STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa) (13:38): This morning, the community of Stanthorpe won the top tiny town tourism award, nationally, for our country. It's a great achievement for the little town of Stanthorpe. It has over 5,000 people and is 2½ hours from Brisbane.

It shows the importance of tourism for our communities in an electorate that relies on agriculture. When the weather goes against us, we need the tourism industry to continue to be able to prosper, and the community of Stanthorpe has done that. We've got one of the finest wineries now in the country.

We talk about the Barossa and the Hunter. Well, the Granite Belt is coming home strong. It's the new kid on the block, and I'd encourage everybody to get to Stanthorpe and try the new wines.

In fact, it's Halliday Award winning wines that we've got at Ballandean Estates and Balancing Rock. And now we've got new ones like rokkwell, Dear Vincent and even Ravenscroft, where we've got young producers coming out, giving a tourism experience for people in South-East Queensland to come out into western Queensland and to actually experience a first-class product.

To win this award speaks volumes about our local community on the Southern Downs, whether it is the apple and grape festival that they have every two years, which brings tens of thousands of people to Stanthorpe, or whether it's the accommodation that has continued to be invested in, in our community. It diversifies our economic base, and it says to the rest of the country that regional Australia and the tourism in regional Australia is first class and should be supported by us all.

Congratulations, Stanthorpe.