SHOALHAVEN INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
Mr ELLIS (South Coast) [4.48 p.m.]: The people of the Shoalhaven are most concerned and disappointed that after 3½ years of this Government there has been insufficient infrastructure spending so necessary to promote job growth and improve the prosperity of the community. The community feels that the Government is either ignoring it or does not appreciate that the community needs jobs and does not want money to be misspent on national parks at this time. Apparently that fact has not dawned on the Government because its 1998-99 budget provides $14.2 million in the environment portfolio for purchase of land in and around Jervis Bay for conversion to a national park.
Within the South Coast electorate a number of projects have come to a sudden stop and remain in limbo. For instance, the Government has had plans on the drawing board for 3½ years for the relocation of a shooting complex along Braidwood Road but there has been no word on its progress. A proposal for an urban expansion at Culburra Beach which would have provided opportunities for hundreds of short-term and long-term jobs has been suspended and its future is uncertain. It is a de facto veto on land use and that veto is open ended. No-one knows if or when the National Parks and Wildlife Service will decide whether to acquire the land.
Because of that arbitrary and grossly unfair use of power the price of the land has been driven down. The Government can then step in and purchase at bargain basement prices from the unfortunate landowner. I know that the Minister has had her eye on such land in my electorate for some time, having read last year in the media of her approach to the Treasurer for $20 million to buy Halloran’s land or land around Jervis Bay. I am
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aware that the Government downgraded works desperately needed in the Shoalhaven when it came to power in 1995. In the face of persistent requests and the spectre of political damage the Government recanted this year and finally provided for a school at Callala Bay and an ambulance station at Culburra Beach.
The $14.2 million could be better spent on such things as hospitals, schools, ambulance stations, roads, police, and a myriad of other urgent infrastructure needs. A new school is needed at Mollymook because of gross overcrowding at nearby Milton Primary School, which is mostly made up of demountables. Milton-Ulladulla Hospital is in desperate need of an upgrade because of population growth over many years. Money has been put into Kiama District Hospital but surely the isolation of Milton-Ulladulla makes the needs of their hospital much more compelling. The population of the Milton-Ulladulla township quadruples in the tourist season yet the hospital has virtually the same structure as it had 20 years ago.
The waiting lists at Shoalhaven hospital are not getting any shorter. The stage two upgrade of the hospital will not be realised for at least another three years because no money has been allocated for its commencement this year. The hospital also needs a dialysis unit and more spending on staff so that underutilised theatres can deal with the waiting lists that have blown out. More police are needed to deal with a crime surge but the Government believes that is a low priority and no money has been allocated to it.
The Government is sending a message to the people of rural New South Wales and the Shoalhaven that it is far better to overspend on acquiring land for national parks. The land will remain there, it will not be used, and the Government is sure that no-one else can use it. Why misspend the money at this time? The taxpayers of the Shoalhaven do not want their money frittered away on what is perceived in this economic climate as a project that can be put on hold, especially when the future of their children is in the balance. The Shoalhaven needs more mundane things such as sportsgrounds and education and job opportunities - not more national parks.
At present 70 per cent of the Shoalhaven cannot and will not be developed. The community wants money put into infrastructure for its needs and its children’s needs. The rapidly expanding bay and basin area needs a heated pool, better roads and services. Vincentia High School and the surrounding community need more sports fields. Members of that community need an environment in which they can feel safe, enjoy good health and live in harmony. I call on the Premier to redirect the $14.2 million allocated to purchase land to be added to the existing Jervis Bay National Park into projects desperately needed by the community. We are not against national parks but 70 per cent of the land in the area is taken up and is under the control of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.