Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is Labor's beef with Central Queensland? Senate estimates this month revealed that $400 million of funding for the upgrades of 475 kilometres of beef corridors to be sealed has been pushed back from a start date in the 2025-26 financial year until the 2027-28 financial year. Once again we see the Labor government biting the hand that feeds it.

Labor is set to introduce a new tax to parliament which will force farmers to pay the biosecurity costs of international importers, pushing up prices for Australian-grown produce at supermarkets for all consumers. This new tax rate will be set as a proportion of the industry's average cost value production over a three-year period rather than the base rate of 10 per cent on industry-led levies, due to confusion in the levy system and inequity. Yet, at the same time the Labor government has betrayed Central Queensland by delaying the beef corridor upgrade—an upgrade that will not only improve road safety for all users but form a strategic web of agricultural supply chains from east to west.

I urge the Labor government to get on and build the beef corridors as soon as possible to address this critical infrastructure need for our rural communities. Sealing of these roads not only improves the industry's ability but improves the overall quality of life of all rural Queenslanders.