would frequently pop up and then vanish again, only to reappear elsewhere, always trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement. Molly has continued this tradition—of course, not trying to avoid the law—but when their original home in Hobart Place, in the city, was knocked down, Molly disappeared for a few months. But I'm glad to say they have risen, like the phoenix, from the ashes and have reappeared bigger and better than ever. Molly is, once again, open for business. I'd encourage people to get out there and check out some of the great bars in the ACT. Without wishing to reflect on former members of the other place, specifically the former member for Darwin, the Hon. King O'Malley, I'm glad we live in more enlightened times and that his attempt to make Canberra a dry city did not last too long.

In addition to Molly winning best cocktail lounge or small bar, Michael Nguyen from Molly was recognised as the AHA's ACT bartender of the year. This is a significant achievement and I want to congratulate Michael and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Many of us enjoy a good beer, so it was also good to see that the Duxton in O'Connor, the Durham in Kingston and BentSpoke in Braddon were recognised for their outstanding beers. I congratulate all of the venues.

I may get to a couple of the other ones that won awards, but it's worth also mentioning a Canberra institution: Mooseheads. The Mooseheads pub, which many in this place may have experienced, at some point, has been a Canberra institution for many years, for as long as I can remember and beyond. Downstairs Mooseheads is a relaxing place to engage in some rapid hydration, hopefully responsibly, while surrounded by sports, military and university memorabilia. Downstairs Mooseheads has been a big part of student life at the ANU, where I was lucky enough to study, as well as for many from the Royal Military College Duntroon and countless sporting teams around our city. So I wanted to pay tribute to those who have made Mooseheads a Canberra institution, and for some of the awards that it has received.

Other award winners included the new bar Kokomo's, also in the city. Best sporting entertainment venue was won by Kingston bar The Dock. The Dock is owned by a couple of our outstanding former Wallabies, Ben Alexander and Scott Fardy, who also made a great contribution to rugby here in the ACT and are now running The Dock. So congratulations to Ben and Scott and the team at The Dock.

On another issue, I was very pleased earlier last month to announce the completion of the Healthy Waterways project which confirms this government's ongoing commitment to practical environmental action and investment here in Canberra. The $93.5 million ACT Healthy Waterways project aims to improve water quality in ACT waterways as well as improve the long-term water quality downstream to the Murrumbidgee River system and the Murray-Darling Basin. This project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly improve water quality in the ACT's lakes and waterways. This program included the installation of 20 water quality improvement sites, such as ponds, rain gardens and wetlands across the ACT. When fully developed, the water quality improvement infrastructure will see a significant reduction in several key pollutants in ACT waterways and downstream into the Murray-Darling Basin.

Apart from the infrastructure projects we have been able to deliver, Healthy Waterways is funding two pioneering research projects on water quality, and the H2OK community education program to stop rubbish and organic matter entering the stormwater system. This research serves to inform future research on what causes poor water quality, including where blue-green algae outbreaks come from and how they behave once they are in the lakes. This will allow researchers to determine what interventions will work best in the future. Now, I know that this is important to the health of the Murray-Darling Basin more broadly, but it's also very important locally, as our waterways, such as Lake Burley Griffin, Lake Tuggeranong and Lake Ginninderra, haven't always been in the best state. In order for them to be used for recreation, it is important that we clean up those waterways. So it's a really important contribution.

Not only do these investments enlarge current understanding of ACT ecology, as mentioned earlier, but they further emphasise the government's commitment to improving community facilities for residents to use and enjoy. I know there are many residents right across Canberra who will be looking forward to the cleaner waterways which have been facilitated in part by this project. The Liberal-National government contributed the vast bulk of the funds, $85 million of the $93.5 million, towards this project. Projects such as this are of course only possible because of the strong economy and the strong budgetary situation our government presides over. We're very proud to be able to deliver these investments in our local environment here in the ACT, making a contribution to the overall health of the Murray-Darling but also, importantly, delivering better local environmental outcomes and better amenity for our waterways here in the ACT.