PAT CONROY, MEMBER FOR SHORTLAND: I’m Pat Conroy, the Federal Member for Shortland, and it’s a great pleasure to be joined here by representatives of the Central Coast Council, in particular Rik Hart, the Administrator of the Council whose tenure ends soon, and I want to thank him for all of his effort shepherding the Council through what has been a very tough period. And as importantly, if not more importantly, I’m joined here by community representatives from the Chain Valley Bay Progress Association, Mannering Park Progress, and Mannering Park Precinct Committee.
Today is a really happy day for the Central Coast community because today we’re announcing the execution of a funding agreement to deliver on a critical election commitment that I took to the 2022 election. I committed to the people of Chain Valley Bay, Mannering Park, and Kingfisher Shores $7 million to help deliver a foreshore path to connect these beautiful communities. We’re blessed to be so close to Lake Macquarie, but for so long the community has not been able to enjoy it as much as they should’ve. Now upon completion of the works, these communities are connected. They can walk along the path, they can ride along the path, they can enjoy the splendour of our natural environment in a safe and happy way rather than walking along busy, busy roads.
I want to thank Council for both their support for this project and allocating $5.7 million to it, but also their close cooperation on delivering this which has been essential. But most importantly, I want to thank the three community organsations who have driven this project. This was an easy project for me as a federal politician to fight for because all three communities were united in the need for this. When I would come down here and go to an Australia Day breakfast or have a street stall at Mannering Park, the number one issue everyone said to me was a safe foreshore path to connect these communities. And I have seen petitions from the communities, I’ve seen great advocacy over more than a decade, so I want to pay tribute to all of the representatives standing behind me, the organisations they represent, and the fight from these communities to get the foreshore path delivered which will unite these three beautiful communities. And it’s a great pleasure to do this on behalf of the Albanese Labor Government.
I’ll invite Rik to say a few words and then we will have representatives from the three community groups talking about this project.
RIK HART, ADMINISTRATOR, CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL: Thanks Pat. As the Administrator of the Council up here, it is a great delight to actually be spending quite a large sum of money up in this part of the world. It doesn’t get quite as much money sometimes as the rest of the Central Coast, but this has been a fabulous occasion and we’ve been able to put $5.7 million to contribute to the Commonwealth’s $7 million to get this project underway.
I’ve been up several times and met with this community, and they are a fabulous community, and I was just saying on the way up here to Pat it will be great when this walkway is completed and the dredging gets carried out at Swansea so we can actually get boats and things in here to visit because it’s a fabulous place to bring people to and for tourists to come down the track.
I’ve had a great time here. This will be my last project I think that I will be involved in announcing, but I do really want to thank the Commonwealth, the Government for putting the money in because without that we would not be able to do it as a Council. But having financially restored the Council to its proper place, it’s great to be able to see that we can put new capital into a new project like this, and hopefully the good results will continue with the new Council when it’s elected.
ANDREW WHITBOURNE, MANNERING PARK PRECINCT COMMITTEE: I’m Andrew Whitbourne, Mannering Park Precinct Committee Chairman. I’d just like to thank Pat for his ongoing support over many years for this project and his commitment to this $7 million in the 2022 election. I’d like to thank Rik as well on behalf of the Council for his support. We’ve previously met with him and he did indicate that it was very difficult to get projects like this up because there were so many other things going on on the Central Coast that were more urgent, but he committed to this because he knew it was a longstanding project that we’d been trying and failing to get up.
There were a lot of roadblocks that were put up in front of us over many, many years, and we’ve had to knock each one of those roadblocks down as they were put up in front of us. It’s just going to be a great outcome for the communities of Mannering Park, Kingfisher Shores, and Chain Valley Bay. It will allow us to continue from the William and Clarence Wynn Walkway that exists now, around the foreshore, over Chain Valley Bay and will just be a great outcome for all of our communities, and I’d just like to say thank you.
MARIE BROWN, MANNERING PARK PROGRESS: Morning everyone, Marie Brown from Mannering Park Progress. Really excited to be part of this today. I’ll echo Andy’s thoughts regarding Pat Conroy’s contribution, Rik. This fight has been happening for quite some time, I believe 15 years plus, so I think to be able to stand here today is a joyous occasion on the beautiful Lake Macquarie. It is going to make a difference to people’s lives, not just in Mannering Park but the whole community surrounding us. I think for us to be involved in such a project, it just shows the belief that every one of us – all members of the community and people involved directly – have got that belief and know that persistence actually does pay off and it’s actually worth it. So we are very thankful to be part of it, and I can’t wait to be able to share the pathway with all around us. Thank you.
PHIL KENNY, CHAIN VALLEY BAY PROGRESS ASSOCIATION: Phil Kenny, Chairperson of the Chain Valley Bay Progress Association. We have for many years campaigned for this vital link to happen. It joins two communities that are otherwise separated and can’t contact each other. The pedestrian cycleway will give not only the opportunity for communities to link, it will give a long walkway for both communities crossing the border of the Delta Institute which has given us permission to have the bridge built there, and will allow the two communities to link up. It’s also good for people with wheelchairs, an opportunity to take their carers out to have a walk, and good for the young mums with prams that have the opportunity to be able to walk on the nice little platform. The beauty of it is that it’s going to be along the waterfront which allows a great vista for such an important walk (inaudible). I’d like to thank Pat Conroy, our Federal Member for honouring his election pledge for funding for this vital project, and we look forward to Central Coast Council managing the project into fruition. And I’d just like to say thank you Pat.
CONROY: We’ll invite Rik back in in case there’s any detailed questions that I can’t answer –
HART: I’ll throw to Boris anyway (laughs)
CONROY: But are there any questions about today’s announcement?
REPORTER: Yeah, so tell us, residents have obviously just said they’ve been fighting for this for quite some time. What were some of the key concerns that were brought to you about this?
CONROY: Well twofold. One was just the fact that people weren’t able to utilise this beautiful natural environment. As you can see, the footpath effectively terminates here by going up onto the road, and then at the Chain Valey Bay end, you’ve got beautiful foreshore there that the community has developed over years, but there’s no connection, and so the lake was effectively cut off from the community. Secondly, other routes. If you’ve ever – and I know you drove down here – you see people walking down the side of the road, and I know that at one stage a cheaper alternative was looked at which was connecting them via roads which wouldn’t have been as safe, and certainly would not have enjoyed the environment.
So I’ve been a Federal Member of Parliament for 11 years and I’ve never seen a community more united in the need for this, and that made it very easy as a local representative to fight for it when the entire community is banging on the table saying ‘Pat, we want this’. It’s then easy for me to convince my colleagues that this $7 million is justified.
So I want to again pay tribute to the communities that have driven this, and it’s just a real privilege to be their voice in Canberra to fight for these resources, and be able to deliver it and see it built so that these beautiful communities have even more amenity to utilise.
REPORTER: In what ways do you think this will make a difference to the locals here?
CONROY: Well I think Phil talked about it, whether it’s young mums and fathers – because we’re improving parental leave all of the time and we shouldn’t make assumptions about that – young parents walking prams along the foreshore, whether it’s more senior Australians who need a steady footpath or wheelchairs. Like, the lakes here are the crown jewels of our area. Whether it’s Lake Macquarie or Lake Munmorah, the natural environment attracts so many people to our community as Rik talked about.
So to enjoy it is critical, and healthy lifestyle is very important. Being able to hop on a bike and ride around the lake - I do that quite often and it improves my mental health as well as keeps this [my waistline] under control a bit, and that is vital for our community. We’re lucky we’re not in the rat race in Sydney, but that means we still have to have good infrastructure to enjoy the natural environment.
REPORTER: I just wanted to ask you one question about how you were recently promoted to Cabinet. What are you hoping to bring to that role?
CONROY: Well I want to be a strong voice for the Central Coast and Hunter at the Cabinet table. I’m the first Cabinet Minister from the Hunter for example since 2013, since Joel Fitzgibbon was there, and from the Central Coast, I’d have to go back, it might even be – well Frank Walker was an Outer Minister, it might have even been Barry Cohen. No it was – sorry I’m drifting through history, it was Michael Lee. So I’m the first Cabinet Minister since Michael Lee in 1996 on the Central Coast, and that means that these communities haven’t had a senior representative to bang the table and fight for resources for our area, and you can see what that brings.
So my priority is being the strongest possible voice for our region at the Cabinet table which is the supreme decision-making body for the Federal Government, working with the excellent federal colleagues here, whether it’s Emma McBride and Gordon Reid on the Central Coast or the three MPs who represent the Hunter. So it’s good for our region. It means a stronger voice which means more resources for our beautiful neck of the woods.
REPORTER: Is there anything in particular that will be on the top of your priority list?
CONROY: I think more infrastructure is always really important. Fighting for cost of living relief for our area. We’ve got a lot of people who are doing it tough, so arguing for more cost of living relief to build on the tax cuts that have come in on 1st July and to build on the $300 energy bill relief. And situated behind me is a symbol of the energy transition that we’re going through right now. I’m proud that our region has powered Australia. We produce 25 per cent of the energy for the country. I’m proud of that, and I want to see us being at the centre of the clean energy revolution which means secure, high-skilled, well-paid jobs manufacturing things, making things in this country, and powering the region for decades to come. So they’re my priorities to represent our region.
REPORTER: Great, thank you. Just Rik, with this project, when do you expect to get this underway, off the ground?
HART: Well the first thing we have to do is there’s quite a lot of planning that has to go into action. We’re hoping to have the project properly finished around the end of 2026-27 because you go through the planning stage, then you’ve got to go through the public tender process, and then eventually we will get to actually building it. So hopefully it can be done quicker. I know Boris is damn good at his job and he will probably do his best to make sure it’s delivered earlier, but it’s just a great experience because as the community knows up here, Bob and Phil et al., I’ve been up here a number of times and they’re very persuasive, and also they’re very generous and I’ve been to a couple of barbeques up here and it’s just a great community to be involved with. And I’m just delighted they’ve been able to achieve one of their objectives, that they’ve been able to make one of their number one priorities [a reality].
REPORTER: Great. Boris, I’ll just get one grab off you if that’s okay. Tell us where we’re at and the next step and is there any ideas of design and things like that.
BORIS BOLGOFF, DIRECTOR INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES, CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL: Yeah we have been out to optioneering, so we did look at a couple of options and obviously the foreshore option was preferred by the community. So the next 12 months we will be going through detailed design, and with that detailed design we will still go out to the community and get feedback on that. So after those 12 months it is about a three-year build, and as the Administrator said, there are ways to accelerate that so we will look at accelerating that build to get the project completed.