Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in this place today to ask the member for Forde a really simple question: is this motion a joke? Surely he has got to be kidding. He is a member of the Turnbull government, a government that has not delivered one cent north of Brisbane in the budget. Does the member for Forde not realise that the state of Queensland expands beyond the south-east golden triangle of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast? The Labor state government does. Does the member for Forde realise that the federal government has done nothing for North Queensland?

He is a member of the Turnbull government, the government that announced the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility more than two years ago and still has not delivered one single project. In fact, at this point of time, in the northern part of the country, we have renamed it the 'no actual infrastructure fund'. The member for Forde is a member of the government that announced the CRC in Townsville more than a year ago. According to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, the CRC was due to be up and running in mid-2016. Well, it is mid-2017 and there is still nothing.

The member for Forde is a member of such an out-of-touch Turnbull government that he would rather give a $65 billion tax cut to big businesses and make someone earning $55,000 pay an extra $275 in tax. The member for Forde is a member of such a disgraceful government that he supports $22 billion cuts in education and $2.2 billion cuts in health. This is the government that the member for Forde belongs to, and this is the unfair lack of attention to the North Queensland budget that the member for Forde has supported—an out-of-touch, disgraceful Turnbull government budget.

And then there are the massive cuts to infrastructure. In the current financial year alone, the member for Forde and his government have cut infrastructure funding by $1.6 billion, and then funding continues to drop off a cliff over the next four years. By 2021, the infrastructure spend will have dropped by $3.4 billion. And guess which state bears the brunt of most of the Turnbull government cuts? No other than the member for Forde's own state, Queensland. Almost a quarter, 21 per cent, of infrastructure fund cuts in 2016-17 are in Queensland. Of the $1.6 billion cuts to the national infrastructure, more than $345 million of those cuts go to Queensland. At budget time last year, Queensland was promised $2.2 billion in infrastructure funding. However, we will only receive $1.8 billion.

This government has not been up-front with Queenslanders. It has cut funding for fixing dangerous blackspots on local roads—$17.3 million. It has cut funding for major road upgrades—$276.5 million. It has cut funding for upgrading the roads that the cattle industry relies on by $20.2 million. It has cut funding for upgrading roads that connect communities and regional towns across Northern Queensland by $50.7 million. And, for the poor old Bruce Highway, the Turnbull government has not invested one extra dollar. In fact, the government will spend $6.1 million less on the Bruce Highway next year than this year.

If the member for Forde wants to talk about jobs for Queensland, you do not create jobs by slashing over $345 million from infrastructure. The absolute nerve of the member for Forde! For him to stand here in this place and talk about jobs in Queensland is an absolute joke. For the electorate of Herbert, it is like rubbing salt into open wounds, because, under the member for Forde's government, the Abbott-Turnbull government, unemployment in Townsville has almost doubled. And this government has handed down a budget that does not even mention Herbert or North Queensland.

Let us compare and contrast. The Queensland Labor budget delivered $623 million for Herbert alone; the Turnbull government, $345 million in cuts. The Queensland Labor budget has $935.9 million for the Townsville Health and Hospital Service; the LNP government has $2.2 billion in cuts to health and hospitals nationally. The Queensland Labor government has $225 billion for water security infrastructure; the Turnbull government has delivered nothing to address water issues in the north. The Queensland Labor government has $100 million for hydropower on the Burdekin Falls Dam; the Turnbull government has nothing to address our energy issues.

So it is very clear who is backing North Queensland. It is clear who is actually delivering funds for North Queensland. And it is very clear that only one party ever has delivered and ever will deliver for jobs in the north, and that is the Labor Party. The member for Forde's motion just speaks to his jealousy that he was not able to deliver a budget for Queensland and Labor was.

If you want to know what the people on the ground think in Queensland, you only need to compare and contrast the front pages of the Townsville Bulletin. The front page after the Turnbull budget depicted Senator 'gold card' Ian Macdonald, 'not sure' what the people wanted in the budget, whereas after the Queensland Labor budget we saw a Premier with a money hose. Labor will deliver for the north, and Labor will deliver for Queensland.

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