Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to put a personal perspective on the leaking of the discussion paper on the development of Northern Australia. What this discussion paper sets out is, to me, only a natural extension of the evolution of our country. This is not to be viewed as a boom; far from it. This is the future of Australia. The shadow finance minister, Andrew Robb, said to me on one of his many trips to North Queensland that we should understand that when Europeans settled in the south of the country it was because it was more like Europe. When you look at the world's population and the changing face of Australia it only makes sense that we do more in the tropics. But it is the relentless negativity of the Labor government which gets me the most.

Straight away, the Assistant Treasurer, the member for Lindsay, ramped up the attack lines. He says there will be 'gold plated streets in Karratha'. He has obviously never driven the Bruce Highway! In an email to his Labor faithful followers, signed by David Bradbury as Assistant Treasurer, he says:

You probably heard today about Tony Abbott's secret plan to put nearly 275,000 workers on notice.

He wants to rip jobs and services from our cities and force hundreds of thousands of public servants to uproot their families and lives and move to northern Australia.

What rubbish! This is the Assistant Treasurer. This is Wayne Swan's right-hand man; the man who would have the words 'I love Julia' tattooed on his arm if his wife would let him. He is standing in the House and also going on television telling all and sundry who will listen to him that he thinks development of the north is stupid. His words 'white elephant infrastructure' will surely be the death knell of his government in the north of the country. How dare he reap the benefits of what we bring to the table and then tell us it is a stupid idea to even consider this.

This relentless negativity coming from this out-of-touch mob must stop. Even Tony Raggatt from the Townsville Bulletin seems unwilling to even consider this as an option. His article on the weekend had me completely flummoxed: he thinks it will never come to pass and doubts reign throughout, yet he cites the Ord River scheme, the Burdekin Dam and the rail line to Mount Isa as visionary. What must happen here is that we have to see where we can get the best return on government investment. In my region of North Queensland, around Townsville, we provide 0.8 per cent of the country's population and yet we provide nearly two per cent of the country's GDP. We continually punch above our weight, and we should be supported. If the future of the country depends on water, the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Ord systems must surely point the way forward.

By the way, to the member for Lindsay I say: we do not want to rip anyone out of the western suburbs of Sydney to live up north. We only want people who want to come. The rest can stay where they like. We want people who want to put in, not just take. Again, this is a discussion paper that we are talking about. Yes, the discussion should be serious, but it is about the next 30 years, not the next six months.