To Sarah Henderson, to the Mayors, to everyone from the local area who has gathered together for this event, thank you for making me so welcome. It is an honour to be here, to be associated with what is obviously such a special thing for the RACV, such a special thing for the Surf Coast and the greater Geelong area, and really such a great even for Victoria more generally because this is as I understand it, the first truly five star development outside of Melbourne and what an appropriate thing that it’s here at the Surf Coast.
Ross, you were kind enough to mention that today is the 100th day of the new government and it’s nice to have had a hundred days to do what we can to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia. But government is not all about the government. The government is all about the people of Australia, and what I want to do today is pay tribute to the vision and the drive and the community mindedness of our country- and in particular associated with this splendid development today.
The RACV has a very, very long history. The RACV happened because the motorists of Victoria loved their cars and occasionally they needed help on the road and so people clubbed together in self-help and self-interest and in a mutually shared enthusiasm. As time went by, the services offered by the RACV grew and grew and the leadership of the RACV saw more and more opportunities to do the right thing by their members.
Decades and decades ago, no-one associated with the RACV would ever have envisaged that it would be sponsoring and running something like this and yet it is, because that’s how human ingenuity and creativity builds and develops over the years. And it doesn’t matter where you look, everywhere in our society, you see more and more examples of how people have thought and dreamt and acted and produced a better life for themselves, for their families, for their neighbours, for their communities and the job of government is to foster that- knowing that government can never substitute for the creative and dynamism of our citizens and our communities.
The job of government is to foster all of that, not to try to control it all because if we do we end up suffocating it. I mean, just imagine if the government had said “Aha! We need a five star resort somewhere”. It would have been in the wrong place, it would have been behind schedule and it would have been massively over budget, but in fact this resort produced by the creativity and dynamism of the RACV and local people was produced on time, on budget and in the right place.
So I want to assure you, I want to assure you that as far as the new government is concerned, as far as I’m concerned, as far as Sarah Henderson is concerned, as far as everyone in the new government is concerned, it is all about you, the people – individually and collectively. It’s about trying to make your life easier. It’s about trying to ensure that you have the right conditions to flourish and to create, and to innovate and to build a better life for yourself, for your children and for your friends. That’s what it’s all about and everything that we try to do; to abolish the carbon tax, to abolish the mining tax, to get red tape down, to boost economic growth, to intelligently respond to the developments of the day, it’s all about trying to help the people of Australia to make the most of their lives, to make the most of our country.
This is a gorgeous part of Australia. Number One, Great Ocean Road. What better address could you get?
Sarah Henderson and myself have just been in Anglesea talking about a project that will start early in the new year to upgrade that bit of the Great Ocean Road from the Anglesea river to Took Street. This is the third significant upgrade of the Great Ocean Road that has been announced since the new government in partnership with the Victorian government announced a $50 million Great Ocean Road upgrade in the recent election campaign.
So we will do our bit. We will do our bit to ensure that the people using this splendid new facility will be able to get here safely and comfortably, but aren’t all of us so lucky to have this marvellous new development and aren’t we all so indebted Ross, to you and your team for giving the people of this part of Victoria, for giving members of the RACV something so splendid to enjoy, to savour and to appreciate for many, many decades to come.
I have great pleasure in officially declaring this marvellous new facility open.
[ends]