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

As I have told this chamber repeatedly, thousands upon thousands of mining jobs have been lost throughout Central and North Queensland. In order to pick up the slack, the Liberal-National government has funded major job-creating infrastructure projects throughout that region, but the state Labor government does not seem to understand the urgency of the problem.

We have committed $6.7 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway, and that includes funds for the Mackay Ring Road and the Haughton River bridge. Combined, these projects are worth more than a billion dollars and will create over 1000 jobs. But as long as the state Labor government drags its feet with the planning and design, those jobs will sit on the shelf.

Planning and design on the Mackay Ring Road began in March last year and yet construction is not expected to start for another year. Goodness knows how long we will have to wait for the unsafe Haughton River bridge to be fixed. Heaven forbid that another death occurs there while we are waiting for the state Labor government to act.

I have two petitions in my hands, signed by hundreds of local residents and calling on the state Labor government to pull their finger out and get these projects started. I say to the state Labor government: 'Enough stuffing about; pull your finger out and get the job done.' I say to the people of Dawson: 'As long as I am your local MP, I will never give up the fight for local jobs.'