Fraser Anning (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the overallocation of resources to the south-east corner of Queensland. Queensland is the most decentralised state, with the highest proportion of people living outside the capital city. Queensland is also geographically huge; if we were a country, Queensland would be the 14th-largest country in the world. We are much more than a single city, but you wouldn't know it from the way governments spend our hard-earned tax dollars. Time and time again, we see our tax dollars poured into Brisbane, and those in regional and rural areas languish on the end of a shoestring. While the Queensland government spends $5½ billion on the Cross River Rail project, the rest of the state has to put up with inadequate roads and infrastructure, poor health services and not enough water, the Treasurer's welcome announcement yesterday of a much-needed $3 billion for the Bruce Highway notwithstanding.

Despite this funding being for a painfully slow process to upgrade the dangerous national highway, our roads are absolutely essential and can't be properly maintained by spending on a per-capita basis. Road costs don't accrue per person, they accrue per kilometre. Brisbane has a lot of people, and they do need to have proper transport infrastructure, but Brisbane contains only a tiny fraction of the many thousands of kilometres of roads in this state. The vast majority of our roads are in regional Queensland, and that is where the vast majority of our transport spending needs to be. After all, it's where the produce comes from that drives our state and our nation.

Roads, however, are not the only critical infrastructure where regional Queensland is left behind. Access to essential health services is yet another issue. I recently spoke to a constituent from Mount Isa who has to travel regularly to Brisbane for urgent medical care for his wife due to not having access anywhere near where they live. During the recent floods in the area, the cost of flights out of Mount Isa more than tripled. Imagine having to fork out thousands of dollars to travel for essential health care simply because of where you live. Many of these hardworking Queensland farmers are already doing it tough. These stories are not uncommon and are heartbreaking. Thankfully, the government has announced it will fund a stronger regional health program by providing increased incentives for students to study medicine in regional areas and then transition into working in rural communities. However, more can always be done.

Rural Queensland needs greater funding to build better hospitals and attract specialist doctors and surgeons to provide often lifesaving medical treatment. In addition to funding for hospitals, rural Queenslanders are continually denied the resources that we need to maintain and grow our economy. We are continually starved of essential water infrastructure. Townsville continues to struggle with a water crisis that is a long way from being resolved, thanks to inaction and complacency from inner-city governments. The Rookwood Weir has only just gotten the go-ahead after many, many years of unnecessary delays, and we have yet to get a commitment towards the Bradfield scheme with the Hells Gate Dam and Tully-Millstream, which we have been calling for in North Queensland for 80 years now. You couldn't imagine a government that would ever neglect the south-east corner's water needs in that way. It would never be tolerated.

We need to ensure cheap, reliable electricity for all Queenslanders. We need to continue to build coal-fired power stations to ensure this supply. One in Collinsville would help to prevent other Australian businesses like QAL in Gladstone having to lay off 150 good, hardworking men and women because they couldn't afford the power.

Even when the government announces funding for regional areas, we see definitions getting stretched in ways that short-change the regions. In yesterday's budget, we saw $123.6 million over four years allocated for regional universities. This is very welcome. However, in Queensland, our share of that funding is being allocated to the University of the Sunshine Coast's Moreton Bay campus. I don't mean to imply that USC is an undeserving university, but the Moreton Bay campus is just a short drive north of Brisbane's CBD. It is quite a stretch to call it 'regional'. We have universities all over regional Queensland that are crying out for support. USC itself has locations in Gympie and the Fraser Coast. We have other universities in Cairns, Townsville, Emerald and elsewhere.

When it comes to ways to support regional Queensland universities, we have plenty of options. Unfortunately, we see the options being chosen to give regional funding to campuses that only meet the definition of 'regional' in the most technical of ways. This perpetuates the myth we see with our young people getting the message that, if they want the best education, they need to pack up and move to Brisbane. Our best and brightest get pulled away from areas that are begging for more people, which makes it all the more harder for us to build a better future in the regions. We need to change the mindset here: we need to think about the needs of Queensland as a whole, and not just the south-east corner.