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

I rise on a brighter note than I did a few minutes ago. I want to talk about the fine work being done up in Fitzroy Crossing in God's country over in WA, the best state of the greatest country, Australia. We all know that Cyclone Ellie came through in December last year and destroyed the Fitzroy River Bridge. For those of you who don't know, they say it was a once-in-a-lifetime event; no one expected this amount of rain, but it came through and took the bridge out. It also shut down Highway One. It's called Highway One for a reason, which is that it's the only bitumen road between Perth and Darwin and it goes all the way around Australia to link it up. You can imagine the damage that was done. Unfortunately, two lives were lost a couple of days after the bridge went, and 92 homes were destroyed.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Shaun. I know Shaun—he heads up the alliance up there to fix the bridge. It is an alliance comprising Giorgio Group, BMD Constructions and BG&E to build the new bridge. I caught up with Shaun when in Fitzroy about three weeks ago. He was beaming because things are going along fantastically. It's great news. The best part is there are over 100 Aboriginal people employed on the reconstruction of the bridge. That is magnificent for that part of the world. Jobs were created—unfortunately, through a disaster—that weren't there before. There has also been about $7 million pumped into Aboriginal-owned enterprises in Fitzroy and the Fitzroy Valley. It's a magnificent situation. The best part is it is funded entirely by the federal and state governments. I congratulate the Albanese government and the Cook government for not mucking around, getting straight into it and rolling the dollars out. Seeing all these Aboriginal people employed in Fitzroy is a magnificent thing on its own.