Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government is committed to jobs and growth in Queensland. In my home state of Queensland, Labor came into office with no plan and they have proven themselves to be absolutely hopeless. What is their solution to the economic and jobs crisis hitting Queensland? It is to impose an ill-conceived freeze on infrastructure until they can work out what they are doing and how they will pay for it.

The business community in Queensland is crying out for action from Labor. Yet Queensland Labor, just like their federal colleagues, seem incapable of anything. Premier Palaszczuk says, 'Let's talk,' and the business community says, 'Please act.' But it falls on deaf ears. All the Queensland Labor government have been able to muster is 60 reviews in seven months. That is roughly two reviews a week—no plan, no idea and no policies.

Thanks to Labor, unemployment is on the rise in Queensland. In fact, seasonally adjusted unemployment in Queensland increased by 0.4 per cent and Queensland's unemployment rate continues to be above the national average on both measures. Here are some unacceptable facts. Fact 1: under Labor, Queensland lost almost 22,000 full-time jobs in July alone—more than any other state. Fact 2: Queensland has fewer full-time jobs than in February, when Labor was elected. Fact 3: 10,000 Queenslanders joined the unemployment queue last month. Lastly, fact 4: Queensland's unemployment rate is at 6.3 per cent, the third highest in the country. No amount of spin from Premier Palaszczuk can change these figures. She is out of her depth and she is not up to the job. Queenslanders certainly did not vote for this.

Queensland desperately needs a government with a plan to develop job-creating projects—major projects like the Adani Carmichael project, which will create jobs and drive economic growth for the people of Queensland. What is interesting here is that bizarrely—and in contrast to Bill Shorten and the Greens—Queensland Labor says it recognises the value of major projects like this. In The Courier-Mail on 5 August this year, Queensland Labor minister for mines, Anthony Lynham, stated:

We, like the people of Queensland and Central Queensland, want this mine to go ahead.

Mr Lynham also told The Australian Financial Review on 9 August this year that the Queensland government were 'doing everything in their power to prioritise approvals' and had sent the environmental impact statement on the Abbot Point expansion to the federal government. He said:

The Palaszczuk government supports the sustainable development of the Galilee Basin because we want the jobs and the economic development for Queensland.

On 31 August this year The Courier-Mail reported that Queensland Labor Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef, Dr Steven Miles, told the Queensland Labor state conference that Labor did not want to be the party that jolts the economy through a crackdown on coal. He specifically said:

We can mine coal in Queensland, where we have the highest mine safety record in the world, we mine coal with environmental rigour, and we mine coal that’s very efficient and economic to burn.

If we don’t allow this to go ahead, coal is one of the most prolific minerals on Earth; there are many other sources of coal, but none as good as the coal we mine here.

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We are not going to be the party that jolts the economy by closing down coal without a transition that adequately shifts the economy and takes workers with us.

I say to the Palaszczuk Labor government: 'Talk is very cheap. Act—get on with it. The business community in Queensland want you to act. Jobs depend on it. The economy depends on it. Get Bill Shorten and your federal Labor mates on board and work constructively with the federal coalition government to make sure we have jobs in Queensland for our tens of thousands of young people. The 30,000 businesses in my electorate crave the economy to expand. Get on with doing the job you were elected to do.'