Mr PERRETT (Gympie—LNP) (4.26 pm): I rise to speak in this cognate debate on the
appropriation bills and the Betting Tax and Other Legislation Amendment Bill. I will focus on
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) which authorises the Treasurer to pay $2.825 billion to cover budget blowouts
from 14 government departments. That means that more than half the cabinet has overseen budget
blowouts in their departments. This is the largest amount of unforeseen expenditure since the infamous
Bligh government budget blowouts in 2011-12. This is taxpayers’ money which has already been spent.
The sheer amount of the blowouts exposes an incompetent government which is losing control of
spending. It is a government incapable of treating taxpayers’ money with respect, incapable of keeping
to forecasted budgets and a Treasurer who cannot manage the state’s finances.
In the almost $3 billion needed to cover the budget blowout, an allocation of $2.225 million is
needed for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, DAF. The increased revenue is needed for
some key departmental responsibilities such as drought assistance, the Native Timber Action Plan,
biosecurity measures, feral pest control, cluster fencing, the fisheries strategy and worker shortages.
The Queensland Treasurer said—
Additional departmental services were primarily due to increased State funding for various programs including the Drought
Assistance and Reform Package and the Fire Ant Suppression Taskforce, partly offset by timing adjustments for a number of
programs including cluster fencing and feral pest control and other biosecurity measures, the Queensland Agriculture Workforces
Network, Native Timber Action Plan and the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy.
There were also expenses for Australian government funds for various programs including the
Horticultural Netting Program and the Future Drought Fund.
Last year’s budget was an exercise in accounting trickery, spin and announcements not backed
up with any budget allocation or lines. DAF only delivered a press rerelease with little detail. The minister
resorted to figures from seven years earlier to find a comparison to back the spin. Despite the
government’s eye-watering borrowings and record debt, DAF went backwards in funding and staff. DAF
even sold assets and still went backwards! Operational expenditure went from $586.733 million to a
budgeted $522.630 million. That is a reduction of more than $64 million or 10 per cent. Staff numbers
were less, offices closed, extension services all but disappeared, research and development was left
to others, and pest and weed management were barely mentioned.
Despite needing up to 9,000 seasonal horticultural workers, it had no detail on assisting
quarantine costs of foreign workers who were desperately needed on farms. The only reference to
drought in last year’s budget was a passing reference that relief assistance was a concession. The
additional funding for drought in this bill shows the impact and severity drought had across regional and
rural areas. This bill authorised increased funding for the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy. Last year’s
budget had no detail for the implementation of the onerous fishing reforms. There was no mention of or
funding to complete a regulatory impact statement as the Queensland Productivity Commission
advised.
The Native Timber Action Plan is inconvenient. Three years ago the Premier announced a Timber
Action Plan. She promised a Native Timber Advisory Panel. When it was finally formed almost two years
later, it was stacked with green activists including Aila Keto and Virginia Young, who helped mastermind
the failed policy of Peter Beattie and Henry Palaszczuk. We have seen no recommendations from it.
Even the government’s own website about the plan has not been updated for almost a year. The
Premier’s two-year study to identify future sustainable actions is now a year overdue. Meanwhile, timber
supply issues continue to impact housing construction. More than a 10 per cent increase in raw timber
costs and lengthy delays to source products have inflated costs. If nothing changes, we will be short
56,000 house frames by 2035.
This bill authorises increased funds for the Queensland Agriculture Workforce Network. I have
been visiting primary producers in many areas of our vast state. Recently I visited regions such as
Bowen, Ayr, Mareeba, the Atherton Tablelands, Rockhampton and Hervey Bay. The calls to act on
labour shortages are unanimous. The Queensland Country Life headline ‘Lack of workforce holds ag
to ransom’ summed up the problem. Labour shortages and skyrocketing costs are impacting grocery
prices at the checkout. They are pushing up fruit and vegetable prices on supermarket shelves. AgForce
said—
The labour crisis is a major barrier to farm production … and without a real solution, production costs will continue to rise, and
consumers will be hit with even higher grocery prices.
This bill provides for additional funds for the Fire Ant Suppression Taskforce. The war against
fire ants is being lost. There are serious issues and lots of unanswered questions around the Fire Ant
Eradication Program. All states and territories fund this program. Queensland has a responsibility to
deliver on their investment.
For years I have warned about biosecurity risks. Yet over successive years Minister Furner has
cut animal welfare and biosecurity officers. It is either ignorant or deliberately indifferent. Biosecurity
risks should not be managed as media exercises, and the daily struggle of landholders and producers
to deal with feral pests and invasive weeds are an afterthought.
The government did everything it could to avoid debating weed management and finalise the
inquiry into the impacts of invasive weeds in Queensland. It tried to bury the report, watered down
recommendations, bury its record and avoid scrutiny. This bill is just the latest evidence proving the
agriculture minister fails to stand up for the industries he is supposed to represent.
This bill is glaring proof that the government’s only economic plan is for more taxes, more debt,
reckless increased borrowing and to fail on integrity and transparency. Its management is characterised
by 15 new taxes, wasteful spending, overseeing cost overruns which plague infrastructure projects and
the wrong priorities. Because the Treasurer will not rein in wasteful spending of his cabinet colleagues,
he increases taxes, breaks the tax promise made 26 times and breaks the debt promise by borrowing
$28 billion after promising to borrow $4 billion.
Wasteful spending has consequences in communities like Gympie. It means we do not get the
projects and infrastructure we need. Projects are being constantly delayed, put in the too hard basket,
or worse ignored. Ministers know about them because I frequently raise it with them. They cannot claim
ignorance.
The government refuses to deliver a new hospital for Gympie and an ambulance station at
Glenwood. It knows the hospital’s facilities are old and not fit for purpose, with services fragmented and
spread across multiple buildings. Its own Sunshine Coast HHS master plan said the Gympie Hospital
cannot provide the level of service we need. It recommended preparing a business plan for a new
hospital on a new site.
If they were not wasting money, Rainbow Beach would get its properly designated police station
now. Antisocial behaviour on Teewah Beach continues to be a problem, and Imbil Police Station needs
additional personnel as well as an upgrade.
Wasteful spending means we miss out on funding for road and bridge infrastructure and improved
train services or to relieve pressure on state-controlled roads. The Mary Valley Highway needs to be
upgraded to at least B-double standard. Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach roads need overtaking lanes.
The three-kilometre stretch between Tooth Drive and Reuben Road on the Gympie-Woolooga Road
needs widening to two lanes.
Despite the hand wringing and media opportunities, the government is clearly reluctant to floodproof my region. It refuses to help improve flood immunity and start planning for a high-level bridge to
improve access between north and south Gympie or upgrade bridges on Gympie-Woolooga Road.
Gympie also needs increased train services from Gympie north to the Sunshine Coast and
Brisbane. It ignores fast-tracking investment in new school buildings and flood-proofing them, especially
at One Mile State School. Demountables should only be temporary; they should not be the solution.
James Nash State High School has approximately 1,300 students and 150 staff. It needs a multipurpose
hall big enough for all staff and students. Gympie needs funding towards a multipurpose entertainment
facility, improved and increased sports facilities across the region and heating for the outdoor pool at
the Gympie Aquatic Recreation Centre.
The government is incompetent and incapable of getting the priorities right. It resorts to
accounting trickery, dodgy valuations, raids on Public Service superannuation and pushing borrowings
out to conceal the true state of the books. It is too busy blaming anyone else, pursuing photo
opportunities, red carpets, ribbon cutting and indulging in media spin. Its record speaks for itself. It is a
government you cannot afford to trust.