Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Labor should fund the beef roads to the tune of $400 million because the stakes are too high not to. It is so important to make sure that we put the right infrastructure in the right place, and as the member for Capricornia says in this important motion, it is vital that these beef roads get the upgrades that they need.

I appreciate that the member for Moreton once famously said, 'If a road doesn't have bitumen on it in the last seven years, why would you put that paving on it now?' That is the Labor attitude. I do thank him for giving me one minute on this. I just want to go straight to the mayor for Central Highlands, Kerry Hayes, a good man. He says the delays were 'just wrong', and he's right. It shows Labor's lack of understanding in Queensland and Labor's lack of care and empathy for the cattle industry and, particularly, for regional Australians.

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