Transcript - Interview on 4BU Bundaberg, the Big Breakfast with Victoria Clarke

VICTORIA CLARKE: You're on the Big Brekky, Bundy. It's 1332 4BU. We've got a very special guest joining us over the phone this morning, Kristy McBain, the Minister for Regional Development. Good morning, Kristy. 

KRISTY MCBAIN: Good morning. 

CLARKE: Thank you so much for having a chat this morning. You've been in Bundy this week.

MCBAIN: That's right. I've had the pleasure of experiencing, for a short time, what you guys get to live every day in Bundy. What a beautiful part of the world you're in. I’ve been in Bundaberg to check out the new Port of Bundaberg conveyor belt, and to check out the RFDS, their new virtual flight simulator. A really great couple of days in Bundy, talking to local businesses as well.

CLARKE: Absolutely, Kristy. It's been wonderful to have you in our little corner of the world, and I'm glad it's been a great experience for you. So, first, tell me about the new conveyor belt at the port.

MCBAIN: Really fantastic to finally open a multi-use conveyor belt at the Port of Bundaberg. It'll be a facility that will enable not only sugar and sand to get to the export market. Hopefully, we can get new producers to use that so that the Port of Bundaberg becomes the port of choice. Rather than putting things on trucks to get to Brisbane or to Gladstone, we want people to be able to use all the facilities at the Port of Bundaberg. We want to export things from minerals to agricultural products, to wood pellets. That’s all available now at the Port of Bundaberg.

CLARKE: That's really great. And I imagine that'll be really great for local business and keeping things as local and as within that Bundy family as possible.

MCBAIN: That's right. During the construction, about 350 jobs were created. We know that we can increase the jobs at the Port of Bundy when we get more people interested in using this conveyor belt facility. We've only just got to the tip of the iceberg. There's still much more to do, but we think we can grow exports out of the Port of Bundy, and make that the port of choice.

CLARKE: Well, that's really, really exciting, Kristy, and it'll be great to see how that develops over the next coming months and years. Now, you were also here to check out the new flight simulator here in Bundy.

MCBAIN: That's right. The Royal Flying Doctor Service, at their new headquarters, have got a world-leading flight simulator, so that RFDS pilots no longer have to go to Tampa, Florida for training. They can do that right here in the country. That facility will be able to grow over time, too. There's currently one simulator there, but it could grow to another one. Checking it out today was pretty fantastic. They do such a great job there, and I think so many people know all the great work RFDS do, but obviously it's a highly skilled and technical job. Great for pilots to be able to train in regional areas where they fly in and out of.

CLARKE: Yeah, how exciting and excellent news for those men and women who really do so much with that really wonderful organisation.

MCBAIN: Absolutely. We met a pilot and a nurse whilst we toured the facility, talking to us about some of the experiences they've had whilst flying and looking after patients on those RFDS flights. The work they do is absolutely spectacular. Really great to have this training facility, a world-leading facility right there in Bundy.

CLARKE: Most definitely. And was there anything else that you got up to while you were here?

MCBAIN: It was absolutely fantastic to come to Bundy. We had a great tour of some of the road projects that the local council is currently undertaking with the Albanese Labor Government's Roads to Recovery funding. Really great to see some of that work taking place. We met a fantastic organisation, IMPACT, which does great work in the local community and I heard all about their laundry facility and their social enterprise. It was fantastic to be in Bundy and I look forward to coming back.

CLARKE: Thank you so much, Kristy. It's been great having you here in Bundy and we're most definitely looking forward to having you back next time.

MCBAIN: Great to be with you.