North Queensland; Palaszczuk Labor Government, Performance
Mr PERRETT (Gympie—LNP) (3.06 pm): It is great to be up here in North Queensland. I want to assure North Queenslanders that, despite the Labor government’s appalling deafness to the regions, you are not forgotten. This morning we saw hundreds of farmers rally outside this building here in Townsville because they are sick and tired of this anti-farmer, anti-regions and anti-jobs Palaszczuk Labor government. They are sick and tired of this incompetent government. The list of grievances against our hardworking farmers continues to grow.
The unfair vegetation management laws that indiscriminately locked up North Queensland’s economic potential has made it harder for North Queensland farmers already struggling with droughts and floods. Now farmers are staring down the barrel of a new wave of unfounded and unfair laws through the reef laws that will impact our canefarmers, horticulturalists and graziers. It is no secret that farmers in Queensland have been doing it tough.
Honourable members interjected.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Kelly): Pause the clock. Member for Thuringowa and member for Gregory, we will not have any quarrelling across the chamber.
Mr PERRETT: It is no secret that farmers have had enough. That is why AgForce has launched the ‘standing up for our regions’ and ‘standing up for Queensland agriculture’ campaign in opposition to the anti-regions agenda being run by this state government. This year’s floods devastated the north-west and central outback of the state. The recovery continues to be a long road. The role of the government is to support programs that assist farmers and their communities get back on their feet.
That is why it is completely disgraceful that the agriculture minister has reneged on his promise to provide much needed funding to fight the outbreak of prickly acacia resulting from the recent floods.
This is despite announcing in March a $5 million contribution with the then federal agriculture minister, David Littleproud. I ask the minister: what has happened to the money? Where is it? Does Labor get a kick out of promising support to drought and flood affected communities only to retract it?
The state government has also announced that it is cutting vitally important freight subsidies for fodder to keep stock alive during drought without announcing any other services in return. This is effectively an overall cut to drought funding going forward to drought affected farmers. Instead of supporting our farmers during drought and flood recovery, Labor continues its anti-regions agenda. The government has again gone missing when it comes to standing up for North Queensland’s vitally important cane industry. India’s plans to dump a further six million tonnes of subsidised sugar over the next year, in addition to the five million tonnes dumped last year, means that Australian sugar prices will continue to crash—and the Premier continues to do nothing in her trade responsibilities. What does this mean for Australia’s largest sugar port right here in Townsville? Will the Premier and Labor have the courage to stand up for real jobs while they are up here in Townsville? Inaction is not an option when communities and their 22,600 direct and indirect jobs across the state are on the line.
The list continues. Labor has not done enough to protect farmers from extremist protests designed to disrupt and terrorise. Why? Are they frightened of the extremists, or in their hearts do they agree with them? The LNP has laws on the table to ramp up penalties for those who commit and organise these terrorist activities. Farmers are the lifeblood of this country. They are not getting the respect they deserve from Premier Palaszczuk, who is hypnotised by the call of the Greens and the far left.
Fishing in regional Queensland, particularly North Queensland, continues to be hurt by unfair and unscientific regulation changes. Labor’s unfair fishing regulations, which came into effect on Sunday, will force hundreds of family owned commercial fishers out of the industry. Recreational fishers have also been left reeling. They question the rationale and logic behind bans on fishing certain species and the limitation on how much they can take. The Queensland Seafood Industry Association’s message is simple and confronting: multigenerational fishing families are being torn apart by the government’s political agenda. These laws are not based on science and are not in the interests of Queensland fishers.
Unlike Labor, the Liberal National Party understands rural and regional Queensland. We understand North Queensland and its vitally important industries such as agriculture and fishing. We stand up for the regions because we represent the regions. North Queensland farmers and communities can rest assured that we will continue to fight this anti-farmer, anti-regions and anti-jobs agenda. The state Labor government is bad for the north and it is bad for the whole state.