Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Of course I'm talking about families. Families have power bills. It's not rocket science. They have power bills that come to them from the Queensland state government. Let's look at what the Queensland state government did last year. They gouged an extra $269 million out of their energy assets—an increase of 26.7 per cent. I'm going to repeat that again, just so Hansard gets it: an extra $269 million. Annastacia Palaszczuk and Jackie Trad are gouging the Queensland people. Unbelievable. And they want to make matters worse, because now they've brought the closure of Callide B power station in Biloela forward by 10 years. This is alarming, because that power station helps power one of Queensland's industrial powerhouses: Gladstone. If Gladstone goes, Queensland goes. If Queensland goes, Australia goes. How dare you jeopardise the town of Gladstone, a major manufacturing hub in this country! One of the great works of Leo Hielscher and the Bjelke-Petersen government was setting up the Yarwun alumina refinery using their own bauxite up in Weipa and creating jobs for regional Queensland. And that is now under jeopardy.

But let's get onto health costs and the blowout of Queensland Health. I wonder why that is? Let me see. The cost of the blowout and the cost of the Sunshine Coast hospital—

Senator Carol Brown interjecting—