PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull says a $130 million commitment to build the Rookwood Weir near Rockhampton in Queensland will increase agricultural production by $1 billion per year and create 2100 local jobs.
Mr Turnbull announced the funding pledge today with local MP Michelle Landry and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce on the federal election campaign trail.
The project is reliant on a $130m commitment from the Queensland State government but the Coalition says the additional watering capacity would significantly enhance agricultural production in the region while boosting local job creation.
Mr Turnbull said the 2100 jobs would arrive following the weir’s construction, due to the anticipated increase in agricultural production.
“Irrigated agriculture is the most productive agriculture everywhere in the world,” he said.
“It has been for thousands of years in fact.
“Agriculture has been around for a very long time - pretty much as long as humans have been - but it gets smarter and more innovative all the time.
“Australian farmers are innovative.
“Just because agriculture has been with us for a long time doesn't mean it isn't at that cutting edge, that forefront of innovation and it is right around Australia.”
Mr Joyce also announced $19.8m to fast-track 14 feasibility assessments and business case developments across Queensland.
He said the government was allocating $2m to complete the Rookwood Weir business case in addition to providing 50 per cent of the construction costs up to $130 million if the business case met all necessary requirements.
Ms Landry said the water infrastructure project was “by far” the most valuable contribution she could make during her first term as an MP.
“Rookwood has been talked about for nearly two decades - this is a real commitment that only the Turnbull-Joyce government had the guts to commit to,” she said.
Mr Landry said she successfully lobbied to have the $260m Rookwood project included in the Northern Development White Paper released by the Coalition last year.
She said the economic multiplier for agricultural production in the region was three-fold and Growing Central Queensland’s modelling indicated private investment in agricultural development would be $4 for every $1 government invests in construction.
As the only female MP to sit with the Nationals in the House of Representatives she said her head was, “on the line in Canberra to fight for Rookwood”.
AgForce welcomed the federal Coalition $150m commitment towards water infrastructure projects across Queensland, calling it, “a significant step forward for agriculture and the state's economy”.
AgForce water spokesman Kim Bremner said investment in water infrastructure always paid off in the long term.
“A number of these projects could benefit farmers if they are given the go ahead, particularly the Rookwood Weir in Central Queensland and the plan to use south-east Queensland's treated effluent for agricultural production," he said.
“While the mining boom may be over for now, we are on the cusp of a dining boom and access to more water is a crucial ingredient for our agricultural sector to grow in the future.
“The Rookwood Weir could deliver potential opportunities for irrigated farming and feedlots in Central Queensland, but we need more information as the business case is developed, including the likely availability and price of water for agriculture.”
Mr Turnbull said the Rookwood Weir project was being progressed now, “because you have got a government that is prepared to do it” and he and Mr Joyce were “passionate about water”.
He said some of the water projects had been around for a century but “the reality is you need political will and you need leadership and you need leaders that understand water - and Barnaby and I do”.
Mr Joyce said the State government also understood the infrastructure project’s importance and that the potential economic lift of $1b per year was “an accelerator for the commerce, for the size of the economy of Central Queensland”.
“The only thing that we have also proven today that there is one side of government that has the ticker to go out and build this - that is the Liberal-National Coalition,” he said.
Mr Joyce said Ms Landry and LNP MP Ken O'Dowd “put their shoulder to the wheel and go into bat for the people of Central Queensland”.
“When we get this thing built, and we will, it will provide an extra billion dollars a year for this economy, for around here - over 2000 jobs,” he said.
“Whether it's the infrastructure such as inland rail, or its infrastructure such as dams, you can tell what it does - it promotes the growth of our nation and builds jobs for our nation and makes our nation a stronger wealthier more resilient place.”
Mr Bremner said AgForce had strongly advocated for about 100,000 megalitres a year of south-east Queensland's recycled wastewater to be diverted for agricultural and industrial use.
He said it was vital the State government backed the Federal government's water infrastructure plans.
"Agriculture has been a mainstay of the Queensland economy for generations and can continue to be if all levels of government support projects that help unlock the industry's full potential,” he said.