Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is absolutely abysmal. The member for Blair is right. We have enormous earning capacity in tourism—$19.1 billion in 2005, increasing to some $31.6 billion by 2015—as a result of the proactive efforts of this government to invest wisely in good economic management and to encourage individuals to start businesses. If we are serious about encouraging people to take the opportunity to show off their wares in their local communities, unless we back those people with proper investment in adequate infrastructure, we are going to have a fundamental failure in meeting people’s reasonable expectations.

The Gold Coast is a complete basket case when it comes to infrastructure. The Pacific Highway at the back of the coast is in gridlock from four o’clock in the afternoon, and this is a city of a couple of hundred thousand people which swells to probably one million people more weeks of the year than not because of all the visitors. I do not think that is a very clever introduction to Australia or indeed a very clever introduction to south-east Queensland. The failure of state governments to invest in this way is a problem.

Equally, people arriving in Brisbane are going to be told, ‘You’re going to have your shower timed.’ We are going to get to a stage in Brisbane where, because of the shortage of water, there is going to be a push-button tap or a meter for the number of minutes you can run a shower in a hotel room. That is where it is going to get to.

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