James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Look at all the Labor Party senators running out of the chamber because they know I'm going to be talking about Paradise Dam, which is the greatest infrastructure failure in the history of Australia, and it happened on Labor's watch. Welcome to Queensland, where Labor are not only not building dams; they're tearing down existing dams. Senator Watt is running out of the chamber like a chook running out of a chook pen!

Farmers in Queensland's Wide Bay produce more than 75 per cent of Australia's sweet potatoes and more than 50 per cent of Australia's macadamias. They grow chillies and strawberries and sugarcane and passionfruit—it's the king of fruit, the passionfruit. At times, this region produces around 25 per cent of all fresh food grown here in Australia. But it's all at risk. Why? That's because, for more than 18 months now, farmers in Wide Bay-Burnett have been waiting for answers. They've had only one gloomy certainty, which is that, without significant rainfall, Paradise Dam will be virtually empty by June this year, according to Sunwater's own storage models. And this is all thanks to Queensland's Labor government.

Unlike the Premier, I've been to Paradise Dam. I was there only a couple of weeks ago, and it was depressing. It was less Paradise Dam and more like 'paradise lost', because what I found was a dam currently sitting at 20 per cent of its original supply capacity. There were cranes in the sky, and there were bulldozers on the ground already tearing down the dam wall. And while works continue to tear down this dam wall, there is nothing but deafening silence from the Queensland Labor government and the mute Premier, who are responsible for this terrible infrastructure fail. This is a story I've told many times and I will continue to tell, because it simply cannot be ignored. These farmers cannot be allowed to fail because they are out of sight and out of mind of the Labor Premier in Queensland. The Premier might not like it, but we won't forget about it. Keith Pitt, the member for Hinkler, won't forget about it. Stephen Bennett, the member for Burnett, won't forget about it. Tom Marland from Marland Law, who was helping the farmers with their legal fight, won't forget about it. Bree Grima at Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers won't forget about it.

In September 2019, in the midst of a drought—and, for those who are listening at home, don't forget that two-thirds of Queensland is still drought declared—the Queensland Labor government flushed 105,000 megalitres of water out to sea and set to work to reduce the dam's capacity. This is the modern Queensland, where the Labor Party are not only not building dams, they're tearing down existing dams. The farmers who invested millions of dollars to build one of Australia's greatest food bowls have been left for dead, without answers from this Labor government as to when this dam will be restored, how it will be restored or whether it will be restored at all. There have been inquiries and there have been motions in this place passed by the Senate, but no-one is any closer to finding out how this infrastructure fail occurred. We know it happened on Labor's watch, because Labor aren't really good at doing anything, are they? No-one is finding the answers to how this can be remedied.

The Queensland Labor government continue to promise a report with a plan for Paradise Dam, a bit like how they promised no new taxes before an election and delivered lots or a budget then failed to deliver one—it's the same old Labor tune. They push the report further and further into the future as the dam wall gets lower and lower and as the water gets lower and lower. They don't have a care in the world, but, with the dam capacity projected to reach zero without rain by June, farmers in Wide Bay-Burnett don't have the luxury of time on their side.

After investing on the promise of water security, these farmers are now facing another dry year plagued with uncertainty. Labor senators mightn't care about this because they go to Coles and Woolies and they get their fruit and their veg and they think it's all well and good, but if the farmers in Wide Bay-Burnett do not have water and do not have water in the dam, guess what? Their fruit and veggies aren't going to be grown. When you go to Coles and Woolies, Labor Senators, you're not going to be able to get your passionfruit, your blueberries and your macadamia nuts, and we know Queensland produces some of the best fruit in the world.

We know this opportunity not only underpins our economic recovery in this country; it could bring significant benefits to regional Queensland. It brings jobs and it brings businesses—two things that Labor and the Greens don't really understand. So my message to the Premier is simple: give our farmers the answers they deserve in Wide Bay-Burnett and restore this dam.