Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This issue of protecting the Great Barrier Reef but also ensuring that there are job opportunities for regional Queensland is something that the Labor Party in Queensland has been at the forefront of. Labor has a proud record at both the state and federal level—and a better record than anyone over the last 30 years—of taking action to protect the Reef. But we also understand the importance of economic opportunity for regional Queenslanders, and it is the prism through which the Adani project is being looked at.

I understand Senator Di Natale said that he visited the Reef last year. I visited it with my family as well. It was the first opportunity that I have had to take my kids on that trip. I have also spent plenty of time in regional Queensland talking to people who are suffering unemployment at the moment. I dare say that, whilst Senator Di Natale visited the reef, I doubt he took time to go and talk to the people of Townsville who are suffering under high unemployment.

When you look at the unemployment rate in Townsville, it is at 11.6 per cent, and youth unemployment is at 16.8 per cent. This is of significant concern to me as a Queensland Labor senator, and something that I know is felt particularly in those local communities. The effects of high unemployment, with youth crime and associated social issues, are of concern. When you add falling house prices to that—I am just trying to paint a picture of the economic circumstances in North and Central Queensland—you get a sense of the doom and gloom that people in places like Mackay and Townsville are feeling as a result.

To exemplify the importance of this project, you only have to look at the trip to India, a number of weeks ago, by a group of mayors from that area. I know that Matt Burnett, mayor of Gladstone; Jenny Hill, mayor of Townsville; and Margaret Strelow, mayor of Rockhampton went on that trip. I had the opportunity to talk to the mayor of Rockhampton last week about how the trip went, and she was very excited about how successful it was and the opportunity that that group of mayors had had to put their case to the Adani Group about the importance of that project to regional Queensland.

I know that the state Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, was also on that trip. I had the opportunity to speak to her last week about how that trip went. Annastacia is also excited about the opportunity that the Adani project presents for regional Queensland. Speaking from experience, from a Queensland point of view it is very rare to get a group of mayors from a particular region agreeing on anything! It shows how strongly they agree with this project and its economic importance to Central and North Queensland that they were prepared to make that trip and make the case for how important it is for their region that it go ahead.

It is important to note that the jobs and economic opportunities from these sorts of projects are vital to those communities. The state Labor government understands this. They have been very consistent supporters of the project from opposition and now whilst in government. But the consistent message from them has been that this project must operate on its own commercial merits. I want to emphasise the key point there—its own commercial merits. I have seen similar language used by other politicians as well.

The reality is that, when it comes to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, all those opposite see is a boondoggle that they can use to try and play politics and claim credit over local issues. But the sad reality of this is that the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund has not contributed one red cent to north Queensland, it has not created one job and it is a distinct failure by the ministers, and those that have been responsible for it, that they have not delivered anything of note to regional Queensland.

They have form in this regard, because what we saw before the 2015 state election was Campbell Newman and Jeff Seeney trying to play politics with public funds by saying that they would privatise the electricity network, ports and other associated government businesses in Queensland, and they would put some of that money into the rail line for Adani. We saw that before the 2015 state election. As we all know, they absolutely failed, and that government got wiped out. What we are seeing is a re-run of that, where Senator Canavan is trying to use that same rhetoric, saying that he is going to use the Northern Australian Infrastructure Fund to fund the rail line. But, as I said, with the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, there is plenty of talk, but there is absolutely a lack of action when it comes to using that money.

Let us have a look at the evidence, what we have actually seen, when it comes to what politicians have been saying about the rail line. It is important to note that, post the 2015 state election, Adani issued a statement declaring that the Queensland election result would not influence the company's final decision-making and that the plan to build Adani's biggest coalmine would proceed regardless. When questioned about it, Minister Frydenberg, who was previously the minister responsible, said:

… it "wouldn't be a priority project" for funding under the Northern Australia Infrastructure fund. He also said that Adani was "a commercial operation and it needs to stand on its own two feet".

That was the line from minister Freudenberg before the federal election last year. What has changed? Clearly, the election result and the government's knowing that it is under significant pressure in regional Queensland. It sees this as a lifeline for it. The evidence from the previous state election is that the people of central and North Queensland, whilst I am confident they support this project, are not going to be hoodwinked by the government into believing that only the government that can get this project up. The company has said that it is not reliant on government funding and ministers have previously said that also, so it is a furphy for the government to look at that.

There is another, more recent quote from Adani in regard to the Northern Australia Infrastructure fund loan. The spokesperson said:

It's not critical. We have obviously applied for it because it's available … This is something that governments of all political persuasions have done in the past and I assume will do in the future. It doesn't necessarily mean it's make or break for the project.

It is important to note this when you look at the mandatory criteria written into the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund Investment Mandate Direction 2016, which state:

The Project Proponent must demonstrate to the Board’s satisfaction that financial assistance is necessary to enable the Project to proceed, or to proceed much earlier than it would otherwise.

So even when you look at NAIF's own guidelines you see there is a real failure in how this has proceeded from an Adani point of view, when it is on the record as saying it is not reliant on this government money. I emphasise that not a single dollar has been released from the $5 billion Northern Australia infrastructure fund, despite the development of Northern Australia being a key election promise in 2013. Those opposite talk a big game, but they fail to get any money out the door. It is no wonder that people in central and North Queensland are losing confidence in this government. The Adani project is the only project that has progressed under consideration at the moment. There are apparently five others, but Senator Canavan is claiming commercial in confidence. It may be that all the government sees Adani as being is a way to make one of its flagship funding programs slightly more complete other than the utter failure we have seen so far.

To rub salt into the wounds, two weeks ago the government set up a regional ministerial task force without one Queenslander on it. So at one level the government is saying that it understands regional Queensland, that it understands the importance of this project, but when push comes to shove and we actually see the actions of the government we see none of that follows up, and it leaves a sad tale.

The other aspect from a regional Queensland point of view is the jobs package that the government promised before the last federal election. Here we are, almost 12 months later, and not one cent has been spent in regional Queensland. I mentioned the high unemployment in places like Townsville. We see similar unemployment figures for the Gladstone area. The government has a really sorry tale of delivering on important local projects that it promised in the lead up to the election. We have seen nothing since.

To come back to my main point, Labor stands by its very proud environmental record in Queensland. No-one has done more to protect the reef over the last 30 years, but we also understand the importance of jobs. But it is Adani that has said that this project can stand on its own merits and does not need government support.