THE Palaszczuk government has been told to stop making excuses about the development of water infrastructure in Queensland and become part of the solution.
Speaking after the launch of the $4 billion agricultural competitiveness white paper, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said while there were projects that required funding contributions from state governments and territories, there were a number of projects that required no funding but only for the Queensland government to provide the regulatory pathway.
These included Stanbroke’s 15,000-hectare irrigated cotton development on Glenore, south of Normanton, the 50,000ha irrigated I-Fed project north west of Georgetown, and the 32,000ha Olive Vale development at Laura.
“Water is the essence of how to get economic development and how to grow the economic base,” Mr Joyce said.
“It’s easy to tell people in urban areas why we shouldn’t build dams but I am sure people would rather have the benefits that flow from a stronger economy, like more schools and hospitals.
“This is about creating bankable deals that are abundantly sensible for Queensland.”
Mr Joyce said following the downturn in the mining industry people were desperate for work.
“We’ve had Nathan Dam on the books since 1928 for goodness sake,” he said.
“We’re saying we don’t have work digging coal but we can have like-work for those people building dams.”
He listed the proposed Nullinga Dam near Mareeba, Urannah Dam south-east of Collinsville, Rookwood Weir on the Fitzroy River and Emu Swamp at Stanthorpe as examples of dams the Queensland government should be investing.
Mr Joyce’s comments follow claims by State Treasurer Curtis Pitt that Queensland deserved a one-off payment of $500m from the Asset Recycling Scheme.
“I’ve called on the federal government to ensure that Queensland gets real benefits from the $800 million remaining in the Asset Recycling Scheme and not link it to the sale of state owned assets,” Mr Pitt said.
“The Northern Territory and Western Australia are accessing the asset recycling initiative, with WA receiving up to $750m from the fund plus $499m for roads in a special deal, potentially and access to the remaining $800 million.
“Queenslanders deserve a one-off special $500 million deal like Western Australia and I call on the federal government to deliver this now.
“All of the remaining funding of $800 million must be invested in Queensland, otherwise the federal government will be pulling out infrastructure funding from Queensland for not supporting asset sales.”
Mr Pitt said the white paper announcement showed that the federal government had money to invest in infrastructure.
“If they work together with us and industry this will deliver job opportunities for regional Queensland,” Mr Pitt said.
AgForce president Grant Maudsley said it was crucial that the white paper received bipartisan support from both sides of federal and Queensland politics.
“Queensland agriculture is already a $15 billion a year industry and investment in new water infrastructure and R&D will ensure that grows,” Mr Maudsley said.
“Sensible policies are needed from both levels of government to allow Queensland farmers get the maximum benefits. The ultimate measure of success for any long-term plan in agriculture will be its effect on the profitability of farmers.
“I believe this paper, the northern Australia white paper and the recent increases in investment in northern agriculture highlight the importance of agriculture to Queensland’s long-term prosperity.”
However, Queensland Farmers Federation chief executive officer Clare Murray said the new national approach to major water infrastructure was difficult to support in the short or medium term.
She said some existing irrigation schemes in Queensland had less than 50pc utilisation.
“It is hard to justify the construction of new and expensive dams,” Ms Murray said.
“Irrigators need better policy solutions to bring their costs of production down to enable them to increase productivity.”
Ms Murray said farmers would be encouraged by the white paper’s objective of a highly competitive agriculture sector and the $4 billion suite of additional projects and policies.
She said on balance the white paper was a good plan but only a plan and the agricultural sector would judge the government on is its speed of implementation.
Canegrowers chairman Paul Schembri said the white paper had the capacity to invigorate agriculture.
“It strikes a chord because it focuses on improving farmgate returns,” Mr Schembri said.
“Far too often the focus has been about enhancing whole-value chains.
“The white paper also strongly supports the principle of the family farm as the ownership structure.
“There has been talk that large- scale, industrial farming was the way going forward. Very encouragingly is that a full-time ACCC commissioner will be appointed to ensure farmers have fair and equitable power in the value chain.”
Mr Schembri said Water Infrastructure Australia had unfortunately developed a culture of “damphobia”.
