Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the work conducted by the member for Capricornia in the amazing advocacy that she has persisted with whilst in this place. There is never a time that I'm in her company that she doesn't mention the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program or Roads of Strategic Importance, both of which I was the assistant minister for and had carriage of whilst in government—$110 billion. Before I make my contribution about the member for Capricornia 's beef roads program, I want to say that it's ironic to hear the member for Bean—a good man in this House—boasting of the Labor government's ability to rein in spending and yet bring forward and fast-track events. Only one of those statements is correct. If you want to test the theory, I direct you to the seven mayors who are advocating in Central Queensland for this beef roads program. They have not been a single voice. I had the great opportunity to catch up with the seven mayors recently, in Rockhampton—my birth town and a great community to grow up in. It's got two rather large meatworks facilities, one that was owned by AMH but is now owned by the Swift company, JBS. The Teys family—Teys and Cargill—have the other meatworks.

Central Queensland, a catchment area for our national herd, holds about 30 per cent of the national herd numbers. There's a huge capacity for breeding and fattening in Central Queensland. There's a lot of traffic that comes through the beef road network to Rockhampton for processing, notwithstanding the additional feedlots that have gone in in the last decade in Central Queensland. It is right that the member for Capricornia advocate for more money for her domestic roads.

These roads were all funded; do not misunderstand that. When I was the assistant minister, every announcement we made had funding tied to it. But what they regret to inform the House is that the funding on these state roads was tied to the state government. If you're looking to lay blame for where the go-slow has happened, if you're looking to understand who has turned their back on the beef producers of Central Queensland, if you're looking for where fault should lie, I direct your attention to the Queensland state government, and rightfully so. They have had pressures on their infrastructure budget. Look at the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane, a $3 billion tunnel underneath the river which, I think, was going to be $3 billion but has now blown out to $9 billion. Don't quote me on that, but that blowout of cost is significant. When you're looking at which programs are going to get clipped for these signature milestone infrastructure programs of the state governments to be funded, it will be these beef road projects.

During COVID, there were two sectors that kept our economy afloat: the resources sector and the agriculture sector. If we're going to protect ourselves into the future as good economic managers, these are not difficult decisions for us to make as coalitionists. They are not difficult decisions for those of us that have strong economic management credibility. We need to make sure that we invest in the future in these programs. We need to make sure that we build the infrastructure. We committed to it when we were in government.

One of the ways that we can help the seven councils who are looking for the beef road programs in Central Queensland is to get rid of a tired Queensland Labor government and to install an LNP government in Queensland that we can work with, that understands the value of those people from the regions and their commitment and that understands how hard it is for councils to raise funds to get these projects done. In doing so, we build greater wealth. In doing so, we enable the agriculture sector to look after its own destiny. We create safer roads. We get families home safer. We look after an industry that's looked after us as a nation. I commend the member for Capricornia's motion to the House.

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