ADJOURNMENT
Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt) (16:44): I came out of a meeting on Monday and checked my phone and had a missed call from none other than the former member for Leichhardt, a good friend of yours, Speaker. As far as I can tell, he rang me up to tell me how good the weather in Cairns was—25 degrees, not a breath of wind and the water was dead flat. He was having a very good day, but Cairns and the Far North are more than just good weather.
The mid-winter break is kind of a misnomer, because there is no break. We go home to our electorates and we get out amongst it. I went up to Bamaga where I saw new homes being built.
I heard the stories of the families who are going into these homes. Two homes have been built on Mabuiag Island—the first time homes have been built there for 20 years. It's really exciting!
Minister Tony Burke came to Cairns and we got rid of those stupid yellow forms that they hand to you on aeroplanes. The first time I travelled overseas I was 16. I went to the States on a basketball tour.
I came back on an overnight flight, coming back from LA—I don't fit in planes very well; I was this big then—and they handed me a form. I'm like, 'What is this?' I couldn't find a pen. I couldn't find my passport.
I wasn't sure where I was staying in Melbourne. The whole thing was very confusing. We're getting rid of that.
It has been trialled by Qantas; 450,000 people have used it already. We're going to roll it out over the next couple of years, just in time for the Brisbane Olympics. The Deputy Prime Minister came through to Leichhardt.
He went to Thursday Island where he sat with the elders but also got to meet the people of 51st Battalion, the Sarpeyes, Charlie Company. Torres Strait is unique. During World War II every single eligible man, bar 10, signed up.
And what were the 10 left behind to do? Those were the 10 bravest men; they were left behind to guard the islands. Every single person from the Torres Strait—man, woman and child—is related to a veteran.
That's really something to think about. I'm looking forward to heading up to Weipa on the cape to meet the 51st Battalion Bravo Company. Some of the work that they do is exceptional.
I look forward to meeting with them and bringing their stories back here to parliament. Minister Clare came up, as well as Minister Giles, and we've got the sod turned on the start of CQ University. This is going to be a fantastic addition to the southern end of Grafton Street.
It has been a vacant spot of land for years. It was even vacant back when I was doing my radio show. Soon it will be a bustling university with 6,000 places for students in allied health, pharmacy, radiography, radiology, nursing, physio, OT, speechies—the works—all benefiting from paid prac.
We are building our medical workforce in Cairns. We opened the Yeinie building, named for one of the ancestors, for the 'king of Cairns'. At the Yeinie building, which is part of JCU, they're teaching doctors and nurses.
We're building a regional medical workforce in Cairns. That's something to be proud of. That means people will stay home.
On Thursday Island, with Minister Giles, we went to visit the Thursday Island TAFE. It opened just a few years ago. There we met Ash.
Ash is completing his diploma in nursing. He will be in the first cohort to graduate from that TAFE as an enrolled nurse. Throughout my time on the Cape and the Torres Strait, in the half decade or so that I've been working up there professionally, the thing that I've heard most of all is, 'We want to be able to grow our own.' The opening of this TAFE allows for that.
Ash's family is very proud. He's looking forward to walking the halls of the Thursday Island Hospital and making a difference in his community. This is a vote of confidence in what the Far North is and what the Far North can become.
These are investments not only for the now but also for the future. In 10 or 12 years, when those GPs start coming out of the Yeinie building, they'll go to places like Cooktown and Weipa. They'll visit Aurukun and Lockhart.
They'll set up practices in Mossman, Port Douglas and Kuranda. They will be people who understand the area, they will be people who love the area and the people in it, and I know that they'll give their all. I'm proud to be part of a government that supports the regions, and supports the Far North in particular.
I would encourage the school groups, which have just left but hopefully they'll come back soon, to enrol in Kids for the Reef, a subsidised program to get people to enjoy our very own Great Barrier Reef.