Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The issue of broadband access at Burnett Heads is one that has gone on for some time. The former Labor government made six years worth of announcements and unfortunately did not connect anybody at all in the Hinkler electorate to the NBN. That is one of the difficulties: they raised expectations and provided no services and absolutely nothing to help the people of my electorate.

This is an issue that we are addressing rapidly. I am very pleased to advise the House that the NBN rollout in Bundaberg is well underway. We have fibre in the ground and we are on the VDSL2 trial—one of only 10 locations in Australia. That trial is well underway. There are some 30-odd wireless towers going into the regional areas of my electorate. For the people of Burnett Heads, who are in the far northern corner against a river boundary, with some legacy infrastructure, it is very difficult.

Unfortunately, Telstra has not made any moves to connect further infrastructure for access to ADSL. These people are all on the hurdy-gurdy, the roundabout, where they ring for an ADSL connection and get put on a waiting list. They get rolled off and, when someone disconnects from their existing home phone, they are put on that port. Then the one who lost that misses out. And this continues. Unfortunately, this it is a very difficult position for the people of Burnett Heads.

The new Queensland Labor government has created more bad news for anyone associated with the seafood industry. I am advised by the Queensland Seafood Industry Association that Queensland commercial net-fishing produces approximately 6,670 tonnes of product, valued at about $31.9 million per year. In the entire state of Queensland, there are only around 220 active N1 and N2 net licences. As everyone in this room knows, we all like Australian fish. It is an Australian product, it is safe, it is fresh and it is good for us. In my view, we have the best-managed fisheries in the country.

In relation to the recent announcement by the new Labor government, I would like to read to the House an advertisement from Paul Grunske, a commercial fisherman in Bundaberg. He is a well-known local fisherman who has been in the district for quite some time. This is an ad that he paid for himself and that he ran in the local papers. It goes like this:

Dear Queenslanders,

The Palaszczuk led Qld Government wants more commercial fishing closures in inshore waters. Just days before the State election—

it was literally days—

Deputy Leader Tim Mulherin proposed net fishing bans for:

Premier Palaszczuk believes this announcement notice is a mandate, citing the expansion of tourism—

would you believe—

as reason to justify the destruction of hundreds of industry jobs along the QLD coast.

These are jobs which we desperately need, and we need them to continue. The ad goes on to state:

These closures are the beginning of the end of Queensland's fishing industry if implemented.

This politically motivated doctrine will send hundreds of industry workers to queue at Centrelink.

The Capricorn Coast area is a major supply fishery for our State and supplies fresh fish to Bundaberg, Wide Bay, Central Qld and beyond every week.

These closures will deny access to a public resource owned by all Queenslanders.

The vast majority of Queenslanders consume seafood on a weekly basis—

and I would encourage them to continue to do that and, in fact, to consume more if possible. The ad continues:

The Palaszczuk Government wants Queenslanders who do not, or cannot fish, to eat imported fish such as Basa. (Vietnamese Catfish).

This proposal is a poorly thought out plan promoted at the eleventh hour.

Don’t let the Palaszczuk Government deny our commercial fishers access to our fishing grounds, and fresh fish supply.

Queensland deserves better than this!

Help stop this madness!

I fully support what has been put forward by Mr Grunske. The fishing industry in my district has been very strong for a long time but it is being decimated by progressive governments that bow to the Greens. Unfortunately this has resulted in large job losses, including processing facilities and scallop facilities. However we do have some very strong exporters based in Hervey Bay—we have the famous Hervey Bay sea scallops and Ocean King prawns.

But there is good news for the people of Burnett Heads. In the last week of the election campaign Knauf, a major international manufacturer, announced that they would be building a $70 million plasterboard plant at the Bundaberg port. This is a project that is done and dusted. They have done their DA, they have done their environmental plan, they have finished off their land use agreement, they have finished off their port agreement, they have done their pier testing and their engineering and design—they have invested, at an estimate, well over $1 million in preparing for this plant to move forward. This was all on the back of an announcement by the former LNP state government back in August 2014 which committed the government to building gas infrastructure—a pipeline to the port of Burnett Heads. On the back of that announcement we have a multinational business that will come to our district and will spend $70 million on a manufacturing plant that will supply the south-east corner of Queensland with plasterboard. On some estimates this could be over 20 B-double truckloads a day. This plant is ready to go. The pile-driver contractors are there and are ready to go. They are committed to building the project. The only issue we have is that with the change of the state government we cannot get a commitment from Labor to build the infrastructure.

This project is worth jobs. In my electorate the unemployment rate is around 11.3 per cent. It is totally unacceptable. This is a project that is on the line—it is ready to go, and there will be 200 construction jobs and 65 permanents in manufacturing—an area we need jobs in. Knauf have also agreed to build a pelletising plant for gypsum, which will provide our local agricultural producers with gypsum in a pelletised form direct off the boat, straight out of the factory, within 20 kilometres of their farms. This is quite incredible. Most of our major growing areas are around 20 kilometres from the centre of the city, or maybe a little more, and this is a great advantage for our growers. It will reduce their bottom line—they will make more money. We need to get this project over the line. My electorate of Hinkler is one of the biggest producers of heavy vegetables in Australia. We also export things from Macadamia nuts right through to seafood, and of course we are a very large part of the sugar industry. I would suggest to the new Labor member for Bundaberg that she stick to her commitment. When asked about the gas pipeline on ABC Wide Bay on 2 February this year, Ms Donaldson said there were a number of commitments that had been funded and if those commitments had been funded in the budget there really would not be a reason that she could see why they would not continue.

We need the Queensland Labor government to come out of their office and make a statement on this—they are running scared at the moment; they do not seem to want to come into the parliament at all. There are no interviews and they are sitting for only 30 or 32 days for the year. I thought they would have wanted to do more than that. We need them to come out and support this infrastructure because the last thing we want is to lose this project. We do not need a Gove site, another site with six piers in the ground where they have done the testing and confirmed that it will work. We need to get this over the line and we will continue to press for it. I encourage the Queensland Labor government to come out and support this project. It was not an election commitment—it was committed to last August, well outside the election period. We need to give confidence to international companies who wish to invest in our country. They need to get on with it and we need to get it done.

There is some other good news if you live at Burnett Heads—it is a fabulous part of the country to live. We have the Volunteer Marine Rescue at Burnett Heads, run by Gary Dick, who is a long-serving president of the VMR and who has rescued many, many fishermen. I know Gary very well and he is a very passionate advocate for VMR. I congratulate him and his team on what they are doing. Of course the Lighthouse Festival that runs every year is another wonderful activity in the district, and there is the local fishing classic. If there is a fishing ban, as proposed by Mr Mulherin, that will be a ridiculous outcome. Queensland is one of the most famous and fabulous places to fish in this country. It is well managed, it is well stocked, we have the ability to look after it and we have been doing that for a long time. I encourage them to get on with it and not take away the jobs of hardworking people like those in the fishing industry. They have managed this stock for many, many years—for decades. It is all they know, in many cases, and they do not wish to retrain. They just wish to continue in their business, as they have done for many years. They manage the stock incredibly well and they produce good, solid Australian fish for us to consume, and that should continue.

Debate interrupted.

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