Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to . Will the update the House on the coalition government's $2.5 billion water infrastructure commitment? Are there any threats to the timeliness of construction and the cost of these significant nation-building projects?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Yes, impediments have been put forward, especially by militant groups such as the CFMEU. We have a vision for Central Queensland with such things as the Gayndah Regional Irrigation Development project and the money and wealth it will bring into that area. Also in the member for Flynn's area is Rookwood Weir, for which we have put $130 million on the table and also $2 million for the feasibility study to get this plan up and running and provide real jobs—over 2,300 jobs—and an extra $1 billion a year for the city of Rockhampton.

But what we are up against—and the member would know it quite clearly—is that as the Labor Party in Queensland heads towards elections they are more interested in Greens preferences. Their vision for their state does not go beyond the Pine River. It is a vision for Brisbane. They are happy to talk to us about Cross River Rail but they do not want to talk about the people of Central Queensland. It is an indictment on those state Labor Party members from Central Queensland who do not stand up for their area, do not stand up for the people, do not go into bat so they can actually get this delivered.

And it is something that has been picked up by all the papers, as they clearly understand that the Labor Party is not a party of vision. They are a party who believe that, rather than representing the people of Central Queensland, they should be representing the CFMEU. We saw that with the desalination plant down in Victoria., which was supposed to cost $2.9 billion and ended up costing $4 billion. And every day it costs $1.8 million and does not produce a drop of water for the people of Victoria. Those are the organisational skills you get when a party is beholden to the CFMEU. Whilst building the desalination plant, it was reported they had midweek parties with strippers and ice. They had a shop steward who tried to import $147 million worth of cannabis and got a 5½-year jail term. These are the sorts of standover tactics, the sorts of corruption, which are embedded within the CFMEU—and I have not stopped.

The CFMEU are back at work at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games village. They are at work at the Sunshine Coast hospital. They are the sort of people who stand in the way of us building the Rookwood Weir. They are the sort of people who will stand in the way of us delivering the sort of vision that the coalition has—the vision for inland rail, the vision for dams, the vision for roads, the vision for Badgerys Creek.

But what is our problem? Our problem is the CFMEU, the Greens and the Australian Labor Party—and sometimes you cannot tell the difference between them. But they are there; they are there today. We can see on the Sunshine Coast that it is costing up to $100,000 a day. But don't worry: the Labor Party will get it back next time they get a donation!