Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Sherry, I thank you for your previous answer to my question. I join with you and appreciate the fact that you have indicated to the four major banks and other lending institutions that, having received some support from the Australian government—that is, from the taxpayers through the Australian government—the banks should be very careful about the way they deal with margin loans they have lent. Sure it is their money but there is a way of dealing with them and the early information and evidence from the Storm Financial victims indicates that some banks are not playing the game. I appreciate your urging—dare I call it warning—the banks to be very careful because if the lot of Australians are impacted upon by capricious bank action then they will be named and followed in this chamber.

There are other questions I would like to ask but I know a lot of my colleagues want to ask questions so I will briefly move to the other question I did want to raise with you. As I mentioned in my speech in the second reading debate yesterday, nothing that is happening in the north can, in any way, compare with the horrendous situation in Victoria at the moment. Having said that, there is the community up in the Gulf of Carpentaria—not a big community—that has been without road access for more than four weeks now, almost since the beginning of the year. There is another community between Cairns and Normanton and Karumba—a place called Georgetown—that, again, is cut off by the washing away of the Ainslie river bridge. My question that I do seek a response from you is: where in the spending package will there be money that will assist more than just natural disaster management responses, which are normal—money that might go to not just fix roads that are cut but actually improve them so they will not be cut in the future?

The communities that I ask this question on behalf of are only small. They are a long way from the capital city media outlets, so they do not get as much profile as perhaps they would if they were close to a capital city and had been without a means of getting provisions for over four weeks. The closure of the Einasleigh River bridge, east of Georgetown, will cut off that community from supplies, will prevent transportation of people and stop the very wealthy produce of the north-west and the Gulf country—that is, the cattle—from getting out to the coast where it is needed. I do not want to prolong my question. I want to give you, Minister, an opportunity to answer. Will money be made available?

I mentioned again very briefly in my speech on the second reading the case of the people at Karumba. They have been cut off for more than four weeks. They have an airstrip that is not sealed. The Queensland government has agreed to pay one-third of the cost of sealing the airstrip, but just sealing the airstrip is not what is required. They need more. They need the airstrip extended, and this requires some action by the Queensland government to provide the additional land that is needed. Why do they need this extension of the airstrip? There is no way of getting in and out of Karumba at the moment, although if you can get through to Normanton, you can get on the Norman River on a barge and barge down the very winding river—which is in flood at the moment. If the airstrip were operational, you would be able to fly in relief goods—that is, food and emergency medical provisions—and use it in good times, and they will return. As I said somewhere else, the rain we get in the north does cause problems but it is what makes the north so great. It is what gives us the rainforests, the fishing and all the other attributes that make Northern Australia a very desirable place not only in which to live but also for tourists to visit. If this airstrip were extended then planes like Dash 8s could actually land on it. At the moment they cannot. In times when the community is cut off, it could be the only means of support.

Minister, I ask where in the package—and it relates to bill No. 2, I think—is money being made available for those essential forms of infrastructure? I could spend hours suggesting other forms of infrastructure that would be as useful, as important and as economically productive. Batts in ceilings do not qualify in my view as productive expenditure. I want to concentrate in my question on those communities west of Cairns, right out to the border, that simply do not have the normal facility of road access because of the rains and because of poorly designed infrastructure that will require substantial sums of money to fix.