Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

member for Batman, that the Queensland government apparently—and I think very cutely—wanted to hold back telling me how much money I should go for so they could give me a public flogging. It is not going to wash. The people of Townsville will know that this is the way the Queensland state government work. The Queensland government will want to announce their road funding as part of their election campaign, which probably will start straight after they deliver their budget next month. But the people of Townsville are no fools. They will know and understand that the state government have been holding this back so that they can make an announcement, whereas the federal government could not make an announcement because the design and construct authority would not give us the information. That is disgraceful. These multibillion-dollar projects are in jeopardy because of the politicking of the Queensland government.

Another budget matter is defence. Defence is pretty important to my electorate, as the minister at the table, the Minister for Small Business and Tourism, knows. She has been to Lavarack Barracks, Australia’s largest army base, home of the ready deployment force. We are the people who go when we need to go. Recently, we have been to the Solomons. I think it took us 12 hours from go to whoa to get there, which is an extraordinary result. The people in the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion are so professional in their approach to being there when our nation needs them. The 1st Battalion went to the Solomons. Currently, the 2nd Battalion is going to SECDET in Baghdad. They are great people in what they do. The current 3rd Brigade commander, Brigadier Mick Slater, does an extraordinarily professional job—and a very busy job at the moment—in the way he manages the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion, the 3rd Battalion and all of the other battalions and regiments under his command in Lavarack Barracks.

The reserves from 11th Brigade in Townsville, along with other reserves around the country, have done very well out of this budget. In an attempt to increase the readiness of the reserves, to bring them up to 28 days notice to move, the government has offered some very attractive conditions of service. For those in the highest state of readiness, there is an extra $7,500 tax-free a year, on top of their daily increase of, I think, $10 a day. For those on a lower level of readiness to respond it is a little less; nevertheless, it is very attractive. The government is being very prudent in making sure that we have the wherewithal to respond when we need to.

I have recently done a study trip, and I have seen a number of defence establishments and talked to a number of defence people around the world. They hold our Australian Defence Force in the highest regard. They think we are the most professional operation that you can find in the world today. And it is a great credit to Australia and a great credit to the men and women of our Australian Defence Force that we are held in such high regard.

See this speech in context