Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to begin by addressing some very concerning comments made by the state Labor member for Townsville last week. Those comments were regarding the construction of a concert hall in Townsville, a world-class performing arts facility that is set to cement our city's position as the events capital of northern Australia. Together with the community and through the Townsville City Deal, we were able to secure a coalition government commitment for a business case to investigate options for what it would look like and where it would be located as well as $98 million to fund the construction.

To firstly address the business case, this has now been in the works for more than 12 months and is still not complete. I wrote to the minister for infrastructure in November of last year to request an update on its progress, and she responded that, due to delays, the business case was expected to be completed in early 2023. Earlier this month I contacted her again to seek an update on the business case, and I thank the minister for meeting with me yesterday and providing me with an update that it will be complete in July of this year.

However, there was a further development earlier this week about the project. On Monday, the state Labor government announced a further commitment of $50 million for the construction of the concert hall, contingent on Townsville City Council ratepayers also stumping up $50 million in matched funding. What's most concerning about this is the state Labor member for Townsville, Scott Stewart, said, on Channel 7, that the $98 million had been reneged. Well, in the meeting with the minister yesterday, she confirmed that the funding was still there and will remain committed to this project. Not only this; the minister also said that she had no idea why the state Labor government was also contributing funds to the project, particularly when the business case hasn't been completed. So the state member for Townsville has some questions to answer. Was he lying when he said the federal government reneged the funding? Was he playing political games at the expense of the truth? Does he have no idea about the project or how to work with the federal government of his own party?

To be extremely clear, it has been confirmed by the federal minister that the $98 million that I worked hard, with the community, to get committed through the Townsville City Deal will be staying with this project. We had the state Labor member for Townsville, who is also a minister in the Queensland Labor government, tell the community on TV, on Channel 7, that the funding has been reneged. Now, the minister for infrastructure here in the federal parliament, who is a member of the same political party, has said no, it hasn't. I think the state member has some answers that need to be outlaid to the people of Townsville. I don't think it's good enough to have someone intentionally mislead the community to try and land a political point.

We saw that with the Haughton Pipeline. We got funding for that project, and then the state government reneged on that deal and said: 'We don't want your money. We'll go at it alone.' Now that project is three years late. The ratepayers have to front up most of the bill, and the Labor state member for Townsville is not telling the truth. So I would say to Scott Stewart, who is the state Minister for Resources, the state Labor member for Townsville city: tell the truth to the people of Townsville. Did you mislead them when you said the money has been reneged, or are you just not communicating with the federal minister, who has carriage over the city deal?

I have the people of Townsville contacting my office—and I'm sure many other offices in Townsville—to say, 'Where's this $98 million that was there to fund this concert hall? The state member said it's reneged.' They then find out that that's not the case. I wouldn't say that's misleading; I'd say that's a lie.

We're also concerned about the 90-day review. There are projects that are absolutely beneficial to the community of Townsville that need to go through. One of them in particular is 24 urban streets on Palm Island to allow for adequate drainage. That's a great project. You don't need a 90-day review for that. You know it's good. We need a minister to tick off on it. It creates jobs, drives our economy and is good for Townsville.