George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The budget announcement of a $5 billion northern Australia infrastructure facility could pave the way for the development of the Urannah Dam, a project which will create hundreds of jobs in North Queensland. The announcement of these large concessional loans to build infrastructure was probably the most exciting announcement in this year's budget for those of us who live in the north—perhaps more exciting than an Origin game 1 victory that we expect for Queensland later tonight.

Urannah Dam is a prime project for funding because it will create hundreds of jobs during construction and possibly thousands indirectly as we expand the cropping industry and create new opportunities such as bulk cargo out of the port of Mackay and even a regional distribution centre for our local supermarkets. The project has been repeatedly identified as a high priority, environmentally feasible catchment site. It would open up 30,000 hectares of new cropping land, with the potential to generate more than $323 million over 25 years. That is just in agricultural production and that is before taking into account industrial, mining and power generation benefits. Urannah will also meet the growing water demand from new mine developments as it will be able to store 1.5 million megalitres, and that is really just the beginning of the story.

Projects of this size and value will need the both the private sector and state governments to get involved, and this concessional loan facility will provide a great incentive for them to create the industry and jobs we so badly need in the north.