David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

After that diatribe from the member for Lyons, let me give him a lesson on government responsibility: it is the government's responsibility to put environment and infrastructure around people to ensure they innovate and invest. This government has done that. We've put an environment around people in rural and regional Australia through trade agreements. The voodoo economics of those opposite is all about big government and they will spend their way out of things. But, do you know what? It's taxpayers' money—someone has to be creating wealth for governments to be able to spend. The trade agreements that we put in place for rural and regional Australians—because we represent rural and regional Australia—is putting real money into their pockets and allowing us to get the tax revenue to be the economic engine room of this nation. We have put real dollars into towns like Roma, Dalby, Longreach and Charleville because of those trade agreements we have put in place.

We've also put in the infrastructure to support that, to give us the connectivity to get our product around the world and take advantage of those trade agreements. That's what a good government will do. The return on investment that we are making is being put into infrastructure, and that is delivering returns for this nation. That is what every government should do. Those opposite want to put big departments in Canberra. When the government talks about decentralisation, those opposite say they don't believe in it. What a crazy idea, to think we might have a government department located in the area of the people who actually want it and who the services are being delivered to. This is absolute insanity from those opposite. We are putting the infrastructure in. You only have to look at the $500 million that we are putting towards the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund. We haven't heard from those opposite whether, in the unlikely event they're elected at the next election, they would commit to that. There is that whole investment in driving water. I have lived in rural and regional Australia all my life, and have worked in agricultural finance. I understand the power of a megalitre of water, not just for the farmer but for the communities—the small businesses, the bricks and mortar businesses in those communities that support communities and employ people. If you take away that investment in water infrastructure, you tear away the very social and economic fabric of those communities. Those opposite don't understand that.

Only in the last round of the Building Better Regions Fund just under $5 million was put into one project in my electorate of Maranoa, in Southern Downs, to build a cold storage facility that will put into Warwick 150 new direct jobs, 136 indirect jobs and 80 construction jobs. That will mean a more than a one per cent increase in the population of Warwick but, more importantly, it has flow-on effects because it means we might need more teachers, more dentists, more doctors, more fuel bowser people. We are going to ensure that we are investing smartly, pulling the economic levers that drive the growth in our regional and areas.

In the little community of Morven, with fewer than 100 people, we are investing $4 million in a rail hub. It will ensure greater competition in the cattle industry and ensure we can get our product to the world quicker than we do now. Look at the Northern Australia Roads Program and the beef roads delivering for those in rural Australia, getting our product around the world. The people of this country are taking advantage of the environment we put around them. We are making sure that they can go and do a hard day's work and finally get the return that they deserve. It was our trade ministers who secured those agreements. With other roads funding, we have the $1.6 billion investment in the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. That will get our product to the world quicker, as will the $500 million investment in the Warrego Highway. This is about investment and understanding that if you put the environment and infrastructure around people in rural and regional Australia, we will be the ones that drive the economy. That is something we, on this side, are quite proud of. I'm proud of my good friend and colleague the member for Capricornia, who is a champion of her electorate and for regional and rural Australia, particularly Central Queensland. She understands that, if we put the right infrastructure and the right environment around those people in Central Queensland, then they will prosper—and that is why she continues to be re-elected as the member for Capricornia. I'm proud to say that she is one of my colleagues.

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