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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on the government's commitment to building water infrastructure in central Queensland and how it will generate jobs for hardworking Australians in my electorate of Capricornia? Is he aware of any alternative policies?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Capricornia for the question. Ultimately, we know how important Rookwood Weir is. It was great to have Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk down the other day to confirm that they, too, now believe in Rookwood Weir. This is a great step forward. We know that over the course of time this will bring billions of dollars more revenue back to Central Queensland and employ thousands more people. It's part of the nation's overall water strategy, which is also present in Tasmania, where we are seeing substantial water infrastructure built under the Hodgman government in combination with the federal government. It's also part of the same water infrastructure which is building the Macalister irrigation pipeline for the dairy area as well as the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline, which is of great assistance to the member for Mallee.

We want to continue this water infrastructure program. In Queensland alone, we have substantial feasibility studies underway and we are making sure that we expand the capacity of the nation to generate further wealth from dams and water infrastructure. This government, with the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, has its focus on water infrastructure. We are fully aware that dams are the essence of how we actually drive the economy forward. You can see in places such as St George, where I lived for quite some time, in the member for Maranoa's seat, how a dry acre which was worth between $200 or $300 an acre went up to around $12,000 to $13,000 an acre with the addition of water. This shows how you can grow an economy with the same stock of land, but it requires a government that is not scared of building water infrastructure. In this nation we will be taking further water infrastructure—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton!

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

as the megalitre-per-person requirements increase and the megalitre storage per person reduces. We have, in this nation, lived off the back of water infrastructure of people in the past who had the vision and foresight to build it—people such as Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. When he built Wivenhoe Dam, everybody said it was too big; now they say it's too small. We will continue to drive further water infrastructure in places such as North Queensland, and there are a number of programs on the table as we speak. We will continue in this process because we know that is how you generate jobs and that is how you build wealth. That is something that I think is an exceptional part of the vision of this nation's government.