Mr LLOYD (1:29 PM) —I acknowledge the maiden speech of the member for Kingston. He did very well. I do very easily remember how nerve-racking it is to stand in this place for the very first time. It is with a great deal of pride and honour and gratitude that I have the opportunity to again stand in this place to respond to the Governor-General's address as the re-elected member for Robertson. As honourable members would know, I was elected in 1996 in an election which saw thousands of traditional Labor voters turn to the Liberal and National parties for the first time.

Mr Lee —If I'm allowed to interject I will.

Mr LLOYD —I am sure that you will, Michael. This in turn saw many traditional Labor seats fall to the Liberal Party, including, of course, my seat of Robertson, which had been previously held for the last 27 years by Labor. During my first term as the member for Robertson, there was no shortage of members opposite, including the member for Dobell and other supporters of the Labor Party, who were more than happy to tell me that I would be a oncer and that the community of the Central Coast would go back to Labor at the next election.

This, of course, did not happen. The ALP endorsed a very high profile candidate in the former Senator Belinda Neal and utilised the full resources and weight of the New South Wales ALP machine in a desperate attempt to buy-out the electorate of Robertson. The election result showed that the people of the Central Coast, the people of Robertson and the people of Australia would not be bought by expensive campaigns running, in many cases, totally outrageous misinformation. The people believed that the coalition government, under the strong leadership of our Prime Minister, John Howard, did indeed have a vision for this country, was doing a good job of managing the economy, was delivering on its promises, and was providing a real plan for a secure and prosperous future for our great nation.

We now have an opposition in denial. It is an opposition that does not listen to the people of Australia. It is an opposition that has no plan and no vision for this country. It is an opposition that is yet to accept the judgment of the Australian public. In 1996, the people rejected the Labor government after 13 years because the Labor government had become arrogant, had a born-to-rule mentality and had failed to listen to the Australian people. It had mismanaged the economy and had left us in a desperately dangerous situation with a $10½ billion deficit.

In listening to some of the comments by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Beazley, and some of his shadow frontbenchers on election night in 1998, you would have thought the Labor Party had won the election. Obviously, it did not because its members are still sitting on the opposition benches. The arrogance, disbelief and failure to listen to the Australian people is still there for the Labor Party. It has not learnt. It has no policies or no plans for the future. Whilst it continues not to listen to the Australian public, it is destined to be in opposition for many years to come.

The 1998 election was a critical election for the future of this country. The people chose to stay with the coalition government and our Prime Minister, John Howard, who offered them stability and security for our economy and nation at a time when most of our Asian neighbours are now in recession. The Australian economy still continues to grow strongly and has a bright and optimistic future under the strong policies of the Howard government.

I take this opportunity to congratulate my New South Wales class of `96 colleagues, all of whom demonstrated the importance of being a good, strong local member, of working very hard in the electorate and, most importantly, of listening to the concerns of your constituents. I particularly congratulate Jackie Kelly, the member for Lindsay, and Joe Hockey, the member for North Sydney, both of whom came into parliament in 1996 and have now been appointed ministers. Both appointments recognise the ability of both these members. I am sure that they will do exceedingly well in their respective ministries.

I also take this opportunity to thank many of the people who assisted me in my re-election campaign. Obviously all elections are a team effort. No one person and no one party can win an election without the support and teamwork of hundreds of people. I would first like to thank my permanent staff members, Lance Barrett, Leonie Newson and Sam Giddings, all of whom have been with me since the start in 1996. They have done a tremendous job throughout that time. Obviously, my staff are my representatives in the electorate when I cannot be there because of other parliamentary committees in Canberra and elsewhere. All three have done an excellent job throughout that time. I look forward to having them work with me for many years to come.

I also thank Pam Leathley and Bev Ferrier, who have worked as relief staff for me on occasions throughout my first term. Thanks must also go to John Abel, the former member for Evans, whom many in this place would know. He was a tower of strength and advice to me during my first term and he was a great asset to me during this campaign. My campaign committee, ably headed by Joy Burrows and assisted by Joyce Napper, Jim Shires, Bob Mudge, Col and May Margin, Ken Lang, Phyllis Walton and George State, contained a strong and cohesive team which ran the campaign virtually without a hitch and spent many hours assisting me in this campaign.

A special thanks must also go to Joyce Allan, Peter Grose, Pat Marsh, Brian Speary and Livio Pace, who all assisted me with my radio commercials. Colin and May Margin also organised the booth manning in the critical Woy Woy peninsula area and did a tremendous job in making sure that all those booths in what was a strong Labor area were well manned. Bob Mudge assisted in manning the booths in the Gosford area. My thanks must go to the hundreds of other campaign workers and supporters who gave up countless hours to assist in the campaign and on polling day.

I think the significant difference between my campaign and the campaign of the Labor Party in my electorate was the fact that my campaign was run by local people on local issues and that I was seen as being very much a supporter of the needs of the central coast. The Labor Party campaign was run centrally by the Labor Party machine.

Mr Lee —Rubbish, absolute rubbish. You know it is rubbish.

Mr LLOYD —I do not know that it is rubbish. They had what seemed to be unlimit ed money and resources. Even on polling day they had people from outside the central coast—listen to this, Michael—

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Nehl) —Address your remarks through the chair. Ignore the noisy member for Dobell.

Mr LLOYD —My apologies. The people working on those booths were more than happy to tell our volunteer workers that they were being paid $100 to come up and work on the booths for the day in Robertson.

Mr Nairn —They did that all over the state.

Mr LLOYD —Is that right, Gary? Ultimately, that made the difference in our electorate. The local people supported our local campaign. Of course, I have to thank my family. My wife Kerry, who was at my side or elsewhere in the electorate, has constantly been a tower of strength to me over the past three years. My son Peter assisted throughout the campaign and on polling day. He was my representative in some of the more outlying booths that I could not attend on that day. My son Steven arrived unannounced from London two weeks before the election to assist with the election. I give a big thank you to each and every one of them. My brother Darryl and his wife Anne actually came back from their honeymoon to work on the polling day after having been married on the Saturday prior to the election. That certainly shows family dedication in ensuring that I was re-elected as the member. A very big thank you goes to my cousin Dan Fitzhenry, who drove from Sydney to assist on the day as well.

The most gratifying thing about being re-elected as the member for Robertson is the fact that I will be able to continue my work for the people of the Central Coast and continue to see many of the initiatives that have been started by the Howard government and which I assisted in achieving for the Central Coast come to fruition. The largest and most prominent of these would be the Grahame Park redevelopment, which is a $30 million multipurpose stadium. The building of this stadium was only made possible by the securing of a $12 million Commonwealth contribution from the Federation Fund. The stadium will provide seating for 20,000 people, and it will be the key that unlocks massive opportunities for the Central Coast.

I also acknowledge that the Carr state government contributed $12 million to this project; and the Gosford City Council, the Central Coast Leagues Club and the North Sydney Leagues Club are also contributing to the project. This stadium will enable the relocation of the North Sydney Bears to the Central Coast which will be a tremendous boost, particularly for the young people in our area. Not only will it allow for the relocation of a rugby league team, it will allow for many other top grade sports to be played in Gosford and for the provision of many other social events.

We have already seen the benefits of establishing this stadium in the fact that the Olympic flame will travel through the Central Coast on its way to Sydney and will, in fact, stop overnight in Gosford, and the Grahame Park stadium will be the venue for community celebrations and special events to commemorate this particular event. Whilst it is magnificent that the Olympic flame will travel through the Central Coast and visit most areas of the coast, I have to express my disappointment that the torch will not be proceeding through the Woy Woy peninsula area at the southern end of my electorate. This area, with a population of over 35,000 people, has been excluded from the route and often misses out simply because of its geographical position.

I will be pleased to see the completion of the Point Clare Headquarters of the Central Coast Naval Cadet Unit, TS Hawkesbury, a magnificent facility that was only made possible by a grant from the federal government of $500,000 to rebuild the building. I believe it is the only purpose built cadet headquarters anywhere in Australia. I thank the Minister for Defence Personnel—as she was then—the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop, for her great assistance in securing that funding.

It will be pleasing to see the $500,000 in federal government black spot funding being used to upgrade sections of Woy Woy Road, a particularly notorious road which links Kariong to Woy Woy and has been the scene of many tragic accidents over recent years. That $500,000 will enable this road to be significantly upgraded. The expansion of the federal government's regional centres flood mitigation program, a $10 million program of flood prevention works in regional centres, will be an important asset to the Central Coast.

Jobs on the Central Coast are vital and remain my highest priority. I welcome the latest unemployment figures, which show a significant decrease nationally and also in New South Wales and on the Central Coast. I am pleased to see that a new TradeStart office is opening in Gosford in conjunction with the Central Coast Regional Development Corporation. This office highlights the government's ongoing commitment to export growth through the expanded delivery of Austrade services on the Central Coast.

Of course, I will be able to see the construction of a small business incubator on the grounds of the Central Coast Campus of the University of Newcastle. This, again, was only made possible by funding from the Commonwealth government which I assisted in securing last year. Then there is the Central Coast Export Development Centre, which will provide strategic planning and advice to Central Coast businesses which are looking to enter export markets for the first time—and I was very pleased to be able to launch that initiative in February of this year.

I look forward to being able to continue to assist with plans to provide a fast ferry link from Gosford to Sydney, a ferry link that will help alleviate some of the transport pressures on our road and rail systems between the Central Coast and Sydney. It will provide fast, efficient and safe transport in about 45 minutes from the Central Coast directly into Sydney Harbour with large high-speed ferries. Not only will this be of assistance to commuters, but it will also be a major boost for our tourism industry.

I look forward to the redevelopment of the Ettalong Beach War Memorial Club into an international hotel, accommodation and resort centre. This will provide many hundreds of jobs in the Ettalong, Woy Woy and Umina areas—jobs that are urgently needed, especially for our young people who wish to enter the tourism industry. Developments such as these would not be possible if the government had not created an investment environment—one that we have not seen in this country for 20 years—which is enabling businesses to get on with developments and investments and create jobs.

I was pleased to represent the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop, Minister for Aged Care, at the official opening of the extensions to the Presbyterian Aged Care Centre at East Gosford last Saturday. These extensions have resulted in additional high-quality hostel places and were only made possible by a $335,000 grant from the federal government to assist with the provision of urgently needed high-quality aged care accommodation. I must also point out that the Department of Veterans' Affairs, through Minister Bruce Scott, also contributed $110,000 to that project.

I look forward to assisting with the further expansion of the Work for the Dole Scheme, a scheme that was piloted in my electorate. We had, in fact, the largest pilot program anywhere in Australia, with Personnel Attention & Associates and Gosford City Council. It was an outstanding success and helped contribute to the expansion of this program nationwide. In fact, of the 200 initial participants who took part in that pilot program, over 120 now have found real work out in the workplace—and I think that scheme gives a very significant boost to employment on the Central Coast.

I recently announced further additional grants for five childcare centres on the Central Coast: the Kariong Child Centre, the Gosford Community Child Care Centre, the Terrigal Children's Centre, the Woy Woy Peninsula Community Child Care Cooperative and the Papalya Children's Centre at Erina. All these grants were designed to help community based long day care centres maintain or improve their facilities, and I look forward to working with the government to further increase childcare facilities on the Central Coast.

There are literally thousands of government initiatives and grants which I have been able to assist in securing for my electorate, and I look forward to working closely with the government to ensure that the needs of the Central Coast continue to be addressed and that we can continue to secure additional federal government funding for the many other projects that I would like to see come to fruition over our next term in government.

I would like to sincerely thank the voters, the residents of Robertson on the Central Coast, for their continued faith and support in the job that I am trying to do for the community. I said in my maiden speech back in 1996 that one of the greatest honours that can be given to any person is to be elected by their community to represent them in the national parliament. I have enjoyed, both today and over the last week, listening to the maiden speeches of the new members on both sides of the House with their ideas, objectives and goals. It is great to see that they all take the honour of being elected here as being exactly that—a very significant honour.

But I think it is even a greater honour to be re-elected, to be re-endorsed by your community to again represent them in the national parliament. I will do all I can to uphold the community's faith in me and to continue to speak out for its needs. When you are first elected, people may say that you happened to be in the right spot at the right time. But when you put yourself forward to the electorate again in an election campaign, you have a track record. As a candidate often you do not have a track record as such, and candidates are known for speaking out with promises of what they will do. But, once you become the member, you have to back what you have done; you have to support your track record. I am pleased that those on the Central Coast have continued to support me.

Mr SPEAKER —Order! It being 1.45 p.m., the debate is interrupted in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 12 November. The member may seek leave to continue his remarks, if he so desires, when the debate is resumed. The debate may be resumed at a later hour this day.