Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, congratulations on your appointment. My question is to the , Senator Canavan. As difficult as it may be, can the minister please outline what excuses the Queensland government has given for pulling their support for the development of the Galilee Basin?

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

Mr President, I too would like to pass on my congratulations on your appointment. Senator O'Sullivan makes a very important point. About 10 days ago, the Queensland government pulled their support for the job-creating Adani Carmichael Mine project. It was an act of betrayal of the people of North Queensland. The Queensland government have been leading the people of North Queensland down the garden path on this issue. It was the Queensland government who first applied to the federal government asking us to fund the Galilee Basin rail line in February last year. In May this year the Queensland government wrote to me confirming their support for that investment after some controversy and internal civil war erupted in the Labor Party.

Real people in North Queensland have been making real decisions about their future based on what they thought was the Queensland government's support for their region and this investment. People have been buying houses, investing in businesses, taking up jobs—there are nearly 200 people in Townsville working for Adani now—and moving their families there because they thought the Queensland government backed them and was in their corner. They are not in their corner. We know that now.

Ten days ago the Queensland Premier came up with the cockamamie story that, because of the work of her partner, she had to pull the economic rug out from under the people of Queensland. That excuse didn't stack up; no-one believed that from day one. So the very next day the Premier was saying it wasn't because of that; it was because the project had to stand on its own two feet. That was the second excuse. The third excuse was from the Queensland Treasurer later that week. He said, 'The project is just not that popular; that's why we've pulled our support.' Now we have seen reports over the weekend that, in fact, the Queensland cabinet decided in May not to support federal government investment in the rail line. What have they been hiding from us for six months? Why have they been treating the people of North Queensland with this contempt? You'd think the Queensland government would have got their story straight before they called the election. They called the election—no-one else—but they're all over the shop on jobs in Queensland.

Scott Ryan (President, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the minister away of any advice the Queensland government has sought regarding the decision to veto any loan?

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

As I mentioned, the Premier's first excuse for pulling the economic rug out from under the people of North Queensland was that there was a conflict of interest—her partner worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, who were preparing the application for Adani to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. So the Premier rightly sought advice from the Queensland Integrity Commissioner. That advice came back to the Premier and the Queensland government later in the first week of the campaign. The preferred option from the Integrity Commissioner was: 'Declare a conflict of interest to the chair of the Cabinet Budget Review Committee, the Treasurer and the Minister for Trade and Investment and exclude yourself from any part of CBRC meetings that involve deliberations and decision-making about NAIF projects at the investment decision and execution stage.' That's what the advice said, but the Premier made out that the Integrity Commissioner wanted her to simply veto the project. She misconstrued this advice and misled and deceived the Queensland people—and now they are being made to suffer for the Queensland government's inability to get on the same page on this.

Scott Ryan (President, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, what are the benefits of opening up the Galilee Basin?

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

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for the question. Unfortunately, there is only one major party in Queensland that supports the jobs that will come from the Galilee Basin. The reason we support opening up the Galilee Basin is that it will deliver thousands of jobs to the people of Queensland. These are areas of Queensland that are suffering under high levels of unemployment. High levels of unemployment continue in both Townsville and Rockhampton. We were buoyed a month ago by the decision of Adani to host their fly-in fly-out hubs in those two cities. That is exactly the tonic North Queensland needs. And now there is only one choice at the Queensland election for people who want to back jobs and development in North Queensland. Unfortunately, the Premier is the second coming of Clive Palmer to the people of Townsville. In Clive Palmer, they had a bloke who made a lot of promises over the last few years. He said they were going to get jobs—just like the Premier has said in the last 18 months—and at the last minute pulled out of that town and caused economic devastation. I don't want to see that happen to the people of Townsville again. The only way we can deliver jobs to them is through the election of a Liberal National Party government now.