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

I hear many voices in this job, often spin doctors and mostly media commentators and agitators, relentlessly pursuing their own agendas. But in the real world, real people are trying to earn a living, make ends meet, and improve their lot in life. Tonight, I am their voice in speech and in the form of a petition, which I will shortly seek leave to table.

Some years ago, I led a convoy of Liberal and National MPs, including the Deputy Prime Minister, along the entire 1700 kilometre length of the Bruce Highway. We listened to what people had to say; we consulted with individuals, councils, and community groups who provided input on what to fix and how to fix it. As a result, the biggest funding commitment in the history of the Bruce Highway has projects under way and already completed.

Today, there are strong and passionate voices in North Queensland railing against the 100 per cent fly-in fly-out mining operations that were approved under the former Bligh Labor government in Queensland. I campaigned against this geographic discrimination when it was brought in then, and I still do now. In a desperate bid to win the Queensland election, Labor's leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, made this commitment in writing:

All existing 100% FIFO arrangements will be reviewed within the first 100 days of a Labor Government and where a mining operation is located near a regional community, 100% FIFO will not be permitted.

That was on page 5 of Ms Palaszczuk's own policy document 'Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities.' Despite the potential new Labor deputy premier, Jackie Trad, trying to back-track on that commitment, the people of North Queensland and I, as their voice in this place, will hold Labor to their word should they form government in Queensland.

When I listen to North Queenslanders, they are not concerned about the machinations of parliament—parties, leadership and question time. They want someone to stand up for them—who will stand up to the sugar mills that are riding roughshod over canegrowers and taking away farmers' rights to have a say in how their sugar is marketed. Yesterday, I chaired the first meeting of a Sugar Marketing Code of Conduct Task Force where it was agreed the best means of achieving the right outcome is extensive consultation with the industry. As task force chair, I will be facilitating meetings with growers, with millers and with other stakeholders to ensure we are listening to the right people, explaining the problems, canvassing solutions and building collaborative outcomes.

Policies should be created less by government and more by people who know and understand issues and industries. In the Whitsundays, it is the local people who see the potential of super yacht visitations. Locals, including Paul Darrouzet from the Abel Point marina, explained to me that every week one of these super yachts is in dock, $50,000 is injected into the local economy. In Noumea, I understand the average stay for a super yacht is a week or more and they have 200 visits a year—or roughly a $10 million injection into their economy. This is where the government needs to review environmental regulations and taxation issues that prevent the industry from developing, that prevent those super yachts from docking in our ports.

Voices in the tourism industry in the Whitsundays also tell me that water quality on the Great Barrier Reef is critical to the future of their industry. I am currently working with locals such as the charter boat operators to secure research funds for improving water quality in our region, which will then improve the tourism experience and secure the industry long-term. Unfortunately, the water quality issue and issues concerning the entire reef have been hijacked by radical greens to fight an entirely different agenda—to close down all mining in Australia. The voices of GetUp! and the extreme greens are very, very loud but also very, very wrong. They campaigned against 'toxic sludge being dumped on the reef' in an attempt to shut down coal mining by blocking dredging at Abbot Point. However, the dredged material is natural sand—hardly toxic sludge—and, far from being dumped on the reef, the proposal that the project proponents, the federal government and I support is for the material to be disposed of on land. Most of the antimining, anticapitalism antijobs brigade are not local voices. The local voices, the voices of those who know the area, who know the project and understand exactly what is planned and what the impacts will be, are right here in this petition.

I seek leave to table this petition of 1,057 signatures representing the views of the small town of Bowen, which desperately needs some of the benefits that will come with the thousands upon thousands of jobs created by Abbot Point, the Carmichael mine and associated infrastructure. These voices are calling for immediate legislative changes that would reduce the powers of groups or individuals to further delay the Abbot Point expansion.

Leave granted.