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

The Bundaberg region and the North Burnett region produce 25 per cent of Australia's fresh food. The Bundaberg growers produce tomatoes, macadamias, avocados, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, capsicum, chillis, sweet potatoes, strawberries, snow peas and beans, just to name a few. The region is also famous for its thriving sugar industry. The North Burnett region produces citrus, grapes, stone fruit and avocados. These amazing regions are producing delicious produce that the nation can enjoy. However, we all know that, with no water, there is no life. Rather than supporting the industries that feed this nation, we've seen the Labor government continually strip funding from vital water infrastructure projects.

More than $7 billion was taken out of water infrastructure in Labor's first budget in 2022. This included projects such as Urannah Dam, which was sensationally cancelled in the October 2022 budget, even though $483 million had been committed by the previous coalition government in May 2023 and even though the dam would have provided enough water to develop 20,000 hectares of irrigated, high-value agricultural land. To make matters worse, the Labor government has betrayed the Bundaberg and North Burnett regions in their most recent budget, by slashing the funding to restore the Paradise Dam. Prime Minister Albanese sat in the ABC Wide Bay studio and promised Labor would repair the dam, and now they have cut the funding that the previous coalition government secured.

Paradise Dam has become one of the biggest infrastructure failures in Australian history. It was built near Bundaberg in 2005 by the Labor government to serve the surrounding agricultural industry but was found to be at risk of collapse in 2019 due to engineering problems. We have now seen the federal Labor government turn their backs on the Bundaberg and North Burnett regions. The Queensland Labor government threw out 13 pieces of legislation to pull the dam down, so why can't this government just bypass all of this bureaucratic red tape, environmental impact studies, business cases, cultural heritage and so forth, and rebuild this piece of vital water infrastructure? Agriculture is poised to reach $100 billion by 2030 and, therefore, we need more water infrastructure to be built throughout Queensland. Water is an essential ingredient to the prosperity of life, and I'm pleased that water infrastructure such as Rookwood Weir has finally been completed.

Queensland cannot expand and give security to high-value agriculture, business, industry and modern urban living without the provision of more water. Our populations are continuing to grow, and with this there is the need to feed Australia. Queensland needs further water infrastructure to provide water security for our farmers and to take advantage of further expansion of agriculture in Central Queensland and the Wide Bay area.