Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we saw in Queensland another grab for power and assets owned by many communities in south-east Queensland by an arrogant Premier, who is walking over people’s rights and becoming quite a dictator, particularly when it comes to local government issues in Queensland. Today we learnt that in Queensland the Premier wants to grab the water assets of south-east Queensland. The Premier has talked about why he wants to do it. It is because there is a lack of clarity and confusion over the responsibilities as to who should be providing water in south-east Queensland. Mr Speaker, I can assure you there is no confusion in the minds of the good residents of south-east Queensland, including the councillors and the mayors, whether they be on the Gold Coast, the Brisbane Valley or up on the Sunshine Coast. This is about a grab for power by the Premier of Queensland to divert people’s attention away from the failings of his administration and his government. He said that compensation for these assets would go to these councils. He said:

It is impossible to say an exact amount until the due diligence process is complete.

Why wouldn’t you do the due diligence before you made this announcement? He said:

However, we expect compensations to be in the vicinity of $1 to $2 billion.

There is a huge difference between $1 billion and $2 billion—there is a gulf between the amounts that he says may be the cost of compensation to these local councils. He goes on to say that councils are confused. He is the one that is confused. He has, as the Premier of Queensland, failed the people of Queensland. He has also failed the people of south-east Queensland in relation to providing sufficient water for the needs of the development that is continuing to grow in the south-east corner.

We know Queensland is a great state. What a great outcome for the Queensland rugby league team last night. Queensland has a great State of Origin team but not, unfortunately, a good government. The failings of Labor administrations go back in history. I recall a previous Queensland administration led by Premier Wayne Goss. At that time the Leader of the Opposition—Kevin Rudd, the member for Griffith—was the adviser to Premier Wayne Goss. He was also secretary to cabinet when the decision was taken not to proceed with the Wolfdene Dam project in south-east Queensland. They not only abandoned what was the best site for a dam, in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and south-east Queensland, but they then allowed that land to be sold for a housing development. There are something like 4,000 houses on that site now. The plans for that dam were scuttled on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, then the adviser to Wayne Goss, Premier of the Labor administration in Queensland. The Hinze Dam at the Gold Coast—and I notice the member for McPherson here—put in by a National Party administration, is full today, providing for the people in the south-east corner in the growth area of the Gold Coast. The Wolfdene Dam would have been similar to the Hinze Dam—full of water, providing much-needed water for the population, which has grown and expanded, of south-east Queensland.

The Premier’s failure to provide sufficient water infrastructure for south-east Queensland is also affecting the power generation capacity of south-east Queensland. At the Tarong power station near Kingaroy they have just had to put off 160 workers because they do not have sufficient water from the grid to provide for the cooling of the power station. So we are not only finding a failed Labor administration as a government— (Time expired)