James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would love some good interjections but we have just got lots and lots of noise at the moment. Please put some good interjections. Please tell me some reasons why the Labor Party in Queensland should be defended. Queenslanders should not be fooled: a vote for the ALP's is a vote for no new ideas, no new plans and a number of recycled MPs who were turfed out at the last election, and who in 2009 lied and fibbed their way back into office. They promised not to sell assets. Anna Bligh and the Labor Party said they would not sell any assets. Guess what they did? On the Sunday after the election there was an ad in the Sunday Mail selling the assets of Queensland. People in Queensland should not trust the Labor Party.

Let us talk about the election campaign in 2012. I do have a conflict of interest here: I was involved with the campaign where Labor MPs and Labor headquarters ran one of the most despicable dirty campaigns in Australian history, where they targeted the wife of the leader of the Liberal National Party. So instead talking about policies or talking about the issues, they targeted Lisa Newman. Shame on the Queensland Labor Party. What is disappointing is that Labor have not learnt. They will do anything and they will say anything to get into power. They will get into bed with the Greens, they will get into bed with the Palmer United Party, they will get into bed with Katter and they will get into bed with anyone to get back into power because this is the modern Labor Party in Queensland.

Uncertain times like this are when Queensland needs a strong team with a strong plan for a stronger Queensland. One of the things that Campbell and the government in Queensland have done is have a 30-year plan for the future. Name me one government in Australia that has sat down with the people of their state or territory and said: let's have a long-term plan of where we see this state going. The government of Queensland undertook a massive consultation exercise with community representatives where they sat down and asked: where do we see this state in 30-years' time because if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Campbell Newman and the government in Queensland have a plan to make sure that the state of Queensland has a strong direction in looking after public services, making sure the economy is looked after and that Queensland knows where it is going.

We could talk about job creation. There have been 44,000 new jobs created since 2012 election. In Queensland we have created over half the new jobs that have been created in Australia since 2012. This has not happened by chance. There is a strong team in Queensland. I think Australia's this Treasurer is Tim Nicholls, a fantastic Treasurer. We have Australia's best Premier and Jeff Seeney as Deputy Premier driving infrastructure, making sure that we have got the roads and bridges of the 21st century in Queensland.

Where Labor goes very quiet is when we come to debt because Labor do not like to talk about debt. It is sort of like the elephant in the room for them. I challenge any Labor senators who are in the chamber tonight to tell me how much, after 20 years of Labor government, debt was left in Queensland? What is the interest bill? Lots. There is $85 billion worth of debt.

Senator Polley interjecting—