Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the issue that is affecting not just my home state of Queensland or the country but, really, the whole world. That is the COVID-19 outbreak. We have all watched in horror as we've seen—particularly with the events in Victoria—the tragic loss of life, particularly in the aged-care sector. That is something we've talked about at length in the chamber this week.

Even though in my home state of Queensland we certainly haven't seen the impact that we have in Victoria and other parts of the country, it still is something that is affecting us as well. One of the reasons why Queensland has been relatively unscathed compared to other states in Australia is the decisive action of the Palaszczuk Labor government in closing Queensland's borders and a range of other preventative measures.

It has been very interesting being back down here this week in the Senate, because it's the first time we've been here for a while. I remember very clearly the Queensland LNP senators—including your good self, Mr Acting Deputy President McGrath—literally screaming at us from the other side of the chamber about how Queensland needed to open its borders. They were yelling and screaming and carrying on—moving motions and making speeches and asking questions and all sorts of things, abusing Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Labor Party for their strong decisions about keeping Queensland's borders closed. Well, haven't they been quiet this week? You can barely hear a mouse from the Queensland LNP in the Senate chamber this week, because they know that they made the wrong call and that the overwhelming majority of Queenslanders are against what the LNP has been saying, and that they are with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk when it comes to our borders.

We all know that the Queensland LNP were only carrying on like pork chops about borders down here in the Senate at the last sittings because they thought they were on a political winner in the run-up to a Queensland election. Didn't they get that wrong? They completely misjudged the Queensland population. They completely misjudged the health risk that was posed to Queensland if we didn't have closed borders. Of course, then we saw what happened in Victoria and all of a sudden they realised they'd got it wrong. I'm sure that Queenslanders, when they come to vote in the Queensland election at the end of October, will very well remember the different positions taken on the issue by Labor on the one hand and by the LNP on the other. In the case of Deb Frecklington, the state opposition leader in Queensland, we are up to 64 times that she demanded the Queensland borders be opened. Of course, that was replicated here in Canberra by her state LNP colleagues. Haven't they changed their tune now? I'm very confident that Queenslanders will remember, at the end of October, that it was Labor, with Annastacia Palaszczuk, that kept their health safe. Equally, it will be Labor that guides Queensland to recovery in the months and years ahead.

In contrast to what we've seen from the Palaszczuk government, we are seeing a range of measures taken by the Morrison government and his LNP cohorts here in Canberra that actually jeopardise the Queensland economy right now and into the future. We know that at the end of September we will see cuts made to the JobKeeper payments and the JobSeeker payments that have been so crucial to so many Queensland families. Of course, only a few months ago the LNP and Prime Minister Morrison didn't want to have a wage subsidy; they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into paying one by Labor, the union movement and the business community. Now, if you get around Queensland, every single business and every single worker you talk to will tell you how vital the JobKeeper payment is to their businesses staying afloat and to them being able to feed their families.

But we now know that at the end of September those rates are scheduled to be cut, which will mean that businesses will not be able to keep people on and Queensland families will have less money in their pockets. Probably the worst part of this is that, at the very time the federal government is intending to pull financial support out of the economy and pull financial support out of Queensland families, what they are also doing is not coming up with any plan around jobs. They want to take money out of the Queensland economy and out of Queensland families, and they have no plan for what the new jobs in Queensland and the rest of the country will be. That stands in stark contrast to the Palaszczuk government, which has a very clear plan for Queensland's economy, particularly based around spending on infrastructure projects, supporting small business and investing in new industries.

Over the last few weeks, now that those of us from Queensland are able to travel within Queensland, I've taken the opportunity to spend a lot of time in regional Queensland. I've literally been from Cape York to Coolangatta and pretty much every major provincial city in between. And what is very clear to me, no matter where I go in Queensland, is that people are desperately waiting for the Morrison government to come up with a jobs plan. They know that the clock is ticking on JobKeeper, on JobSeeker and on a whole range of other financial support that's being provided by the Morrison government. They also know that there is no jobs plan whatsoever from our federal government to make sure that there are going to be new jobs available for when this money does come out of people's pockets. It seems that we can't rely on Prime Minister Morrison or any of his LNP senators or MPs to come up with a plan.

Let me just put three basic ideas on the table that are based on the discussions that I've been having with people right throughout regional Queensland. There are three very easy things that the government could be doing. They could be fast-tracking infrastructure projects to get businesses and workers back on the tools; they could be rebuilding our manufacturing industry, particularly in regional Queensland; and they could be investing in the training that they have ripped money out of over the last few years. Let's just go through them one by one. On fast-tracking infrastructure projects, creating jobs is the key to our regions recovering from the first recession we have seen in 30 years. That's what the Morrison and Frydenberg government have inflicted on Queenslanders and on the rest of the country.

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

The Acting Deputy President:

Order!

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know government senators don't want to hear this.

The Acting Deputy President:

Please take your seat, Senator Watt. Senator Urquhart on a point of order.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The previous contribution from the other side was not interrupted in any way, shape or form from this side. I would ask that senators on that side give our side the same courtesy.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just on the point of order: it is important, and I will of course take your guidance, Madam Acting Deputy President, but it is also important that speakers tell the truth, if they don't want to be heckled.

The Acting Deputy President:

On the point of order, interjections are disorderly and I would ask both sides of the chamber to let the senator be heard.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can understand why the government don't want to hear this. But, unfortunately, they have not been capable of coming up with a jobs plan of their own, so here we are, happy to help. I'm from Queensland; I'm here to help. On the fast-tracking of infrastructure projects, Senator Rennick and his Queensland colleagues might not be aware of this, but only a few weeks ago we had the Prime Minister, also known as Scotty from Marketing, getting out there and making a big announcement about how—

The Acting Deputy President:

A point of order, Senator Seselja?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Apart from not telling the truth, Senator Watt is now not referring to people in the other place—that is, the Prime Minister—by their proper title.

The Acting Deputy President:

Senator Watt, I will ask you to refer to other members and senators according to their title.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm happy to withdraw and to refer to the Prime Minister as the Prime Minister. A few weeks ago, we saw the Prime Minister make a big announcement, something that we know he likes to do—he's not so good on the follow-through, but he loves making a big announcement—usually with an ad ready to go. He said that he was going to have 15 major projects around the country fast-tracked so we could get infrastructure happening and jobs happening. Guess how many of those projects are in my home state of Queensland. Guess how many projects are in the state that the Prime Minister has said delivered him his election victory last year. One. Out of 15 major projects being fast-tracked around the country, he could only find one project in Queensland that he was prepared to fast-track—and that project, the Inland Rail, is really, basically, a New South Wales-Victoria project and it doesn't go any further north than Brisbane. So there is not one project north of Brisbane that this Prime Minister and his government are prepared to fast-track. I get around regional Queensland, and I see a few of the projects that are happening—

The Acting Deputy President:

On a point of order, Senator Rennick?

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

The senator is being misleading. We've been—

The Acting Deputy President:

That's not a point of order, Senator Rennick.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They're very touchy, Madam Acting Deputy President. And I would be, too, if I was a senator elected from a state where I couldn't deliver more than one project being fast-tracked. I'd be embarrassed as well: only one project being fast-tracked in Queensland, none of them north of Brisbane, and the one project that they have fast-tracked in Queensland won't actually start for two years. If that's fast-tracking I'd hate to be in the slow lane, but that's the plan that the Morrison government has. Central Queensland, North Queensland and our regions in general have every right to have projects fast-tracked as much as Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere else in the country.

The second point: how about rebuilding Australian manufacturing? I've had to sit here this week and try and keep a straight face as I've seen government senators talk about how important Australian manufacturing is. Hello! Where were you when you were turning your back on the car industry? Where were you when you were just letting our manufacturing industry slide? Where are you now as your own government tries to rip out $2 billion in research and development tax incentives to help the manufacturing industry? Well, I'm glad that you've finally cottoned on that Australian manufacturing actually matters and that it creates jobs, good blue-collar jobs, not only in places like Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast but also in Rockhampton, Townsville, Mackay, Cairns and everywhere in between. So let's start seeing some actual investment in manufacturing to rebuild an industry that has died under this government's watch. Just outside Rockhampton I met with people of Central Queensland Sandstone, who are doing a fantastic job, getting state government grants to upgrade their technology and improve their productivity but nothing at all from the federal government, and it's about time we see it.

Thirdly, how about we see the government invest in training? In fact what we've actually seen from this government over seven years is $3 billion being ripped out of TAFE. In Queensland alone we've got 27,000 fewer apprentices and trainees than were in place when this government was elected seven years ago. Let's start investing. Let's see a jobs plan. Let's get Queensland moving.