Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Families and small businesses are doing it tough in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton. Capricornia faces a major jobs crisis due to the coalmining downturn. Resources will never be the same again. That is why we need to kickstart alternative industries to drive our future economy.

We can create thousands of jobs around Rockhampton within two years, but the Labor Party, once again, is holding back this opportunity. Rookwood weir near Rockhampton is a key economic driver, but Queensland's state Labor government and Labor MPs like Bill Byrne are sitting on their hands delaying the project and, along with it, stalling up to 2,100 new jobs. This is in contrast to the Turnbull-Joyce coalition government, which has put $130 million on the table to pay for 50 per cent of Rookwood weir. Further to this, we gave Queensland an extra $2 million to get on with the job of completing the state's business case that is required for Rookwood. The construction of Rookwood weir would boost agricultural production in the Fitzroy basin by $1 billion, effectively doubling production; create an additional 2,100 jobs; boost additional services and secondary industries by a multiplier of three; and guarantee future water security for urban and industrial use in Gladstone, Rockhampton and Livingstone shires.

Broke and lacking economic leadership, the go-slow Queensland Labor government say they will not have their business case ready until maybe 2018. Labor's state member for Rockhampton is part of this delay. Instead of getting up and having a go for the people of Rockhampton, Bill Byrne is part of this go-slow on Rookwood. This is a disgrace because Byrne was the previous minister for agriculture in Queensland. State member for Keppel, Brittany Lauga, is also as silent as a lamb on this topic. Like their federal Labor counterparts in Canberra, both state Labor MPs have failed Rockhampton and failed to back job creation. Jobs created by Rookwood are a lay-down misere. The Labor Party in Queensland just needs to get on with it.

Today I join the Deputy Prime Minister in condemning Queensland for their go-slow. Our expert advice suggests Queensland's business case could, in fact, be completed this year, with the project starting in 2017. But Labor would rather see that nothing goes ahead in Rockhampton than give our federal government credit for a project that would create thousands more jobs and turned the city around.