Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan. As I travel through Queensland, my constituents talk to me about jobs and the need for water infrastructure to open areas of employment and trade. What is the government doing to develop the long-needed water infrastructure in the too long neglected area of Northern Australia?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank senator O'Sullivan for his question. He is absolutely right that the government are committed to creating jobs in Northern Australia and that we intend to do so by using the abundant water resources we have in Northern Australia. Northern Australia accounts for around 40 per cent of our land mass, but more than 60 per cent of our rainfall occurs there. We have abundant water resources there, but they have not been as developed as those of, say, the Murray-Darling, where we are today. So there is great potential to get on with the job and create jobs by using water in those regions.

We have on the table right now $130 million to build the Rookwood Weir. That could be started tomorrow. It has approval from both state and federal governments and it could create 2,100 jobs. It could double agricultural production in the Fitzroy region and also drought-proof the towns of Rockhampton and Gladstone in Central Queensland. We could start tomorrow, but the state government has held it up. They are doing another study and another business case, and they are telling us to come back later this year and see if we can do it then. They are pushing ahead with the Cross River Rail in Brisbane, but they are not building a dam in Central Queensland, creating 2,100 jobs where they are needed.

But we are not stopping there. We also have a $440 million water infrastructure development fund, of which $200 million will be invested in the North. To support those investments we will create a $2 billion low concessional loan facility for state and territory governments to help co-fund their parts of the water infrastructure. There is a fund that will be there to help the state government to do it when they finally come round to making a decision. We have also funded 39 water feasibility studies under the national water infrastructure fund, and 15 of these are in Northern Australia, and we are specifically looking at three basins across the North. The CSIRO are doing excellent work on the Fitzroy River Basin in Western Australia, the Mitchell River in Queensland and in the Darwin region in the Northern Territory. There is so much opportunity out there and we are focused on creating jobs in Northern Australia.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his comprehensive answer. Does the Queensland government share the Turnbull-Joyce government's commitment to water infrastructure?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying in answer to the first question, there has been delay after delay by the state government in Queensland. If they are committed to developing water infrastructure in North Queensland, they are sure taking their time coming around to it. Just this month the Queensland water minister, Mark Bailey, wrote to the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Mr Joyce, complaining that our water infrastructure program unreasonably excludes programs that primarily have an urban supply focus. He has written saying, 'The other aspect of your criteria that is unreasonable is the exclusion of projects that primarily have an urban supply focus.' The provision of water to towns and cities has always been a state government responsibility. If the Queensland Labor government were doing their job, they would be providing that infrastructure to the people of regional Queensland.

We are interested in creating more opportunity to grow food and to provide jobs in the agricultural sector. That is a role for national government, and we are happy to work with the Queensland government. But they need to do their part of the job too, to make sure we can deliver these benefits to Queensland.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a final supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again I thank the minister for that answer. How much funding has the coalition government provided for the building of Rookwood Weir, and what does regional Queensland think about this project?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying before, we have provided $130 million towards the project. We have also provided $2 million to fund the Queensland government's business case. We are funding their business case as well, and we are doing whatever we can to make this happen. The people of Central Queensland want this to happen. The Central Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils, which includes the Banana Shire, the Central Highlands Regional Council, the Gladstone Regional Council, the Livingstone Shire Council, the Rockhampton Regional Council and the Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council, has written to me saying that they support this project and want to see it happen. They say that the realisation of these water infrastructure projects will provide a wide range of economic growth opportunities to our regional areas. But, just as importantly, it supports the further development of Northern Australia and improves the water security for the Fitzroy Basin and the Gladstone region. What is holding this project up? What can be wrong now? It creates jobs, it protects the environment and it will secure water supplies for Central Queensland. What is holding it up? One word—Labor.