Gillard's letter to Rocky folk
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard wrote this letter to the people of Capricornia yesterday ahead of her expected visit to Rockhampton today.
I always love coming to Rockhampton, and not just for the warm weather and friendly people, but because I can see the vibrant future of this region.
We've invested record amounts in the health and education sectors, as well as in critical infrastructure designed to enable this area to grow.
Under programs like the Building the Education Revolution, the current Labor government has invested an extra $137 million across 90 Capricornia schools, resulting in more then 300 construction projects that are creating local jobs and state-of-the-art learning facilities for local students.
We've spent over $8.5 million on building four trade training centres across the region because we understand just how important education and skills training is for local job creation.
Through these centres, schools and students will access industry-standard equipment and vocational education on school grounds because we know the investments we make today will benefit the students, employers and employees of tomorrow.
The Federal Labor Government is spreading the benefits of the current boom by providing more financial assistance to everyday Rockhampton residents.
The Schoolkids Bonus cash payment of up to $820 has already been automatically deposited into the bank accounts of 8650 local families with kids in school.
We're also increasing the family payments, tripling the tax-free threshold from $6000 to $18,200, providing a tax cut of over $300 for 39,000 Central Queenslanders, and continuing to support pensioners through Labor's historic pension reforms.
I'm looking forward to visiting Rockhampton and if you see me around, come and say hello.
Julia Gillard, Prime Minister
