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

The Peak Downs Highway connects Mackay to the Central Highlands mining towns. It is a vital link in the resource sector that is keeping this country afloat, but my constituents are dying on that road. Mackay families wait at home, hearts in their mouths, as the breadwinner of the family heads to work at the mines or returns at the end of the shift. The Peak Downs Highway was never designed to cope with the volume of heavy traffic that it now carries. The Road Accident Action Group believes it will cost about $400 million to upgrade the Peak Downs Highway. There was a time when the Labor Party wanted us to think they would do something about it. Going into the 2010 election they promised, amongst other things, to upgrade the Peak Downs Highway to the tune of $120 million—about a third of what is actually needed. Since they made that promise, the Labor Party have tried to link the project to the mining tax, using it as some sort of bait to fool people into thinking that taxing our golden goose to death is somehow a good idea.

Last week the Treasurer sent press releases into Liberal-National Party electorates in regional Queensland, making the false claim that the Liberal-National coalition was going to cut funding to local infrastructure projects, like the Peak Downs Highway, if we got into government. Yet a few days later, on 18 August—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Wait a second; you will hear something good—the Treasurer was quoted in the Weekend Australian as threatening to dock infrastructure funding tied to the mining tax if Queensland raised its royalties for the minerals that they actually own. The Treasurer said, 'Major investments in infrastructure in regions like Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone and Ipswich will be put at risk.' That means that the Townsville Ring Road, the Peak Downs Highway upgrade, Rockhampton's Yeppen Bridge and roundabout, the Gladstone Port Access Road and the Blacksoil Interchange are all under threat of being cut by the Gillard Labor government. This was confirmed on Tuesday this week in the Mackay Daily Mercury when Wayne Swan's 'spokesman' refused to answer when asked if Mr Swan could guarantee that the Peak Downs Highway would be delivered by the Labor government. There you have it. Now the transport minister has issued a press release saying that he has approved the release of $13½ million to do planning work for the Peak Downs Highway upgrade. Well, $13½ million for another study—and this one, we find in the press release, will take two years to complete.

They have pushed the start of the construction back so far, way beyond the next election, so that they will never, ever have to worry about it. There is no intention to deliver, because they know they cannot. The mining companies have come out and said that they will not be paying any of this mining tax for the next 10 years. The money was never going to be there and the final nail in the coffin for them is their acceptance now that they have actually killed the golden goose. The mining boom is over, according to the Minister for Resources and Energy.

In recent times in my region we have seen closures at Blair Athol and Norwich Park mines, and now Hay Point Coal Terminal is talking about costcutting. That means job losses. Why? Well, back in June, BHP head Marius Kloppers hit the nail on the head when he said that things like increased operating cost, carbon taxes and so on 'have all conspired to turn this from a fairly low-cost environment and therefore competitive to a higher cost environment'. The Labor-Greens carbon tax is bludgeoning our golden goose to death. In Labor seats like Blair and Capricornia, the local members need to stand up. The member for Blair must say whether he will hold the Treasurer to account and make sure the Black Soil interchange is completed, no matter what, as Labor promised at the last election. The member for Capricornia must hold the Treasurer to account and make sure the Yeppen Bridge and roundabout will be completed, no matter what, just as they promised at the last election. She must say whether she will hold the Treasurer to account and make sure that the Peak Downs highway upgrade will happen, no matter what, as they promised at the last election.

The Treasurer must say unequivocally whether the promised funding for these infrastructure projects will happen, and whether the Townsville Ring Road will go ahead as promised, no matter what. Whether the Yeppen Bridge and roundabout will go ahead as promised, no matter what. Whether the Gladstone Port access road will go ahead as promised, no matter what. Whether the Black Soil interchange will be finished as promised, no matter what. Whether the Peak Downs highway upgrade will go ahead as promised, no matter what. He must guarantee funding, no matter what. No matter whether there is no money in the mining tax, no matter what the state government does with its royalties, he must guarantee that funding will go ahead. There must be no more broken Labor promises, especially not on the Peak Downs highway.