Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Dawson for his question and note that the member for Dawson is retiring at this election. If there's one thing we all know it's that, whether you like him or not, he has certainly not been a shadow of a person. He has been a person of incredibly strong views, he has been an absolute compass on what he has done and he has shown to us that he has the courage to stand behind his views. I commend him for that and I commend him for the work that he's done for the people of Dawson.

He raises the question of the substantial investment that this government has made in dams. For Hells Gates Dam, we have put $5.4 billion on the table. That's for a dam that the Labor Party, at the state level, said was of critical importance. It was also an election promise. All the Labor Party has to do now is say the word 'yes', that they're going to do it. But of course we haven't got a yes. What we're getting is excuses that are driven by their attachment to the Greens. It shows you they would be a Greens-Labor government, and when push comes to shove they will not build a thing because they're tied to the Greens. Regarding Urannah Dam, their candidate, Michael Brunker, said that the Annastacia Palaszczuk led government will support Urannah Dam. We announced the money. We can't wait for the state government. Private enterprise is putting in money, and guess what? They're not supporting it. Paradise Dam—well, they built it, it fell over and we had to build it again. Did we quibble about it? No, because we believe in the infrastructure that makes our nation as strong as possible.

Even though we're coming from a strong position and we're a strong nation that is becoming stronger, and we have to, we are fully aware of the circumstances that are before this nation. They are evident on the television every night. They are evident in the reports that come to us on things that are happening in our region of the Pacific. So this government is focusing on how it makes the money to keep our nation strong. It is not good enough just to say you believe in a strong Defence Force, as the Labor Party does. We're actually showing you how you build your nation so you can pay for it. We are building our nation so we can support the NDIS. We are building our nation so we can support Medicare. We are building our nation by making the hard decisions to grow where we know we have opportunities.

It is people such as the member for Dawson, it is people such as the member for Capricornia and it is people such as the member from Central Queensland and those who stand behind the industry of central New South Wales that make our nation as strong as possible— (Time expired)

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