John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

To those opposite: what is the problem with the flood-proofing of Blakeys Crossing in Townsville that we did, the Kin Kora roundabout upgrade in Gladstone, the ring road and flood mitigation in Toowoomba, the flood levee bank project in Roma, the revitalisation of the Cooktown Foreshore and the brand-new swimming pool for the remote community of Karumba in the gulf? Queensland Labor scrapped that program. It is, therefore, music to my ears, as it would be for all Queenslanders, to hear Deb Frecklington, the deputy leader of the Queensland opposition and the shadow minister for infrastructure, state development, trade and investment, announce that the LNP would bring back the Royalties for the Regions program with another half a billion dollars committed, thereby, once again, returning investment to the very regions that create the wealth and the very communities Queensland Labor continues to ignore.

We have seen Queensland Labor governments stalling on water infrastructure. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, is pushing hard on our federal coalition government's history-making $2.5 billion water investment. He has $130 million on the table for the construction of Central Queensland's Rookwood Weir. In 2006 Peter Beattie, then Queensland Premier, said he would construct it, but all of his successors, including those now in 2017, are not interested at all.

This and other projects identified by the Deputy Prime Minister are aimed at unlocking Queensland's full economic and productive potential. But I am sad to say that Queensland Labor has simply dropped the ball. The Queensland Labor government needs to get on with the job and stop delaying the construction of that project, in particular, from being supported by the federal government. The creation of around 2,100 new jobs would go with it. The Queensland Labor government needs to address its severe underinvestment in infrastructure throughout Queensland.

Mr Dick interjecting—

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