Senator DUNIAM (Tasmania—Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries and Assistant Minister for Regional Tourism) (12:45): It is an absolute pleasure to take the opportunity to make a contribution in the senators' statements slot for the week. As usual, I'm taking the opportunity to speak about my favourite topic—that is, the state of Tasmania. I would go so far as to venture that this is the best part of our country. I think I can see Senator Urquhart agreeing with me and Senator Whish-Wilson too, noting there are some great Tasmanians occupying seats in this place and working very hard. I will start by talking about the bushfires that affected quite a swathe of Tasmania's wilderness areas earlier in the year. In doing so, we should acknowledge those who are currently battling the severe fire danger conditions around other parts of the country, in New South Wales and Queensland in particular, and spare a thought for them and what they're going through. In Tasmania, some beautiful parts of our state were destroyed. One of those areas was in the Huon Valley in Tasmania's south, south of Hobart. It is a beautiful part of the world and is home to some great industries like the aquaculture industry and a number of others. Those bushfires had an impact on visitor numbers, particularly as we were heading into the winter months, a period of time when tourism businesses and the like struggle to attract as many patrons as they would perhaps in the summer months. That being the case, after some very, very energetic lobbying from the mayor of Huon Valley, Bec Enders, who is a terrific advocate for that community, and the state government, led by Will Hodgman, who is one of the local members for that neck of the woods, there was a call for support to ensure that we would be able to make sure that there were tourism offerings in place to support this community, to support the visitor economy, particularly after the Tahune AirWalk in the Huon Valley was damaged, with the great swathes of wilderness area being damaged affecting impacting on visitor numbers. The Morrison government committed $1.5 million to support a tourist attraction, an art installation known as part of Project X, which is run by the team from DarkLab, led by a very innovative local, Leigh Carmichael, who does great work on behalf of the MONA institute in Hobart. Project X, a series of art installations—some of them weird, some of them wacky, many of them wonderful—will do great things in attracting visitors to these regional communities. I was able to unveil one, TheAftermath Dislocation Principle, which is a 40-foot shipping container with peepholes in the sides of it. Inside is a wonderful diorama of a community that's been impacted by some sort of apocalyptic event. The amount of detail that went into this made it one of the most popular attractions at the Dark Mofo winter festival in Tasmania earlier this year. I'm told by local business owners and members of the community in Geeveston, where the installation currently is, that it's brought crowds out to see this wonderful thing. They are shopping in local businesses and supporting that economy, which is what this project, supported by the Morrison government to the tune of $1.5 million, was supposed to do. I am pleased to have been a part of that. Over the five weeks that we were not in Canberra—a wonderful place not to be—the Morrison government was doing good things for the people of Tasmania. It was an absolute pleasure to be with the Minister for Housing, Michael Sukkar, and the Tasmanian Minister for Housing, Roger Jaensch, to welcome the announcement that Tasmania's housing debt was going to be wiped from the books and that Tasmania was now going to be able to contribute the funds that had previously gone into paying down that debt and any interest on that debt into the provision of housing for those who need it most. It's something that has dogged Tasmanian governments for a very long time now, but finally it is done. I do acknowledge my Tasmanian colleague Senator Jacqui Lambie, who, of course, made a significant contribution, along with all Tasmanian representatives, to ensure that Tasmania had this debt waived. Given the unique challenge Tasmania faces, which is a result of strong economic growth under the guidance and management of the Hodgman government, in partnership with the coalition government here in Canberra, the growth in population numbers is putting a strain on infrastructure, essential services and also housing. This deal enables the government in Tasmania to allocate resources effectively to deal with that. Bridget Archer took us around the site in northern Tasmania, in the City of Launceston in the heart of the seat of Bass, showing us what can be done when governments invest in affordable housing, taking pressure off other parts of the housing market. I'm told that up to 80 houses a year can be constructed with the funds saved from paying down the debt early. So it's a wonderful initiative. The net result, of course, is the fact that more Tasmanians will have roofs over their heads. As I said, it was in partnership between the Hodgman government in Tasmania and the Morrison government here in Canberra, of course with the support of many from across the political spectrum. As I said, I especially acknowledge Jacqui Lambie but also Roger Jaensch, Will Hodgman and other members of the Tasmanian government for their strong advocacy for a very good outcome for our state. Closer to the portfolios I have the honour of working on, I turn to something that is very important to Tasmania, and that is the issue of aquaculture. Again, over the five weeks that we were not in Canberra, I had the pleasure of heading to the facility run by the University of Tasmania where $5 million from the Australian Research Council has been allocated to developing an onshore aquaculture system for rock lobsters, something that traditionally has been caught in the wild in the open waters around our coastlines. But now, thanks to leading research through the University of Tasmania, we are seeing a world first. We are breaking ground on a wonderful initiative to help support this fishery, making it more sustainable and more environmentally friendly, and providing certainty around the future of the stocks. In particular, it was the northern rock lobster, a tropical species found, as described, in the northern waters of this country. Down in Hobart, in the suburb of Taroona, at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies facility, the University of Tasmania is using these funds—$5 million, which is going to be spent over five years—to develop this process of being able to rear this specific species of rock lobster from its larval stage to a fully grown specimen that can then be released into the wild. This will help ensure that we do have certainty for fish stocks into the future. At the end of this, the reality—and this is something that I note on many occasions when it comes to government funded research and development—is that great things are trialled, great things are discovered and we make leaps and bounds in research. This particular investment will result in a commercial outcome. This means we will be able to see jobs generated through this industry at the end of the expenditure of these funds. There are private entities interested in this particular project who will partner with the research developers to make sure that this thing does get off the ground and that in regional communities where these industries exist we will see jobs and economic growth. So that's where the rubber hits the road in terms of research and development funding. As I said, it's wonderful to be part of a government that does focus on ensuring that the expenditure of taxpayers' money on things like this has a tangible benefit for people paying taxes, particularly those outside of our major population centres. Although the research has been undertaken in southern Tasmania, in Hobart, it's the people in regional communities who will be benefitting from that. It's a world first for Tasmania in particular. It's a world first for our country. But I'm so proud as a Tasmanian senator to stand here and talk about research and development that's being undertaken in our little island state through our wonderful academic institutions like the University of Tasmania and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies to make lives better for people by creating ways to give us some certainty around the future of industries that sometimes are subject to the vagaries of environmental changes and things that we don't fully understand. So in the last five weeks some great things have happened in Tasmania—particularly regional Tasmania. All of these things are supported by the Hodgman government in Tasmania and by the Morrison government in Canberra. It means jobs, economic growth and better lives for the people who live in our great state, and these things are the things that I'm very proud to be part of as part of this government, representing Tasmania here in Canberra.