Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Queenslanders will suffer if the Turnbull government guts our state's fair share of GST.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shame!

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the member for Oxley cares passionately about this. If this goes ahead, Queensland could lose $1.5 billion from our economy. This is the equivalent of losing 5,000 teachers, 5,000 nurses, 3,000 police officers and 1,135 firefighters. It's clear that Prime Minister Turnbull and the LNP government do not care about frontline services in Queensland. Our large geographical size, significant Indigenous population and decentralised communities—with many of them regional and remote—present significant challenges in providing equitable access to services, including education, health and transport. Where are the LNP MPs standing up for Queensland? They're missing in action. Have the members for Capricornia, Flynn or Dawson stood up to Prime Minister Turnbull and fought to protect regional frontline services? No. Have the members for Petrie, Bonner or Forde in Brisbane stood up and demanded that the Prime Minister rule out these severe cuts to Queensland? No. Not one LNP MP has stood up for Queensland's fair share. No-one has stood up against Prime Minister Turnbull's cuts. They talk big in Queensland but they walk soft here in Canberra. Only Labor will fight for Queensland, our health and education services and our fair share of the GST. I look forward to working with the member for Oxley and the other Queensland MPs and senators to make sure that our GST goes back to Queensland and looks after the bush and the city with frontline services.