Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the minister for northern development: Minister, are you aware that 'Red Ted' Theodore's home, the Chillagoe mineral province, was the birth place of a labour movement? Liberals chanted, 'Red Ted better dead.' With the advent of industrial-scale mining, Chillagoe, without port access, was choked into oblivion. West of Cairns are six of Australia's eight biggest rivers. Doesn't this necessitate building the $1,000 million bridle track tunnel, thereby accessing the port and exploding North Queensland's current mineral, food, timber and industrial production to over $21,000 million a year?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a question somewhere in there. So the Minister for Northern Australia and the Minister for Resources has the call.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kennedy for his fine question. He's a tireless advocate for his community. I do acknowledge that North West Queensland, Chillagoe and other places right across western Queensland have been very important and have had a very important role in the labour movement. I want to acknowledge the member for Kennedy and his compelling stand against the coalition's unfair tax plans. As he has referenced the labour movement, I will mention how important Labor's tax cuts are to his constituents in Kennedy. Over 71,000 taxpayers in your electorate, Member for Kennedy, will receive a tax cut of over $1,400 each.

The member very importantly raised the matter of Cairns, the Cairns port and port access and the need for infrastructure in North and North West Queensland. They are vital for the economy and for the development of the resources sector there. Indeed, I hosted the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum at HMAS Cairns in Cairns last October with the ministers from Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. In relation to the port itself, the Australian government will contribute $150 million toward the $300 million expansion of the Cairns Marine Precinct, which is really important for the export industry that will come through the North West Minerals Province in his electorate. The member for Kennedy mentioned the proposed idea of the bridle track tunnel to the Cairns port. That is a very large undertaking, and there has been much discussion about it. I'm more than happy to speak with the relevant minister, the minister for infrastructure and transport, with regard to this.

But I will point out to the member for Kennedy that, as you know, the Labor government is delivering on our $120 million commitment to the shared commitment with the Queensland government of a $260 million upgrade to the Kuranda Range road. I know the Kuranda Range road, Member for Kennedy, is not the ideal solution for what you want to achieve in the north-west province; it is a difficult road and it does have its problems. As the member for Kennedy knows and as I know, there are a lot of geographical challenges in getting items from his electorate to the Cairns port. What is really important is that we do support the workers of north-west Queensland and that we do support those other incentives to increase mining activity in his electorate. I look forward to discussing with the member for Kennedy his support for the production tax credits, worth $17 billion, for critical minerals in his electorate, as well as many others. QEM's Vanadium mine in Julia Creek, in the member for Kennedy's electorate, is one of the world's largest deposits of this critical mineral, and I'll be more than happy to brief him and the very good, hardworking people in his office in relation to how we can incentivise the resources sector in his electorate of Kennedy.