Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Let me deal in sequence with a series of issues that have been raised on both sides of the chamber. The member for Blaxland asked about a flood levy for Rockhampton. The advice I have is that the coalition has committed $416,000 from the Community Development Grants Program for the South Rockhampton flood levee planning and design project. I am advised of comments by the state member for Rockhampton, Bill Byrne, who I understand is a member of the Labor Party. On 6 April of this year he said: 'I'm already on the record as saying this proposal has merit but I've always said I'm not going to support something when the vast majority of my community don't want it.' That quote is on the record, and I note that it will be up to the ALP to develop a consistent, coherent internal approach to it.

The second thing I want to deal with here is the comments of the member for Corangamite, who has been a fierce advocate for manufacturing in her region, the electorate of Corangamite and nearby in Geelong. She has been one of those who has fought for and been successful in obtaining the additional $100 million which the Turnbull government has committed in new funds to help drive innovation in Australia. This is in relation to advanced manufacturing growth. As part of that, there is $47½ million for the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Fund, and I have seen in her own electorate the Carbon Revolution premises about which she spoke, and I have seen their product on display at Ford headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. That was one body helped by previous funding that the government provided. In addition to that, there is $20 million for cooperative research centre projects to support larger scale advanced manufacturing of up to $3 million funding over three years, $10 million to establish innovation labs and $13½ million dollars for a reduction in tariffs on imported vehicle prototypes—something I worked on with the assistant minister when I had the privilege of being in the portfolio.

The member for Herbert raised questions about the Burdekin Falls Dam. The advice I have is that under NWIF feasibility and assessment projects in Northern Australia, $400,000 has been made available for the Burdekin Falls Dam raising feasibility study. That is funding which is going to assess precisely this sort of investment but a full assessment is precisely the sort of thing that should be done before any decision is made. No person has been a stronger advocate for dams in Northern Australia than the Deputy Prime Minister—no person has been a stronger advocate. Let me be absolutely clear about that. The member for Herbert also raised issues about electricity prices. We abolished the carbon tax; that was opposed by the ALP. We saw the largest drop in electricity prices on record in Australia. We introduced the Emissions Reduction Fund, which has had considerable benefits for North Australia. She referred to 780 megawatts of projects under the Renewable Energy Target which have followed our settlement of that target. So there is a real investment occurring precisely as result of the actions we have taken.

With regard to the comments of the member for Swan, I am thrilled that Australia will be part of the European Southern Observatory, or ESO, project—the Chilean project. This will be one of the world's great astronomical projects. We are the only country that has been invited in on a discount rate, because of our expertise. It is a tribute to the work of people across Australia.

In relation to the member for Groom's comments, very simply the answer is quite clear: the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment and Energy are taking real action to deal with the consequences of the strike on new gas reserves in Victoria and elsewhere which has led to the impact on gas right around Australia. In relation to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, dealing with questions from two members opposite, there are 60 currently active assessments—28 per cent are in WA, 13 per cent are in the Northern Territory, 50 per cent are in Queensland and eight per cent of these projects are across multiple jurisdictions. The facts are clear—the commitment to Northern Australia is absolute.

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