Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thought I was here chairing the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs! In fact, four members and the committee secretary are present in the Main Committee. I commend the member for Leichhardt for bringing this motion on behalf of his constituents. That is what local members should do—raise issues of concern. I too believe that, whether you live in Tasmania or the Torres Strait, as an Australian you should be treated the same way, with the same rights and the same access to a good education and decent health care, roads that function and public transport. That is appropriate. And there should not be discrimination, whether you are gay or straight, black or white, or whatever colour, creed or religion you adhere to. That is true. I commend the member for Leichhardt. In fact, I note his strong advocacy for many years in relation to gay and lesbian issues as well, and I commend him for that. He has been a strong advocate for ending discrimination in all forms. I am not going to keep praising him; otherwise, he might be re-elected! But that is the case.

On this issue I do think—with respect to the member for Leichhardt—that he is being a little precious. He was elected, I think, in 1996 to this chamber. He had a voluntary sabbatical, if I can put it like that, from 2007 to 2010. He was a member of the Howard government at one stage, and I think he may even have served as a parliamentary secretary for quite some time. I notice in his motion here—perhaps it is the old lawyer in me—that in paragraph 2, subsection (c), he says:

… the Torres Strait Islander people have been experiencing flood devastation for the past four years with no help from Government …

Four years—we were not even in government at the time that this allegedly started. I imagine this happened many years before that, during the time of the Howard government. We have seen rising sea levels and we have seen problems in relation to islands off the coast of Queensland, whether in the Great Barrier Reef or other areas, for quite some years. I do not recall the coalition raising this issue much in the last three years during the Rudd and Gillard government. I do not recall any of his colleagues, those opposite, raising these issues. I cannot recall too many private members’ motions from those opposite saying, ‘This needs to be done.’ Indeed, I do not recall much at all in relation to those opposite.

One thing I will say is about the member for Murray—and I have heard the member for Leichhardt—criticising us about our commitment to regional and rural Australia. This always galls me as a Queenslander who represents a regional and rural seat in south-east Queensland. It always galls me because the truth is—the facts are—that, when it comes to funding for regional and rural Australia, this government has an exemplary record. For example, with respect to roads and rail and essential infrastructure like ports, we have massively increased the funding: $37 billion, and $22 billion of that is in rural and regional Australia—more than the doyens of the bush, the National Party, or any of those others, ever saw in Queensland. They claim that they represent rural and regional Australia, but the truth is that it is this federal Labor government which has invested massively.

It is not just that. Think about the regional and local community infrastructure we have funded. We just announced recently a billion dollars in relation to that. The Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Simon Crean, announced that. The councils up there in the seat of the member for Leichhardt can share in that should they make application. I anticipate that the good member for Leichhardt has actually got on the phone to the local mayor and said: ‘Look, hang on a sec, mate; there’s some money on the table there. This pernicious Labor government over there, this wicked Labor government that doesn’t do anything for you’—that is despite the fact that we have just brought forward his third quarter financial assistance grants, getting money in the bank to help community infrastructure, despite the fact that we have activated NDRRA and despite the fact that we have put another $315 million on the table to help flood affected areas beyond the NDRRA. Despite all of that: ‘Oh, mate, there’s some money on the table here. Can you make an application?’ There is money on the table for councils to make applications for funding for essential community infrastructure if they want to do it. There is money on the table if they want to do it. But do we see the member saying: ‘I’ve just spoken to the mayor, and we should apply for that sort of funding if at all possible; we can do what we can do up there, if there are any roads or essential infrastructure we should apply for’? The member mentioned his local councils up there. He mentioned the Torres Strait regional council, for a start. But I do not think that the member, as valiant as his efforts are here in this chamber, has actually got on the phone and spoken to his local councils about applying for funding.

This is very important because those people opposite are absolutely racked with division on climate change. If you are associated with a little island off the coast of Queensland, you know that the climate science really tells us that we are at peril, because climate change is real, and human activity contributes to climate change. We have three members opposite sitting here in the Main Committee. I dare say there are probably four opinions over there about climate change. They have a leader who says that climate science is crap. He says one thing to the shock jocks and he says another to his local branch meeting when he is doing a fundraiser, and he says another when the national media is on him and he needs to look measured and reverential and really sensible. So you have opposite those people who really do not know in relation to climate science. But I imagine the member has had a chat to his local mayor and said, ‘Listen, mate, we should not just apply for the money; let’s back the federal Labor government on pricing carbon.’ I wonder whether he has had that conversation with his local mayor up there about that.

In Queensland we have had terrible flooding. Seventy-five per cent of Queensland was covered by water. Then we had Cyclone Yasi. The cost to rebuild Queensland before Cyclone Yasi impacted upon North Queensland was $5.6 billion. And the devastation is terrible—truly awful. In my electorate we have seen terrible devastation. We have seen 600 businesses in the Ipswich region affected. We have seen 3,000 properties in Ipswich, 470 in the Somerset region, inundated. Over 700 streets in Ipswich were affected. I drove up to Mount Stanley, north of Somerset, last week to meet with some of the local farmers up there. This is just one example of how one electorate has been affected. Leichhardt has been affected. Moreton has been affected. We know Brisbane has been affected. We know of many electorates. And the devastation is awful for people who are trying to rebuild their lives. So I have some sympathy for the member for Leichhardt in his protestations today. I do have some sympathy in relation to what he wants to do to stand up for his local community. Coastal erosion is real and coastal erosion needs to be looked at, as the member for Oxley talked about in terms of the studies that we are undertaking in that regard.

The truth is that climate change is going to make an impact on the Queensland coast. Climate change is real. Just a couple of years ago the Queensland Farmers Federation asked me to launch their climate change analysis and study. I did it at the home of a very prominent LNP member in south-east Queensland, Linton Brimblecombe, in Forest Hill. Linton Brimblecombe is campaign director for that area in the Lockyer Valley for the LNP. The study is quite clear. Climate change is real; it is affecting Queensland. It has been affecting us in the past and it will affect us in the future.

I would urge the member opposite, who moves this motion, to get on board with our proposals to tackle climate change. I also note he is one of the members opposite that did not support us with the funding we needed to rebuild Queensland. So he wants us to provide the money for it but he did not support us on the flood levy, the $1.8 billion which we needed to rebuild Queensland. He did not do it. He wants us to give him the money but he does not want us to raise the money to pay for it. There is inconsistency between the member for Leichhardt’s motion here and what he has actually been saying. When those opposite did come up with some savings, it was a joke. They ended up with a billion-dollar black hole in their budget. They wanted to cut back funding for the NBN and the BER, defer some foreign aid and then what they tried to do was come up with some dodgy accounting. The truth is those opposite want us to spend the money in their electorates but they do not want us to raise the money for it.

I say to the member for Leichhardt, has he had a conversation with the Hon. Simon Crean, the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government? If he has done that and had that conversation then he needs to speak to his local mayor and make an application for funding for these things, see what he can do about this. He does not need to come into this place, say one thing and then go back and say another thing in his own electorate. He needs to apply for the funding and take note of the fact that all those BER projects and that entire community infrastructure in his electorate were brought forward by a Labor government and they cause his area and mine to be commended.

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