Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government is killing off Inland Rail in Queensland and, in doing so, is stripping Australia of one of the most important nation-building projects that this country's ever known. Nowhere will feel the damage of this decision more than the Toowoomba region, where we've been investing and preparing for Inland Rail for years. In a time of failing productivity, we need to be finding ways to do more with less. We now have a private investment in our Toowoomba region lying dormant, doing nothing.

Productivity in this country has gone backwards faster than we've ever recorded, dropping six per cent in the last 12 months. It may well be beyond this Labor government to understand how to address failing productivity, but this is an opportunity to let private investment do the heavy lifting and show the way. This decision looks worse when you consider the flatlining freight productivity that Australia is suffering. Our national freight task is increasing significantly—

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