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

I rise to speak on the motion proposed by the member for Moreton. When it comes down to it, the Rudd-Gillard government has spent more than the Howard government, but the Howard government actually spent more than the Hawke-Keating government, the Hawke-Keating government spent more than the Fraser government and the Fraser government spent—sorry, no-one spent more than the Whitlam government.

I take the opportunity to wish the member well with his wishes for the south-east corner.

I do take issue, however, when he states that the current state government has an inconsistent approach to infrastructure projects. I suppose that, after 20 years of state Labor government ineptitude and stagnation on all things, actually doing something would be a change for the member.

My family is from Brisbane and I speak to my brothers regularly about the traffic in Brisbane and the hold-ups they get from time to time, sometimes for hours. Unfortunately in North Queensland when there is a hold-up it is for days and sometimes weeks, not hours. I have been driving the Bruce Highway from Cairns to Brisbane since 1994. Let me tell you this: the worst stretch of road by far I have encountered along there is the one between Miriam Vale and Rockhampton. But in North Queensland we have the worst bridges, with the Haughton River bridge being the absolute worst, the one most in need of urgent upgrading. During 20 years of state Labor government not one cent was spent on this. I am proud to say that I am part of Campbell Newman's Bruce Highway action group. I have spoken about the needs of the north and I am proud to say that I am part of the LNP action group federally.

The committee advisers told us that there should be a safety first approach when it comes to fixing the Bruce Highway. I add that in the north we also have a commercial responsibility. It is pointless being able to get around a semitrailer or a B-double if all it means is that you are going to get to the flooded part of the road even quicker. Every time there is a tropical low in the Coral Sea we suffer a 25 per cent tariff on fresh foods such as bananas. That is because there is every chance that that truck will be stopped on the side of the road waiting for flood waters to recede. Add to this that from 2014 the carbon tax will apply to long-haul transport, and under this insidious carbon tax there has already been an incredible increase of some 300 per cent in refrigeration gases, and the refrigerators are run by diesel. Also, you have every Queenslander at the mercy of the weather.

Government must look at infrastructure that will provide a return on investment. We have to be smarter in our financing of major projects. We have to get the best result with less money, because we simply cannot follow this government's path of taxing the successful industries and taxing the essentials of life to fund their programs. They are short-sighted in the extreme. We must look to create partnerships to provide a greater result with less public money.

It is all well and good to talk about roads, but infrastructure is more than just about roads. It is also about dams, power stations, ports and everything else to do with infrastructure. I was in the chamber during the last sitting fortnight when the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency made a big song and dance about a $5 million investment in the MBD algae project at James Cook University. It is part of an $8 billion worldwide industry. That, my friends, is an investment of 0.0625 of one per cent of the market. We should be backing winners and not pouring money into clean energy projects, where most are doomed to fail. We need to look at ways where we can make this work better for all of us, because it will reduce emissions and create a biodiesel, a stockfeed and a protein source. Maybe the reason this government is not getting on board with this thing is that it is a little bit too much like Direct Action to warrant too much attention from a lazy, narrowly focused, Greens-led poor excuse for a government. In fact, when former Prime Minister Rudd was in Townsville, less than 200 metres from the MBD project, he would not even take a car to have a look at it. This project should be used for the establishment of a world's best practice coal fired power station to provide cheap plentiful power with zero emissions.

We should be targeting countries, such as Indonesia, that are looking to establish baseload power. They know the inherent risks of nuclear power but want to provide for their people. We have the product and we should be pushing the living daylights out of it to get the jump on the world. It is projects like this, which come from North Queensland, that will provide the greatest return on investment, giving all Australians the hope, reward and opportunity that has been lacking since this mob came to power.

Debate adjourned.

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