Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want you to have a listen to this report:

A witness to a fatal collision that claimed the life of a Mackay truck driver has described a blazing inferno and screams at the scene of the horrific crash.

This is an extract from the Daily Mercury after a semitrailer and a fuel tanker collided on the Peak Downs Highway. The Peak Downs Highway is the main inland route from the coast to central Queensland's coalmining belt in the northern part of my electorate of Capricornia. The fuel tanker erupted and sprayed fuel over the other truck, which caught fire. One person was tragically killed. The fuel tanker rolled into another vehicle towing a horse float. Two people in the vehicle were airlifted to hospital with burns, and a horse from that float also died.

Unfortunately, accidents like this happens all too often on the Peak Downs Highway. That is why I am pleased to inform you that the Abbott government budget will provide measures to help make the Peak Downs Highway safer. We have committed $120 million to fix up the Eaton Range on the highway. As the coalition gets on with the job to develop a stronger regional economy in Capricornia, last week I attended road transport in Mackay with BP, Caltex and Shell to 200 fuel tanker drivers who deliver fuel to the inland mines of Central Queensland and they were pleased to hear the news.

People should never underestimate the importance of spending money on roads in regional Australia. Our highways are the arterial veins extending from the cities and from shipping facilities to inland mining and agricultural areas which are the heart of our regional economies. That is why it is significant to our nation that the Abbott government's first budget will invest up to $50 billion across Australia over seven years to deliver vital transport infrastructure for the 21st century. I am pleased that fixing up the Bruce Highway along the Queensland coast from Brisbane to Cairns forms part of this plan. The highway runs directly through my electorate, and people in Capricornia will benefit from a $320 million safety package for the Bruce Highway, including $110 million of federal money for more overtaking lanes and continuing progress on upgrading the Yeppoon flood plain at the gateway to Rockhampton City. We are spending $296 million on stage 2, and 80 per cent of this project is being paid for by the Abbott coalition government. This is very significant for Queensland because the nation's heavy transport fleets delivering goods up and down the state will be able to get to Rockhampton when floodwaters are up and keep the economy rolling.

These projects create safer highways, lead to construction jobs and more efficient transport times, and will serve to significantly boost the Capricornia economy. In fact, this entire budget is like getting the family car back on the road. All Labor did was drive Australia hard until its tyres went bald. We inherited an economy that was akin to a broken-down car. You have already heard that, if the coalition took no action in this budget, Labor's projected debt would hit $667 billion. Every month, Australians are paying $1 billion in interest on Labor's debt alone. In Capricornia we could build the equivalent of four Bruce Highway Yeppoon flood plain upgrades per month with money like that. Labor's debt equates to $25,000 per person, or $100,000 per family of four. But just changing the cars tyres will not fix it. Without an engine overhaul, some oil and a new battery, Australia cannot move forward on a sustainable journey—and that is what this budget aims to achieve. If we do not get the economy tuned up, in five years time we will be having a conversation about which hospital to close, which schools to shut down and which nursing homes to close because the nation cannot afford to live with Labor's debt.

I understand that some people are doing it tough. At one point in my life I had a marriage break-up and found myself a single parent; things were not easy. During this time my five-year-old daughter had to have open heart surgery to save her life, so I know about stress and how this adds to pressures on the household finances when your young daughter's life is at risk. I know what it is like not having enough money to pay the rent and having to decide which bill to pay this week while facing enormous family medical decisions. So despite the criticism, verbal intimidation, threatening emails, yelling and abuse from Labor, there are people on this side who know what it is like to do things tough.

The issue here is that Labor has offered no solutions to fix their mess. Despite the misinformation Labor spreads about this budget, there are families with young people who are 100 per cent behind the Abbott government. Here is what one mother in my electorate, Sarah, told me:

Michelle, just wanted to say I support the new budget that the coalition has given Australia. I can definitely see why we need to do this, and I am willing to make small sacrifices for my daughter's generation as they will be the ones who will benefit from this in the long run. It is great to see a party that actually wants to help Australia get rid of debt and not put us in more debt. I fear for Australia though and feel that Labor may get in again if another election is held and then spend all that money again. Make sure you shake Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey's hand for me because you have my support.

And here is some more feedback. June is a lady in her 80s and her husband is in his 90s. June phoned my office to support the federal government. She wanted the state Premier to remember that it was the Labor Party that created the financial mess Australia now finds itself in.

There is much good news in this budget that will continue to help people like June and her husband in the future. This budget has delivered on its promise to provide $300,000 to Meals on Wheels to help provide a new kitchen facility in North Rockhampton. Up to 1,000 meals are provided to mostly frail, aged clients and people recovering from hospital stays in the Rockhampton area each week.

In this budget the Australian government has also recognised the significance of Capricornia's beef cattle industry by providing $2.5 million to stage Beef Australia 2015. The event is a significant boost to Capricornia's small business sector, including the motel and hospitality, transport, tourism, communication and livestock industries. Beef Australia showcases the industry to the world and attracts more than 85,000 people from 26 countries. By providing funding, the coalition government is delivering on a key election commitment, which in turn helps to build a stronger rural and regional economy.

What did Labor do for our beef sector? Oh, yes. You might recall that Labor snuck in one night and axed Australia's live export trade. Families, small business and farmers are still feeling the impact of that decision, years on. I say to the Labor Party: if you want proof of what it is like to be a battler, then talk to a farmer. I directly ask the Leader of the Opposition: do you know what it's like to have to shoot a breeding cow, because the drought is so bad it would be inhumane to let them suffer? The psychological trauma of being forced to do that, while facing grim financial pressures, is immense on rural families. But the Labor Party doesn't recognise these people as so-called battlers. Do you know what it's like to be a farmer and to walk out into a putrid, black bog on a dam in the drought, to rescue livestock? Weak sheep get stuck in tar-like mud, as they struggle to reach the only bit of water left. In the sky, the crows circle, waiting to descend. They begin firstly by pecking the distressed animal's eyes out. These people return home from this devastating scene to face the growing bills and calls from the bank, threatening foreclosure. These are battlers too. But Labor doesn't care. This government does care .That is why this budget delivers on our promise to provide some of the $320 million in drought assistance, as announced by the Prime Minister earlier this year. The National Farmers' Federation says the Abbott coalition government has largely delivered on its election commitments to the agriculture sector.

The coalition government will also axe the carbon tax. This will save households, including pensioners, on average $550 a year in energy costs. And local Capricornian industries will save millions of dollars that could otherwise be diverted to other parts of their business that could create more jobs. If Labor really are serious about helping families, I challenge them now to vote to end the carbon tax immediately. Teys meat works is one Rockhampton's' largest employers, providing jobs to more than 1,000 people. This is what the company said when it wrote to me:

We maintain our support of the Government's commitment to remove the carbon tax. The cost imposed on our Rockhampton facility in the first year of Carbon Pricing included a direct liability charge of over $900,000, in addition to an approximate $270,000 increase in the price of utilities.

This Rockhampton facility will save over $1.2 million when Labor's carbon tax is axed.

I want to tell you about a visit I undertook last week to the Ted Malone Rural Skills Centre in Sarina. The centre has links to Sarina State High School and gives young people who may otherwise have dropped out of education the opportunity to undertake Certificate II in Agricultural Practices. These young people learn a diverse cross-section of skills from aquaculture to permaculture, livestock and egg production and metal fabrication. I met delightful students like Jaylen, Alex, Jade, Lindsay, Minka, Erica and Emily. It was a pleasure to visit them and meet their manager, Bob North. Thanks to the Abbott government's budget, if these students successfully complete their studies here, they have the opportunity to access assistance if they make the transition into trade and training fields, including apprenticeships, down the track.

The government's new Trade Support Loans will take effect for apprentices from 1 July. These loans will encourage more young people to take up a trade and complete their qualification. Loans of $20,000 over four years will ease the financial burden and help increase apprenticeship completion rates. For the first time ever, the Commonwealth will also provide direct financial support to all students studying higher education diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degree courses.

In my maiden speech last year, I undertook to highlight the diversity of Capricornia, and I am accomplishing this. Aside from our important beef and sugar and mining sectors, Capricornia offers many more niche industries. We have highlighted the local pineapple industry, which satisfies 45 per cent of the nation's appetite for fresh pines. I took Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to a hydroponic lettuce farm near Emu Park run by the Wilson family. This small family operation supplies gourmet lettuces to Coles, Woolworths and IGA.

CQ University has trials underway near Rockhampton into dryland rice crops for northern Australia. Fresh, chemical-free garlic is even grown around Eungella, in the northern part of my electorate. My recent Facebook post about this attracted nearly 4,000 views.

Enterprises like this need a strong regional economy and good transport infrastructure to aid their growth and development. The key goal of this budget is to fix Labor's budget mess and get on with the job of developing a stronger economy, because, when we strengthen the economy, small businesses succeed, families have less pressure on them and jobs are created.

Sitting suspended from 12:50 to 16:00

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