Maxine McKew (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the former National Party Premier of Queensland, it is true, was a builder, but he was also a destroyer. He was the premier who wanted to mine Fraser Island. He did not get away with that. He was the premier who sought to knock down the historic Bellevue Hotel. He did get away with that, but I think one could argue that that was the beginning of the end of that era. I know that in more recent times the member for Kennedy and I have had a few very interesting exchanges about that point in history, but I come to the substantive point of this matter of public importance. It is an important issue, and I am delighted to take part for two reasons. It gives me the opportunity to talk about the building decade ahead. That is what this government envisages—a building decade where we invest in schools, in community facilities, in broadband and in road and rail.

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