Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

These investments will deliver a stronger beef sector, but they will also deliver safer roads and better animal welfare outcomes. If I could just focus on one of the investments near where I live, around Rockhampton: we will make an investment that will allow type 1 trucks to go through to the meatworks at Rockhampton. This means that trucks will no longer have to be decoupled at Gracemere, which will save the industry two hours, but, perhaps more importantly, it will be safer.

A couple of years ago, tragically, a young individual was killed cross-loading cattle at Gracemere; that will no longer have to happen, thanks to the investments that this government is making. That is why Ian Wild, the president of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Queensland, says, 'It means our drivers will not have to cross-load cattle or decouple at Gracemere to get into the meatworks. They can go direct, which is an animal welfare thing, and this means they are on the vehicle for a shorter period of time in the yards and registered before anything else happens.'

These are great investments from a government which is getting on with the job of developing the north.