Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The recent state election in Queensland may see a Labor government form in Queensland over the next few days. If Anna Palaszczuk does have the confidence of the parliament to be able to form parliament I have grave fears for the future of Queensland. It will be disastrous for the agricultural sector and rural communities right across Queensland, including my electorate of Maranoa.

The LNP had introduced some very sensible reforms and was on track to bring the budget back into the black and, as a result of that, inevitably we would see Queensland's AAA credit rating restored. But I do not see any evidence of that insight should the Labor Party form a government in Queensland, because it will not be a Labor government; it will be a Labor-Green government in Queensland. It was the Greens who gave Labor preferences throughout Queensland. Anna Palaszczuk ran a Green agenda throughout the campaign, and the Greens will be seeking a dividend from the new Premier should she be Premier Anna Palaszczuk in the next few days.

I have to say that some of the reforms that were put in place by the LNP, included sensible vegetation management laws in Queensland. The people on the land respect the land. They are the custodians of the land for generations to come. But what we saw under the Labor government, under Beattie, under Bligh, and under the late Premier Goss—who was advised, I might say, by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as his adviser—draconian land laws in relation to water management and also vegetation management. They actually had tree police who would go around and inspect from the air—from Google Earth—people's operations and what they were doing on their land. They introduced retrospective legislation so that they could go and prosecute landholders and treat them as criminals. It was outrageous. Those laws were changed, which is sensible. I feel very sad that those laws may once again be on the statute books in Queensland.

The Queensland Labor Party, should they form government, does not have a mandate. They have 44 seats. They do not have a majority, and they would be relying on an Independent to give them a single seat majority to govern.

Will the Labor Party in Queensland continue with the drought policy introduced by the LNP? We know what happened down here. When we came to government there was no drought policy. They did not care about the impact of extended drought. In my electorate in north-west Queensland we have had the worst drought since Federation, and it is still in serious drought officially. By any record—by Bureau of Meteorology records—it has been the worst drought we have seen. The LNP put $100 million into drought policy to assist landholders to get through this worst drought. Will that, as their records show, be repealed? Will they continue with a drought policy?

What about the Great Artesian Basin sustainability initiative—the bore capping program?

Under Wayne Swan, the former Treasurer in the Labor government, they gutted that. They ended that very successful program, introduced by John Howard and John Anderson, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister when we were in government. We have put the money back on the table to restart that GABSI program. Should Annastacia Palaszczuk become the next premier, will Labor commit to that? I call on her to make sure that they commit and put their money on the table to match the Commonwealth money to see that program re-established. It is the greatest water-saving environmental program that we could have. The Great Artesian Basin provides water for so many communities in Western Queensland and across South Australia and western New South Wales. So I call on them, if they do form government, to put their money on the table and not to do what we saw down here in Canberra.

Country racing, under years and years of Labor, was gutted. But it is back on the agenda. Country racing is part of the social fabric of many of our rural communities. Will they continue to support it?

Then there is the Warrego Highway in my electorate. Anyone who has driven on the Warrego Highway since the LNP has been in government knows that, with federal funding, it has been upgraded from Charleville through to Brisbane with more passing lanes. It is now a highway; before, it was nothing more than a rabbit track. What will happen to the planned Dalby South State School lights on the Warrego Highway? Will they proceed? What about the very dangerous railway crossing at Chinchilla that the LNP committed to upgrade? We now see type 2 road trains coming from Western Queensland right through to Roma. They were not there in the past under Labor. I call on this new Labor government to commit to those initiatives.