PM: Thank you very much and thank you for making me feel so welcome. And thank you for having me in your place. It's been a special night to be here and to look at the arts centre, to see the dancing and to get to talk to people who make this community so strong. So thank you very much for welcoming me here.
I'm joined here by Gary Gray, who is a very frequent visitor and when he's not here, he's always talking up this community and the changes that are happening here and the real strength that is in this community.
Now I'm here, basically because I love visiting here. I had the opportunity to come around two years ago and thought then that it was a very special part of Australia and wanted to come back. Gary's been urging me to do so, and I'm going to enjoy the time that I've got here this evening and tomorrow.
I'm going to enjoy it in part, because what I see here is really a vision of the kind of future we want overall for our nation. You've taken your place and you've made sure that it's got stronger. You've taken your place and understood the benefits of diversifying its economy. And it's great to be joined by the representatives of the local chamber who have worked so hard to do that.
You've taken your place and you've understood the opportunities for it in this changing century that we live in. This century of change in our region; a century of economic growth in our region. And our whole nation, but particularly this part of our nation, is well-placed to prosper from those opportunities.
So whether it's the mining, whether it's the tourism, whether it's the food industry, whether it's the very exotic and wonderful things that happen here, whether it's the stuff that actually goes to making up everyday life, the stuff that we always need, your economy is supplying it, and going from strength to strength.
So I want to congratulate you for that.
I also want to congratulate you on the work we've been able to do in partnership through the East Kimberley Development Package. We've worked with the State Government, but most importantly, with you to see change in this region. And the dimensions of the change, I think, are very profound.
It's been delivered because of the vision and hard work that has happened here locally. It's one thing for us to be in Canberra and to take the decisions necessary to make funding available. It's another thing for that funding to go to the right projects, to have them delivered on time, to have them delivered through a community-driven process, to have them delivered in a way which means that they will be meaningful for this community, not only this year but for many long years into the future.
So, I want to congratulate you on all of the work that you've done to make sure that that development package makes a long-term difference to this community.
I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to just say hello to as many people as possible, and to have a chat while I'm here; to see the future issues for this community through your eyes. But once again, thank you for making me so welcome.
I did want to say one thing to you tonight, which is a bit of news for the community that I hope will be received as good news. And I particularly wanted to say it with Jeff Gooding here, from the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley and to thank him for the work that he did on the recovery taskforce when you faced floods.
And I hope it will be received as good news that we, the Federal Government, will provide $14 million towards the replacement of the Big McPhee Bridge, which was forced to close because of those floods in March 2011, due to the major structural damage that was incurred.
The Western Australian Government is committed to providing the remaining $11 million so once again, I think, another example of the kind of partnership we're now so familiar with - Federal Government, State Government, working with this community.
So I'm looking forward to the rest of the evening. I had a great time here when I came in 2010. I well remember John Farnham on stage - he was looking pretty hot by the end of the night. I mean that in the temperature sense, not in any other sense.
A bit of a cooler evening this evening, and a good evening to spend some time talking and saying hello.
Thank you very much.