Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Very important in my electorate of Bowman is the fate of North Stradbroke Island and mining. I want to make it very clear that I am utterly committed to continuing economically sensible and justifiable decisions, including sand mining on North Stradbroke Island with all the protections built into it. People ask me what is going to happen after mining and I say let's worry about making sure there are employment opportunities in mining, particularly for Indigenous families for whom there is no alternative. I mean, pulling cappuccinos and sweeping slabs on tent sites is no substitute for high-paying mining jobs—and I will defend that as long as I am in this place.

To get to Stradbroke Island, you need the gateway that is Toondah Harbour, and I fully commend Walker Corporation on their hard work, and their assiduous detail in putting together a proposal that will get through the EPBC Act—that is something that provides the highest environmental protections available, through the federal legislation, and that is precisely what I hope they will do. This is about jobs and opportunity for a local community that does not always sees these opportunities come along. It is a once-in-a-generation chance to reconfigure our Moreton Bay coastline, where there are really only three or four places in my entire electorate where you can sit, eat a plate of food, and look at that beautiful bay. Yes, it is a delicate environment and a delicate ecology, but we can get the hydrology right, we can look after the migrating seabirds, we can look after the dugong—all of that is possible if we think creatively about how we create one small gateway to Stradbroke Island—called Toondah Harbour.