Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This month has been one of great pride for me. Representing the fine people of Capricornia is always a great privilege, and this month has shown me how important this role is. Over the past month I've had the pleasure of travelling through much of the electorate, travelling the highways and byways, taking in the visual splendour and diversity of this great electorate in the heart of Queensland. I have recently visited a good part of this immense, 91,000-square-kilometre electorate and dropped in on countless townships and communities—communities like Moranbah, Dysart, Nebo, Eton, Walkerston, Racecourse, Sarina, Flaggy Rock, Sarina Beach, Marlborough, Yamba, and of course Rockhampton and the beautiful Capricorn Coast.

As I travelled around the electorate, it was quite clear that, after such a bleak couple of years post the mining boom, green shoots are appearing in the economies around the region. Right across the region, Central Queenslanders are doing what Central Queenslanders do best—getting on with the job. What is also evident is that there is a real role for government to play in delivering infrastructure and reducing red tape so that we can continue to see local businesses getting on with it—making money, building their business and employing people.

We have had a recent success with the state government finally getting on board with funding for the Rookwood Weir project near Rockhampton. This project, once complete, will allow our local economy to grow to the tune of $1 billion. That's essentially a doubling of Central Queensland's agricultural output. I'll let that sink in for a minute. That's right—the beef capital of Australia could become even more beefy! The prospect for developing feedlots, irrigated pastures and even greater meat-processing facilities means a great many more jobs in the beef industry alone, while horticultural crops like mangoes, macadamias and lychees are the kinds of labour-intensive crops that will greatly benefit the region's broader economy. More workers travelling to the region for the different picking seasons will provide the basis for a much-expanded tourism sector, again flowing on to the hotels, motels, restaurants, bars and tour operators of the entire Capricorn Coast region. The flow-on effects—pun intended—from this one wall across one of Queensland's great rivers are immense. It is just so pleasing to finally have the state government front up and stump up for this vital project. Since May 2016 I have been fighting to get the state government on board, and, while I have failed to provide the balance of the funding needed, I am confident in my ability to lobby for the remaining $36 million.

At the end of the day, this project is bigger than politics. It's about the people of Central Queensland being given a chance to create something that will serve us for generations to come, providing a corridor of commerce along the lower reaches of the Fitzroy, flowing right into the major centres of Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast. While it has been a long road to this point, I firmly believe that the feeling when we see the first sod turned and the first load of cement poured will be as sweet as any event in my political career.

That is essentially what it's all about in this game—finding something your community needs and fighting tooth and nail until it becomes a reality. To be able to get to this point where we have significant government backing for this project is incredibly vindicating, but I haven't finished yet. We have $308 million now on the table—$132 million in federal funds and a $176 million state commitment. But we are still $34 million shy of the total cost, according to the Building Queensland business case. I will continue my fight to secure this shortfall and I will not rest until Rookwood Weir is built. With infrastructure like Rookwood Weir, and with expanding free trade agreements and reducing red tape, Central Queenslanders have a lot to look forward to.