George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a great pleasure to host Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Townsville last week, where he made an important announcement for the local economy: the Liberal-National government has committed $75 million to a channel capacity upgrade at the Townsville port. The Prime Minister, as Treasurer, also visited Townsville after the 2018 budget. In addition to visiting the construction site of the Townsville stadium, we discussed the channel upgrade at the port of Townsville with the Townsville port CEO, Ranee Crosby. The federal government had previously introduced laws that meant capital dredge spoil had to be disposed of on land, which added a massive financial burden onto the port with its upgrade project. The Prime Minister listened, understood the issues and appreciated the value that the channel upgrade would bring to Townsville and to North Queensland more widely, including 120 jobs during construction and 245 ongoing jobs.

The port upgrade will be funded with part of the $150 million that the federal Liberal-National government had previously committed to the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor project, the TEARC project, which had been shelved because of a business case; it will be picked up again when that project is more commercially viable. The PM wanted to ensure that the money originally committed to Townsville stayed in Townsville, and I've got to say that the port project was the perfect way to keep that money invested in the local economy. That was my view and that was the view of the Herbert LNP candidate, Phillip Thompson. It is through port investment and the increased economic activity that it will bring that the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor will become viable.

The Townsville region has done it tough economically through the downturn in the resources sector, with the housing market heading south, along with many workers losing their jobs, such as at Yabulu. Unemployment, particularly for young people, has been far too high. That's why I fought hard for investment in job-creating projects in the north—so we can reach our full potential and continue to be an economic driver for the rest of the state. That's why we're committing funds to studies and planning for Hell's Gate Dam, which can provide greater water security agriculturally for the region and new economic opportunities. That's why we as a government are so keen for the Singapore defence deal to bring benefits to local small businesses in the north. Townsville's a defence town, and the presence of the Defence Force barracks in the town drives a lot of local business. The Department of Defence recently briefed local businesses on how they can benefit from defence projects worth more than $2 billion through construction works on military bases in North Queensland and the Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative. I have pushed hard for fast-tracking the construction of the Haughton River bridge between Townsville and Ayr, which is creating 544 jobs. Not only will that make the Bruce Highway safer; those jobs are important. We're committing 750 jobs towards the construction of the Townsville stadium, where the PM's most-beloved Sharks will be handed a football lesson from the Cowboys in years to come.

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