Maxine McKew (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it is creating ongoing employment opportunities. You cannot run a commercial kitchen of this kind without permanent jobs for chefs and kitchen hands and jobs for people to run the function centre. There are permanent jobs there. I cannot imagine why anyone would be dismissive of these jobs. They are all jobs, by the way, that require training. Clearly, through the government’s investment in education and training, this is again where we have been addressing the important need for skills and training.

Further north from Rockhampton—and very dear to the heart of the member for Kennedy, because he raised this, I remember, during the floods which affected his part of North Queensland—is the $18 million upgrade that the Commonwealth is providing for the Einasleigh River Bridge. As the member for Kennedy well knows, this is an essential piece of infrastructure for the economy of the gulf region. The Gulf Development Road, which crosses the bridge, is the economic lifeline of that region, bringing food and medical supplies, fuel and other goods and services into communities and taking agricultural and fishery exports out of the region. I do recall the member’s address in the House about this.

In January and February this year, as I said, there was immense flooding of the road crossing the Einasleigh River. It cut off communities like Karumba and Normanton for up to 10 weeks. Although basic repairs have been made, the bridge remains vulnerable to flooding, as the member for Kennedy knows. The economic impact studies commissioned by the Etheridge and Croydon shire councils show that about $147 million worth of agricultural and fishery products will be able to be transported along the road annually. Not only is the Einasleigh River Bridge upgrade expected to generate local construction activity but it will also deliver lasting benefits to the community. This is, I would have thought, a timely and sensitive response from the Commonwealth to a clear need demonstrated by the member for Kennedy, something that is going to transform that region, given the weather conditions, and support local jobs while the work is done. (Time expired)

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