George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

No, I can't confirm that. The proposition you've put to me is not correct. In fact, notwithstanding certain claims made during the Queensland election campaign which were very much at variance from the truth, on 18 February last year the Treasurer of the Queensland government, Mr Curtis Pitt, wrote to the then federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Mr Josh Frydenberg, and requested that the railway construction project across the Galilee Basin to service the Adani Carmichael project be considered for funding through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. You wouldn't have thought that, to hear some of the rhetoric that came from Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Pitt during the election campaign, but it is the case, I can tell you, Senator Bartlett, that Mr Pitt actually wrote to the federal minister in February of last year asking for that consideration through the NAIF.