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

I live in regional Queensland, and my electorate includes Palm Island, which is remote. We are all experiencing tough times. I represent regional and remote Queensland, and I know the challenges that we are facing, so there is no way on God's earth I can stand in this place and support a motion that purports to secure the economic future of regional, rural and remote Australia when it does not. The Turnbull government is not securing the future of regional Australia. The Turnbull government has not proved its commitment to regional, rural and remote Australia. The Turnbull government is not doing anything to act on issues directly impacting on those living in regional, rural and remote Queensland.

Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, I'll give you some facts about Townsville. Unemployment is just below 10 per cent; youth unemployment is around 25 per cent. There is growing unemployment in our ex-service personnel and veterans community and 55 per cent unemployment on Palm Island—one of the highest small-business insolvency rates in the nation. Traineeships and apprenticeships have severely declined with fewer enrolments in TAFE Queensland North this year than in previous years. There are level 3 water restrictions, and people are paying in excess of $34,000 a day to pump water from Burdekin Falls Dam. There are sky-rocketing electricity prices—the list goes on. So can someone from the Turnbull government please explain exactly how this government is securing Townsville's economic future? And please do not mention concessional loans or funds, which are doing nothing for Townsville.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility fund—or, as I like to call it, the no-actual-infrastructure fund—has not delivered one project. More has been spent on the board's wages than on funding projects. Can someone from the Turnbull government please enlighten the people of Townsville how this government has addressed the critical issues for our local economy that I have listed?

This government waxes lyrical about the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, but here's the kicker: this fund excludes the drought-declared regional city of Townsville. This fund prohibits Townsville from accessing any funding for water infrastructure and assistance with pumping costs. We are simply not eligible. How can drought-declared Townsville be excluded from the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund? What an absolute slap in the face to a struggling regional community on level 3 water restrictions. Again, I ask: can someone from the Turnbull government please explain to the people of Townsville how this assists our drought-declared community?

Then there is the Northern Australia Roads Program—talk about underdelivering and dragging your feet. This program was announced on 15 June, and 28 months after the program was first announced work is only now beginning on some of the projects. That's not to mention the Turnbull government's complete disregard for our Bruce Highway. The new official figures show that nearly halfway through the Turnbull government's 10-year upgrade program, it has invested only a quarter of the promised budget. Prior to coming into office in 2013, the government claimed that it would spend $6.7 billion on the Bruce Highway in the decade from 2013-14 onwards. However, the new figures show that four years into the program the government has only spent $1.7 billion. The Bruce Highway is Queensland's most critical road infrastructure and is central to the movement of freight and people up and down the coast. The Turnbull government might say that it's committed to upgrading the highway, however the figures show that their action does not match their rhetoric. The Turnbull government has completely underdelivered for regional, rural and remote Queensland.

The government is both the hare and the tortoise. They continually jump out quickly and make on-the-run policy announcements like the hare, and then, when it comes to actually delivering, they are slow like the tortoise or, if possible, even slower. On top of all of this, there is the Turnbull government's $17.3 million cut to fixing dangerous blackspots and local roads, $276.5 million cut to major roads upgrades, $20.2 million cut to upgrade roads the cattle industry relies upon, $50.7 cut to upgrade roads that connect communities and regional towns across Northern Queensland and $345 million to cut Queensland infrastructure spending—cut after cut after cut. So can someone from the Turnbull government please outline how any of this has helped Herbert? Can someone please highlight how this has addressed our unemployment rates, youth unemployment, energy costs, access to water security or jobs for our community?

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