Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Treasurer, young mothers today must have a paying job and be a wife, cook, family bookkeeper, kid chauffeur, house cleaner, laundry lady and go to church on Sunday. Not surprisingly, when 20 Australians die, only 15 will be born. Advance Australia Fair is Hughenden's irrigation scheme. Fifteen Hughendens would create 3,000 farms, 10,000 owner-operator businesses and 100,000 homes with backyards. Hughenden has had $170 million allocated now for eight years. Queensland dithers. Will you create a water authority and call tenders? Treasurer, you won't get a portrait; you'll get a statue!

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Kennedy for his question. I wanted to say that one of the first things I did this year was to travel with the Prime Minister and Minister McBain to make sure that we spent time—

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He's been to Hughenden twice—the Prime Minister.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, he has been to Hughenden twice as Prime Minister. He's very committed to the north-west of Queensland, and you can see that in the fact that Minister McBain, the Prime Minister and I went and spent time with the good people and industries of Cloncurry. Our thoughts, obviously, are with the farmers and miners from that part of Australia in the aftermath of the horrific flooding.

Now the question was about a number of things, but primarily I think it was about water infrastructure. Since May 2022, the Albanese government has invested $1.2 billion in more than 130 projects through the National Water Grid Fund, improving access to water, driving growth and supporting long-term environmental health. And we know, as the member for Kennedy pointed out in his question, 400 clicks up the road from Cloncurry, in a beautiful place called Hughenden, this government has made a $170 million commitment to support the Hughenden irrigation scheme in the member's electorate. He is right to point out that that project is waiting on a Queensland government review, which is currently under way—the Gulf water plan, I think it's called—which will provide the water necessary to support the scheme. It has been a process which has been under way for some time, and we're waiting for that process to conclude—

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They've been waiting for eight years!

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Kennedy, just listen to my advice. You just can't get up and say what you like. You did that during the question. If you wish to raise a point of order on relevance, you can. I take that was a point of order on relevance, but you need to say the point of order on relevance. The Treasurer was asked a question about the funding, and he's talking about the $170 million. I'm listening carefully to make sure he's being directly relevant to what you asked him.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, and I was also mentioning the frustrations that the member for Kennedy has about the wait on the Queensland government's Gulf water plan. I understand that that's the next thing that needs to be completed in order for the project to go ahead. Obviously, beyond that in Queensland we've got other big water commitments—$600 million near Bundy, which is a really important food bowl as well. But we do know that as a government we can always do more on this front. We take the member for Kennedy's suggestions very seriously. We have decided to review the Water Act, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the National Water Initiative to make sure they are delivering on what we need them to. I acknowledge Minister Watt and, before him, Minister Plibersek for the work that they have done on that.

Our objective here is to maximise the enormous economic potential of north-west Queensland. That is a passion that the member for Kennedy has, the Prime Minister has and the Treasurer has. This government shares that passion with the member for Kennedy, and a big part of that, an important part of that, is building more water infrastructure, not necessarily more statues.