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

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Government has committed $700 million to improve roads in Northern Australia including $100 million through the Northern Australia Beef Roads Programme (BRP) to improve roads essential to cattle transportation and to help producers to transport cattle to market more safely and efficiently;

(b) upgrades under the BRP will be delivered to many areas including the:

  (i) City of Rockhampton (upgrading between Gracemere saleyards and the Rockhampton abattoirs to provide access for Type 1 Road Trains), as well as upgrades to the Hann Highway, Barkly Highway, Flinders Highway, Capricorn Highway and Clermont to Alpha Road in Queensland;

  (ii) Great Northern Highway and Marble Bar Road in Western Australia; and

  (iii) Outback Way, Arnhem Highway and Keep River Road in the Northern Territory; and

(c) under the BRP the Government recently committed to further upgrades including to the:

  (i) Peak Downs Highway (Clermont-Nebo, Logan Creek to Nine Mile Creek), Port Alma Access Road near Rockhampton, Bowen Developmental Road and Landsborough Highway (Longreach-Winton) in Queensland;

  (ii) Tablelands Highway, Barkly Stock Route and Buntine Highway in the Northern Territory; and

  (iii) Cape Leveque Road and Great Northern Highway in Western Australia; and

(2) commends the Government for recognising the potential of Northern Australia and investing in these key transport links.

We all know that in regional and remote Australia a good road network is vital for the safety of travellers and the efficiency of local industry to get goods and resources to market. A good road is something that city slickers and those aligned with city-based Labor MPs, the Greens, take for granted. Today, we specifically look at the vast network of roads in northern Australia. Northern Australia is one of the most important regional areas in terms of both future and current agriculture production. The official gateway and the official farm gate to northern Australia starts at the Tropic of Capricorn. Previously, Labor has all but ignored our regional road network.

The Turnbull-Joyce government, with a huge push by the National Party, is investing heavily to improve rural and regional roads that are important to industries such as the transportation of cattle. The Turnbull-Joyce government has committed $700 million to improving roads in northern Australia, including $100 million through the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program. This is essential to help producers to transport cattle to market more safely and efficiently. Upgrades under the first round of the beef roads program will be delivered to many areas across Northern Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

In my electorate of Capricornia I am pleased to inform the House that $20 million will be spent on a new type 1 road train route from Central Queensland's Gracemere Saleyards to two abattoirs in Rockhampton city. This city is Australia's beef capital. I am sure all here will agree with that. Most significantly, upgrading this transport corridor will allow type 1 road trains into the city without the need to uncouple. Previously, these cattle trucks had to leave one of their trailers full of cattle at Gracemere and return for it, doubling fuel and transport costs and leaving cattle in the sun.

The second major work in Capricornia under the beef roads program will see $6.97 million spent to help gradually bitumen another three sections of the Clermont Alpha Road. This area has been crying out for funding for some time. This is a start, and I will be fighting for more funding for future stages of this road.

Other beef road upgrades in Queensland include the Hahn Highway, the Barky Highway, the Flinders Highway and the Capricorn Highway. In Western Australia, beef road upgrades are occurring on the Great Northern Highway and Marble Bar Road. In the Northern Territory, beef road upgrades will be underway on the Outback Way, the Arnhem Highway and Keep River Road.

Coinciding with the beef roads program, we also have a special Northern Australia Roads Program to enhance the future development of our North. Under this program, the Turnbull-Joyce government recently committed to further upgrades, including the Peak Downs Highway at Logan Creek to Nine Mile Creek between Clermont and Nebo, in my electorate of Capricornia; upgrades to the Port Alma port access road near Rockhampton, in Capricornia; the Bowen Developmental Road, near Capricornia; and the Landsborough Highway from Longreach to Winton, in Queensland. Under this program, in the Northern Territory, work will be done on the Tablelands Highway, the Barkly Stock Route and the Buntine Highway and, in Western Australia, on the Cape Leveque road and the Great Northern Highway. Today I also commend the Turnbull-Joyce government for recognising the potential of northern Australia and investing in these key transport links.

The National Party plays a key role in standing up for regional Australia and ensuring that industries get the resources required to get on with the job of producing meat and foods that benefit our national GDP. That is the difference between us and the Labor Party. The Leader of the Opposition has no plan for northern Australia; the Leader of the Opposition has no interest in expanding industry and jobs in northern Australia; and the Leader of the Opposition wanted to move $1 billion from the northern Australia fund, leaving it high and dry.

On the subject of roads, I am pleased to update the House on three other key road projects which have received funding from the federal Liberal-National coalition. In the Capricorn Coast area, works are now complete on upgrading a notoriously dangerous intersection at Hidden Valley Road and the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road, making the journey safer for motorists.

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

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

I already talked about that. The $958,000 upgrade was fully funded through our coalition government's road Black Spot Program, one of the many initiatives in place to improve road safety and reduce road trauma. The intersection was a longstanding issue in the Capricorn Coast community. The upgrade was undertaken in two stages. The first stage involved extending Hoskyn Drive to Hidden Valley Road. The second stage involved the recent upgrade of the notoriously dangerous Hidden Valley Road turnoff onto Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road. The work is expected to reduce the number of collisions at this intersection.

Meanwhile, I am pleased to report to the House that work to repair Pilbeam Drive up to Mount Archer and the city of Rockhampton has been completed. Pilbeam Drive partially collapsed under rockfalls following Cyclone Marcia in 2015. The two-year repair work was undertaken thanks to joint federal and state NDRRA, natural disaster assistance. Mount Archer is an important asset to our region, and it was important to restore access to the summit by repairing the damage to Pilbeam Drive. In addition to the road repairs, I am pleased that the federal government is also contributing $1.5 million towards the first stage of a walking track up Mount Archer and is providing funding for further developments for mountain biking.

In a third update, I am pleased to advise the House that upgrades to the Gregory Highway between Emerald and Clermont are well underway in the electorates of Capricornia and Flynn. This $25.5 million project is delivering a series of new intersections, lane widening and overtaking lanes. It has been funded through round 4 of the coalition's Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. These upgrades will allow type 2 road trains to use this road safely and efficiently. They will also ensure that the needs of the agribusiness, mining and construction industries are met so we can get goods to market in a competitive manner. I am advised that an average of 50 direct jobs will also be supported over the construction phase of this project. This is evidence that the National Party continue to ensure that our government supports investment in regional Australia.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, but I do note that I was very concerned earlier, though, about the 'beef capital of Australia'! I ask the member for Maranoa to second the motion.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Deputy Speaker, you said you were the beef capital of what?

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The country.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What? You are kidding yourself!

Despite the misinformation which you have just perpetrated on the House, I am pleased to be able to speak to this motion, and I thank the member for putting it on the Notice Paper. As you would be aware, the government has committed $700 million to improve roads in Northern Australia, including $100 million for the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program to improve roads that are essential to cattle transportation to help producers transport cattle to market more safely and efficiently.

The BRP spend in the Northern Territory will be $30 million. It is welcome, but it is stretching credulity to say that it will make any damn difference. Given the hundreds of kilometres of roads which are essential to the economic development of Northern Australia—particularly in this context, the beef industry—$30 million, while welcome, will not go very far. I was talking to some people this morning, the wonderful people from the Outback Way, and I was not aware of this fact: currently it costs anywhere between $500,000 and $1.2 million a kilometre to do a road in the Northern Territory. God knows why! But if this is correct, it means the $30 million is not going to go very far.

It is important that the Northern Territory government will contribute 20 per cent toward the projects. But the fact is that we have hundreds of kilometres of roads that need work and the Northern Territory simply does not have the revenue base to cover them. So this money coming from the Commonwealth is very important, and the small amount that it is is quite welcome. The two priority upgrades announced for the Northern Territory—the Barkly Stock Route for $10 million and the Tablelands Highway for $20 million—are both in the Barkly region of the north-east of the Northern Territory.

We do not have enough money for roads. This is important and, given the way in which the money is being allocated, I would like to think it was being based on the strategic, economic and social importance of the roads rather than the political priorities of the government. Sadly, I have the view that this is more politically motivated than it is in terms of the strategic, economic and social importance of the road infrastructure of the north.

To highlight one of these roads: the Tanami Road, for example, has been closed. The Granites Gold Mine has lost road access, as of last week, for 57 days. So for almost two months the Tanami gold mine has had no road access. And this is the case across the north, particularly in the Northern Territory. So I say to the government that whilst we accept the benefits that have accrued to us as a result of this small amount of money, it is simply not enough and we need to do a great deal more.

It is symptomatic, Deputy Speaker: I do not think that most people in this place—I am sure you will agree with me and I know my friend here will agree with me—have no idea about remote Australia. They clearly do not understand the economic imperatives and drivers that make it important to invest in the north in the way that we currently do not. We have seen that writ large in the stupid decision by the ABC to cease shortwave services in the Northern Territory. In doing so, without any consultation whatsoever with the people of the Northern Territory and those most affected by it—including those who rely on it for emergency advice and for their own entertainment—the ABC believes people can get access to the ABC through AM and FM, but that is simply not the truth. I have had discussions with the ABC and made it very clear to them how unacceptable this position is.

The cattleman are some of the strongest voices opposing the decision by the ABC, just as it is the cattleman who are demanding that we invest more in roads, and we should do. I say to the members opposite that those of us who live in remote Australia ought to unite together to make sure this place understands the imperatives, priorities and needs of the people in the bush.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the member for Capricornia's private member's motion. It highlights exactly why I decided to run to be a Liberal, regional member of parliament—to develop regional, rural and remote Australia.

Pardon the pun, but, as I said in this chamber earlier today, the federal government is making significant inroads in developing regional and rural Australia across all states and territories, not just New South Wales and Victoria. Following my election in September 2013, the northern Australia white paper, Our North, Our Future, was written and published, and as a result we now have a minister for northern Australia for the first time in over 20 years.

The federal government is investing in the most comprehensive infrastructure program in Australia's history—a $50 billion infrastructure program, which will create jobs and stimulate economic growth in not just the metropolitan cities, but also regional, rural and remote Australia, both north and south. The $50 billion infrastructure program is part of the long-term economic plan of those of us on this side of the chamber, and, as you know, Deputy Speaker Wicks, there is no alternative from those on the other side of the chamber.

Transport infrastructure, including the beef roads program, can change people's lives and save lives. That is why in September last year I announced 12 road upgrades in my vast electorate of Durack through the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. Transportation of essential basics such as food and other supplies, especially for mining operations, is vital in Durack, which spans over 1.6 million square kilometres from Southern Cross in the wheat belt to Wyndham in the Kimberley.

The North West Coastal Highway is an incredibly important road in Western Australia, connecting Geraldton to the Pilbara, one of Australia's economic heartlands. A truck bay will be constructed on the North West Coastal Highway near Ogilvie, just north of Northampton, which will enhance the safety for all commuters along one of WA's largest roads. This is a welcome addition to what is a very busy passage in regional WA.

A new road train assembly area will be constructed in Port Hedland adjacent to the Town of Port Hedland's area zoned for heavy vehicle industries, which will be another mammoth blessing for the safety of people passing through this very busy town. The Marble Bar Road upgrade will improve the safety of Pilbara road, with a four kilometre section of the road to be realigned and reconstructed to a single carriageway, fixing the current narrowness of the road. The truck bay on the North West Coastal Highway and the Port Hedland road train assembly area are just two of the 12 projects I announced last year, all of which will make our roads safer in the bush in WA.

As well as other benefits, such as creating jobs and economic growth, building roads has a greater effect in the community. The $52 million upgrade of the Great Northern Highway in the Kimberley will improve freight access to and from the region. The Great Northern Highway is a major freight route in the Kimberley, providing access to the Wyndham port, the only deepwater port between Broome and Darwin, which is vital for expanding the local mining and agricultural industries.

About 90,000 head of live cattle and minerals from mines in the East Kimberley are exported through the Wyndham port annually, with this figure to rise as the region experiences strong growth in this particular industry. The upgrade will ensure continued access for heavy vehicles travelling to the port and residents and tourists travelling between Halls Creek, Kununurra and Wyndham. As I have said before in this place on a couple of occasions, the Cape Leveque Road upgrade will open up the tourism potential of the Dampier Peninsula, a gorgeous tourism destination in the Kimberley, and support the local communities that live along the Cape Leveque Road.

As I have just illustrated, seven months after being re-elected, I am getting on with the job I promised to do, and I am delivering for regional, rural and remote WA to make Durack a better place to live. Often things like safety relating to roads is not talked about enough. But I can assure those people who may have an opportunity to listen to this speech that it makes a big difference to people who live in regional Australia, including those who travel the great lengths of the Great Northern Highway and the North West Coastal Highway, and I am very proud to represent those people.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As always with members of the government with private members' business, this is a self-congratulatory motion, but it is somewhat misplaced. The Northern Australia Beef Roads Program typifies this government when it comes to building infrastructure: an announcement with much fanfare followed by little action on the ground.

The program was announced in June 2015, when Tony Abbott was the Prime Minister. However, not a single actual project was announced until 16 months later, in October 2016, after the election campaign when, essentially, this program was used for election announcements. Then, 15 priority projects were announced with only half the funding—some $56 million—that was originally announced, and, as we stand here today, in 2017, not a single project from this program that was announced in 2015 has begun. It has taken two years, and not a hole has been dug for any project under this program.

This stands at a time when, just last week, the Reserve Bank Governor, Philip Lowe, again reiterated the need for investment in infrastructure. The previous speaker, the member for Durack, spoke about the fantasy of the government's so-called $50 billion program. But the answers in Senate estimates indicate that that program is, in fact, only $34 billion, with $8 billion in the future at some unspecified time. Indeed, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that for every single one of the 12 quarters that the coalition have been in office, public sector infrastructure investment has been less than for every one of the 21 quarters that the former Labor government spent in office, from the time of our first budget in 2008. We did not just make announcements; we actually went ahead and did it.

Our total commitment to Northern Australia over that time was some $5.5 billion. Some $500 per person was spent in Northern Australia on an annual basis. The Bruce Highway upgrade, the Cape York package, the Kennedy Highway upgrade and the Peak Downs Highway upgrade are all in Queensland.

In the Northern Territory, there was the community, beef and mining road package, and the highways package, including the widening of the Victoria, Barkly and Stuart highways. There was the regional roads productivity package; some $90 million in the Northern Territory alone. There was the Tiger Brennan Drive upgrade, the Great Northern Highway upgrade in northern Western Australia, the Dampier Highway duplication, and, of course, the North West Coastal Highway.

So we did not just talk about infrastructure in Northern Australia. We got on with the business of ensuring that it happened. As it is, you can see there has been an underspend on a project like the Bruce Highway, where the government has wound back the spending that it allocated, if you look at the forwards from the 2014 budget.

What we need to do is make sure that we step up infrastructure investment, particularly in the context of the resources sector moving from the investment to the production phase. Of course, the member who represents the area around Gladstone will know full well that the investments we made in roads in his region—in terms of access to the port and other projects at and around Gladstone—were significant after years of neglect under the Howard government. What I want is for the government to match its rhetoric with actual investment on the ground that will lay the groundwork for future economic growth.

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

I rise today to support the motion by the member for Capricornia. I have listened to the member for Durack and also to the member for Lingiari, and I agree with a lot of their comments. But I am here to talk about central Queensland and my electorate of Flynn, which straddles the boundary of northern Australia.

It could be said that central Queensland is the epicentre of the Australian beef industry. We have nearly 2.2 million head of cattle, roughly 7.5 per cent of the total Australian herd and 17.5 per cent of the Queensland herd. Rockhampton, just to the north, has a beef capital expo every three years. We have visitors from all over the world. It is really world standard. We get a lot of people in the international cattle industry as well as people in the national cattle industry.

Throughout the financial year 2015-16 some 362,000 head, or 18.2 per cent of the state total, went through saleyards in Flynn. Major saleyards in Flynn include Gracemere, 200,000 head; Emerald, 117,000; Biggenden in the south, 35,000; and Biloela, 10,000. There are other, much smaller, saleyards, like Miriam Vale. Many of these cattle will travel to the four major abattoirs in Queensland—Biggenden, Biloela, Lakes Creek and Fitzroy in Rockhampton. These sometimes have to travel hundreds of miles to get to their final location. This all adds up to central Queensland's beef industry being worth over $950 million per annum—that is 20 per cent of Queensland's total beef industry value.

In order to keep the beef industry going, we need export markets, good season and a supply network—that means roads for the safe, efficient handling of these cattle. The work already done by the government—the FTAs et cetera—has been instrumental in seeing Australian cattlemen and cattlewomen being awarded record prices at saleyards in the last couple of years. The eastern young cattle index is currently at 639.5c per kilogram.

We have a good industry, a very viable industry, but the road network does not match the extra movements and the growth in the industry. Rail services now hardly exist for livestock. We are forced to see more and more decks of cattle on the roads. This in turn means more investment in our roads, something that I am very, very passionate about: we have to improve the standard of our roads. The government has committed real funding to our supply network, with $700 million committed to improving northern Australian roads, including $100 million under the northern Australia beef program. As the member for Lingiari has said, you do not get a lot for a million dollars or for $700 million. I think we need to improve that level of investment to help our farmers get those cattle to markets safely and securely, without bruising.

Two great projects in Flynn at the moment are the upgrade of the Capricorn Highway, $80 million to upgrade from the Gracemere saleyards to the Rockhampton abattoirs, so that road trains no longer have to uncouple and cross-load at Gracemere, a dangerous practice that has already cost the life of 28-year-old truck driver and father Bryson Mayne; $15 million for the overtaking lanes on the Capricorn Highway between Rockhampton and Emerald; and two uncoupling stations between Emerald and Clermont. That project is being done at the very moment.

While these investments are welcome and are very useful improvements to our network, more roads are in desperate need. The Dawson Developmental Road between Springsure and Tambo is one of these roads. It is Queensland's central link in the movement of livestock and grain to population centres on the eastern seaboard. Cattle numbers around the Salvator Rosa and Ka Ka Mundi sections of the Carnarvon Gorge national park including from big stations like Mantuan Downs, Castlevale, Tanderra— (Time expired)

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.