A multi-million dollar roads package reached between the Australian and Queensland governments will help reduce congestion and time out on the road for commuters from the Bonner area, Federal Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta said today.

“I’m pleased to see the Federal and State governments have come to an agreement and have committed more than half a billion dollars in funding for major road infrastructure projects in South-East Queensland and Central Queensland,” Mr Vasta said.

“This includes long-awaited upgrades for the M1, in particular the widening of the M1 from four to five lanes from the Gateway Motorway merge past the Rochedale Road off-ramp at Eight Mile Plains.

“I have had many constituents who use the off-ramp share with me their frustrations over congestion in the area. I’m happy to be able to tell them that the vital upgrade of this section is now due to begin before the end of the year.”

Early works on the M1 Gateway Merge project are expected to commence in November 2017 with major construction to begin following the Commonwealth Games.

The newly-announced Queensland roads package also includes:

• Six-laning of the Pacific Motorway (M1) – Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes 
• Construction of the Walkerston bypass near Mackay 
• Upgrading of the Mt Lindesay Highway between Browns Plains and Beaudesert 
• Funding for the planning of the M1 – Varsity Lakes to Tugun. 

National Health Week is the single largest celebration of young people aged 12-25 in Australia. This year it well be held from 31 March to 9 April 2017 and you can find out what events will be happening near you at www.pcyc.org.au/youthweek.

One great National Youth Week event happening locally is the YOUth Spark Fest from 4-7.30pm on Wednesday, 5 April. This exciting community event will be at Bandstand Park, Wynnum Foreshore, and it’s completely free! It will include an open air cinema and hundreds of beanbags, popcorn, a coffee cart, BBQ, inflatable soccer, lantern making, candle making, face painting, photo booth plus lots more. Enjoy tunes from 4pm by a local DJ in the lead up to movie time at 6pm.

Last Saturday I attended the 60^th anniversary celebrations of Pet City in Mt Gravatt. This is an amazing feat for an independent, family-owned store. I’d like to speak today about the dedicated people who’ve made this milestone possible, their contribution to the wider community, and other small business news in my electorate.

Pet City was opened by Evio Contenati as Mt Gravatt Produce Agency in 1957. By the early 1970s the business had evolved to better meet the needs of pet owners, and the name Pet City was adopted. Today it’s a local business icon in the Mt Gravatt community and a multi-award winner in the pet industry.

The current store owner and Evio’s daughter, Kim Peries, has done an outstanding job building Pet City up. Under her guidance Pet City has partnered with local schools, respite centres and charities such as Rotary. Kim is also the Vice President of Southside Chamber of Commerce, which provides support and networking opportunities for local businesses.

I’m proud to support Southside Chamber of Commerce’s work helping small businesses in the area grow. Their new President, Kathleen Lewis has kindly agreed to partner with me on an upcoming Q&A I’m hosting for Minister for Small Business, the Hon Michael McCormack. The Q&A will be open to small business owners in the area to come discuss negative and positive experiences with the Minister. It’s a great opportunity and I encourage local business owners to attend.

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of hosting a Student Leaders Afternoon Tea for new school leaders from around the Bonner electorate. Joining me on the day was my good friend Andy Gourley, the CEO of Red Frogs who’s such a positive role model for young people today. The event celebrated the achievements of these exceptional young people and gave them a valuable one-on-one with Andy.

Student leaders from Manly West State School, Mt Gravatt East State School and Clairvaux College, along with over 40 students from other local primary and high schools, attended the event. I was impressed with the insightful questions they presented to me and Andy. I have no doubt these young men and women have very bright futures ahead of them.

The students were captivated by Andy’s talk on how Red Frogs came to be and the amazing work Red Frogs volunteers do. Andy did a great job of inspiring the students to be the best they can be in their new leadership roles. As he told them: “Leadership influences others and passion creates change, so you need to become the change you want to see in the world.”

It was wonderful to see such a strong turnout of student leaders in our community and to be able to connect them with such amazing influencers like Andy. I received great feedback on the event from the schools that got involved and I was glad to hear students left feeling empowered to make a difference in their school community.

 This month I’m holding the first Bonner Volunteer Awards, which I’ve spoken about before here. In the spirit of these awards, today I’d like to speak on Sailability Bayside, an outstanding volunteer organisation in Bonner that has been providing a tremendous service for local people with disabilities for many years.

A few weeks ago I spent a beautiful morning with the Sailability volunteers down at Manly Boat Harbour. It was great seeing them in action. Every week on Mondays and Thursdays between 9am and 2pm, the volunteers take up to 85 people with disabilities and their carers out sailing in small dinghies. They also sail on their yacht Faith, which has been designed specifically for the disabled.

Unfortunately time didn’t allow me to get out on the water with them, but it was heart-warming to see how excited each participant was. Sailability does truly selfless work making these fun adventures available to people with disabilities every week. As a not-for-profit group they rely on donations, fundraising and grants. Most importantly, they need volunteers to keep operating.

Nanetta from Sailability tells me they require around 30 more volunteers to help out on their sailing days. I would encourage anyone who loves sailing and wants to give back to the community to consider volunteering their time to this wonderful organisation.

This club has a small but enthusiastic group of members who share a passionate interest in photography. It meets on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Philatelic Hall, Cnr. West Avenue and Coolcrest Street Wynnum.

The club is always looking for new members and to encourage budding photographers to come along to a meeting to see if the club is a good fit for them. For more details visit wbcc.net.au/ and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Wynnum-Bayside-Camera-Club-411775202215799/.

Get your colouring-in pencils ready: local three to six-year-olds can now enter the great Bonner Easter Colouring-In Competition, Federal Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta said today.

“To get in the spirit of Easter this year, I will be sending out Easter-themed colouring-in sheets to kindergartens and prep schools all across my electorate,” Mr Vasta said.

“I can’t wait to see each entry and put the winning pictures on display in my Parliament House office!”

An Easter basket book prize will be presented to one kindergarten participant and one prep school participant.

The competition closes on Friday, 7th April. Winners will be drawn on the morning of Monday, 10th April.

“I encourage kids to take part in this fun competition that’s a great activity to do at home over the school holidays,” Mr Vasta said.