Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome a discussion in this place about the efficient use of our very precious water resources in this country. There is a misunderstanding amongst some in our community who believe we have an abundance of water and soil resources. In fact, the contrary is the case. We do live on the driest inhabited continent in the world, so it is important that we ensure that our water and soil resources go to those activities which produce the highest possible return for our country in economic terms and are used in the most efficient possible way.

I would usually welcome and invite a motion like this from the member but, sadly, this is just a stunt. And worse, this whole conversation that the minister for agriculture and the member for Capricornia are having in Central Queensland is just a stunt. It is a sleight of hand designed to, in some cases, bring people false hope but, more particularly, to blame someone else for not doing anything.

The member for Capricornia cannot have it both ways. Her own policy document says—this is the government's policy document:

We will also fund half the cost of Rookwood Weir—up to $130 million—if the business case meets all the necessary requirements and it acquires the required environmental approval.

Now there are three stages to building a dam. You need to make a business case. It has to be able to pay for itself in the long term. The farmers, who might be relying on that water resource, need to be able to afford the water resource, and that is all part of the economic equation. Then you need environmental approval—a shared responsibility between the state and federal governments—and then of course you need money.

The member for Capricornia is suggesting the money is on the table. That is the line the minister for agriculture likes to use—the money is on the table. It might be on the table, but the minister for agriculture is not prepared to spend that money until the necessary economic case is made and the environmental approval secured. That is exactly what the Queensland government is saying—they will not spend money on the project until the economic case is made and the environmental approvals have been determined; exactly and consistent with the position of the Commonwealth government.

The minister for agriculture loves to talk about dams. He knows dams are a popular thing within our communities, particularly within certain demographics. He never differentiates between whether he is talking about catchment dams, on-river dams, off-river dams, on-farm dams—he does not worry about any of that; he just talks about dams. If the minister for agriculture was serious about dams, he should put a little more detail into his proposals than that. He should stop misleading communities, particularly in Queensland, by suggesting he has got a big bucket of money here ready to go regardless—no matter what happens, no matter what the economic case—and that he would spend it tomorrow, if only the Queensland government would get out of the way. That is exactly what he is not doing when you look at his own policy document.

Just as the member for Capricornia went into the last election, keeping a secret from her constituents—the plan to compulsorily acquire prime agriculture land in her electorate just like she deceived her electorate in the lead-up to the last election—she is now deceiving them once again. She wants them to believe that, if the Queensland government would simply get out of the way, she would be building Rookwood Weir and some of those other water projects tomorrow. That is simply and patently untrue. She knows it to be untrue and she should fess up to her local communities and properly explain to them both the challenges involved in getting these projects to fruition and the legitimate role of the Queensland government as a partner.

The Queensland government is not standing in the way of any of these projects. What does stand in the way of these projects is the deceitful behaviour of this government, always running around promising things they know they cannot deliver before the next election. The minister for agriculture only ever has one thing in mind: the electoral cycle and what he can falsely promise before an election—and of course he worries about the consequences after the election. The member for Capricornia is now paying the price for that, given the way they kept secret the plans to expand Shoalwater Bay. (Time expired)

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