Tweed Electorate Infrastructure and Events

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-99556

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Tweed Electorate Infrastructure and Events

Mr GEOFF PROVEST (Tweed) (17:45:16):

I give a state of the Tweed address—as the Chamber knows, I am 100 per cent committed to the Tweed. Some events have occurred recently in the Tweed, probably the biggest of which was the announcement by the Minister for Health and the Treasurer of $534 million for a brand-new hospital. Twenty expressions of interest have already been received for a greenfield site for the hospital and I believe an announcement will be made on that shortly. Because it will take a number of years to build a new hospital, the existing hospital has received funding of $48 million for temporary pop-up theatres, and I am pleased to announce that, as of yesterday, the pop-up wards have started to arrive on site. It is a great credit to the Government that it committed to building this hospital and it is delivering on that commitment.

On 8 September the new $25 million police station in Tweed was opened. The Minister for Police and the New South Wales Commissioner of Police attended the official opening, and it was a great day. The new police station will greatly enhance the police and law and order operations in the Tweed. But it does not stop there. Recently the Minister for the Environment was in Tweed to announce the purchase of 100 hectares of land for koala habitat. This is an important initiative because we are in partnership with Currumbin Sanctuary. It is a first for New South Wales: not only are we growing food trees for koalas in the area but we are also commencing vaccinations of koalas against chlamydia. Chlamydia is a devastating disease for koalas, particularly on the North Coast. The koala population has declined by 60 per cent and if we do nothing they will all be dead in the next 10 to 15 years. As an aside, the reason chlamydia is so devastating to the koala population is that it is quite common during the breeding season for koalas to have up to four or five sexual partners in 24 hours.

Also, the surf is up in Tweed. We have had two great announcements in recent times. The first was a commitment from this Government of $3 million and the Federal Government of $2.5 million for Surfing Australia. The headquarters of Surfing Australia are in Tweed and that funding will enable it to commence an aerial training facility. Surfing will be a sport in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 50 per cent of the points to be awarded will be for aerial surfing. I am sure that our competitors will bring home gold medals. Also on surfing, the Glass Lab is a significant surfboard manufacturer in Tweed that recently received a grant of $300,00. That will enable the company to employ 17 new workers as well as three apprentices—surfboard shaping is a course offered at TAFE. As a by-line, we have heard a lot about TAFE in this place, and I am pleased to say that on the North Coast, particularly in the Tweed region, our apprenticeships are up 40 per cent on previous years.

Also within the great electorate of Tweed, I attended a function on Sunday celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Landcare. Tweed Landcare has received grants from the Government totalling more than $140,000 to continue its great work. I had the pleasure of meeting a number of volunteers in Landcare's rehabilitating river banks and bushland project. Some of the volunteers have been working for Landcare for 40 years. That is a great tribute to the local volunteers and I was pleased to meet them.

The Tweed Coast Tigers Australian Football League [AFL] team recently received $100,000 from the Minister for Sport for lighting. That will result in the number of teams growing, which is great. We have been managing a number of significant grants for sporting organisations—including for soccer, the National Rugby League, AFL, netball, touch football and karate—in the electorate. This Government is moving on with some great activities. Very shortly I will be attempting to swim to Cook Island to conduct a survey of rare Antarctic terns there. The National Parks and Wildlife Service conducts the survey every three years. Once again, I am 100 per cent committed to the Tweed.

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:50:06):

Local communities want local champions, and there is no bigger or better local champion than the member for Tweed. He is 100 per cent committed to his Tweed electorate. He has had some significant wins for his community over the past 20 years, including upgrades to Tweed Hospital—with the expansion of the portable parts of the hospital—and the opening of a $25 million police station, which will enhance law and order in the area. It was a great win for the Tweed. The Tweed has never had a better representative than the present member for Tweed.