Mr SCIACCA (10:50 PM) —I will take this opportunity today to talk a bit about the Redlands shire, which forms most of my electorate of Bowman. I am delighted to be here representing the people of Bowman. I am grateful for the fresh opportunity that they have given me to do so. Last Sunday week, 3 October, was the first anniversary of my re-election to this place.

My electorate is a magnificent seaside electorate, with more than half of its area under the waves of Moreton Bay. Matthew Flinders sailed through Moreton Bay during his circumnavigation of Australia. We celebrated the bicentenary of this visit in July. In addition to numerous smaller islands, Bowman contains two large islands, namely, Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island. My electorate of Bowman covers two local authorities: the Wynnum-Manly region of the Brisbane City Council in the north and the Redlands Shire Council in the south-east.

I will use the time available to me to talk about the Redlands shire. As the name suggests, it has the richest farming soil imaginable and was `the salad bowl of south-east Queensland', as council CEO Hayden Wright phrases it, for many years until recent housing developments started to change the landscape. I know the soil of the Redlands. My father and I worked that soil during my youth, with the whole family pitching in. We lived at Wellington Point and Capalaba until a major hailstorm in the mid-1950s wiped us out and we moved elsewhere.

Redlanders are proud of their farming heritage. The major event each year is the strawberry festival. I was there recently with my local state member, the member for Capalaba, Queensland's Deputy Premier, Jim Elder. The Redlands is a culturally diverse place. The Italian and German families who settled the area over a century ago still live there and actively participate in its civic and cultural life. Indeed, the local mayor is my good friend, Italian born Councillor Eddie Santagiuliana, who is coming up for re-election in early March next year and who I am sure will lead us safely and confidently through another four years. I also hope and trust that my good friends Ray Bucknall, the deputy mayor, Frank Bradley and Murray Elliot will also be returned. They are all terrific representatives for their divisions.

I loved the Redlands so much that eventually I made my way back there after travelling throughout Queensland, settling almost exactly halfway between my previous Redlands homes in the lovely suburb of Birkdale. My father and late mother retired happily to the Redlands. I am content in the knowledge that I will eventually end up in the local shire cemetery at Cleveland beside my beloved late mother and beloved late son. There is nowhere else I would desire to live nor any finer electorate anywhere in Australia that I could hope to represent.

This year, Redlands Shire Council celebrates its 50th anniversary. On 9 June 1949, the actual anniversary, the Tingalpa and Cleveland shires united to form a new local authority, which has since gone from strength to strength. It is a bit daunting to think that the shire where I live today was born just four days after my own second birthday.

When the shire was established, it had a population of around 5,600 people. There is now more than that in almost any of the myriad suburbs which make up the Bowman part of Redland shire—Cleveland, Thornlands, Ormiston, Wellington Point, Birkdale, Thorne side, Capalaba and Alexandra Hills. I understand there are in excess of some 108,000 Redlanders today. People used to come to Wellington Point and to Raby Bay, which is part of Cleveland, from Brisbane for their holidays in the beginning. According to council records, the major issue of the day was the lack of residents. Upon amalgamation, secondary school enrolments were assessed at a possible nine students. Today the Redlands boasts a wide and proud collection of high quality schools, both state and private. I have been lucky enough to visit some of them in recent months to launch my youth information kit.

As an outlying coastal region just outside the Brisbane area, roads have always been a key issue for the Redlands. Indeed, this year has seen speculation about the unsuccessfully mooted widening of Finucane Road between Capalaba and Cleveland. It would surprise no-one that the construction of this very road was a major issue when council amalgamated. In 1952 a resident wrote to the local paper saying that it would be a waste of money because the country between the two centres was inhospitable. That same land is now called Alexandra Hills and it is the population heartland of my electorate of Bowman. I return to Minjerribah Moorgumpin, or North Stradbroke Island. Here again Redland Shire Council has demonstrated its visionary thinking. After many years of discussion, a native title agreement was finally signed.

I want to mention today a very old friend of mine who sadly died last Thursday night. His name was Merv Borey. He died last Thursday and his funeral will be held tomorrow. Unfortunately, I cannot be there. He was a great old fellow and he was a great Labor stalwart. I want to record his name in the Hansard of this place. On behalf of my wife and myself, I extend to all his family my very deepest sympathy. Redlands is made up of people like the Merv Boreys. I am very proud to be representing them in this parliament.