AARON STEVENS:
It’s a pleasure this morning to say hello to the Prime Minister. Malcolm Turnbull joins us, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning it’s great to be here.
AARON STEVENS:
Now Prime Minister we do have the Mayor of Rockhampton Regional Council in the studio with us, Margaret Strelow who is in for her regular segment just on a Thursday morning. But she did want to make an apology this morning, Mayor.
MAYOR MARGARET STRELOW:
Yeah I did and I’ll be brief. Malcolm the front page of today’s paper does not represent our community. We are delighted to have you here and I do look forward to catching up with you later today. But I just wanted to apologise for that paper – the sentiment – the thing that says we need help is real but that image was inexcusable so please accept our apology.
PRIME MINISTER:
They’re not needed but it’s very gracious of you to offer them nonetheless. I look forward to seeing you later in the day.
MAYOR MARGARET STRELOW:
Okay, thank you.
AARON STEVENS:
Prime Minister, the fact that yourself and the Deputy Prime Minister are in town today does prove to us again just how important this region is and it almost seems like sometimes when Central Queensland’s going well Australia is going well. Is that fair to say?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it absolutely is a vital part of our future. You know, Northern Australia is a fundamental element in our whole economic plan. And water is at the heart of that. You know, we have most of the water in Northern Australia, I mean look at the Fitzroy Basin for a start, the second largest basin water catchment after the Murray Darling in Australia. And you’ve got this enormous water resource and not nearly enough infrastructure in Northern Australia to capture it and use it.
And that’s why Barnaby and I are here with Michelle Landry of course and Matt Canavan and we’re announcing the project that we are providing funding for, the feasibility studies, to get them moving – 14 projects in Queensland and of course we are again urging the Queensland Government to get on and partner with us in building the Rookwood Weir. We’ve got $130 million on the table, it’s ready to go, it’s going to produce $1 billion of additional agricultural output over 2,000 jobs. This is a really important piece of infrastructure and there’s no reason not to get cracking on it right away.
AARON STEVENS:
Yeah as you said, the most important part of all that is the 2,000 jobs in the future that it will provide for the region. No doubt you realise how important it is to get jobs going in CQ.
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely and you’ve got this phenomenal agricultural resource. You’ve got great soil, great weather, enterprising Australians here ready to work and you’ve got this enormous water resource. The only problem is we don’t capture enough of it. We don’t use enough of it. And it’s there – the opportunity is there, I mean the Rookwood Weir is not a great big dam; it’s not going to flood a valley or anything like that. It is a very, very well designed, well-conceived proposal that will add, as I said, $1 billion of additional agricultural output.
AARON STEVENS:
So what are the steps that need to be taken to fast track these projects?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well really at this stage it basically is an issue of political will. Look I – there is nothing more tedious than politicians blaming each other and I – so I say this with some reluctance. But the truth is, there’s $130 million on the table, the Rookwood Weir has been on the Queensland Governments infrastructure project list for a long time, as I’m sure the Mayor knows as well as anybody. So, it’s there, I know there is some political sensitives in the Labor Party. They are not enthusiastic about dams because they’ve got – they’re looking at their left flank, they’re looking at the pressure from the Greens but the fact of the matter is, this is thousands of jobs, billions of dollars of output, it is a straightforward relatively modest project in terms of scale. Let’s get on and do it.
AARON STEVENS:
How do we bypass the continual studies, the environmental studies that continue to hold up projects like these, not for just a couple of years but ten-twenty years. What do we have to do to try and get those fast tracked?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have to examine the processes again and we’ve got to get streamlining done. It is taking too long, I mean, I was Environment Minister years ago, I’m very committed to ensuring that we make the right environmental decisions, that we protect all our great environmental assets like the Great Barrier Reef among many. But what we have to do is reach these decisions more quickly and I hear again and again from investors and developers that they would rather have a quick no than years, and as you said even decades, of delay and legal expense and spinning wheels. We just have to get on with it. It’s something that we’ve looked at in the last Parliament and we’ll be looking at it – we’re in discussions now again.
I think that all Australians can agree that red tape and delay is a huge break on development and investment. And as I said, we just have to make these decisions quickly – more quickly. Don’t cut corners; don’t sacrifice the environment for development. We can look after both. We can have great jobs, lots of investment and a clean environment and a protected and improved environment. We have to make the decisions in a more efficient way.
AARON STEVENS:
And Prime Minister I think a lot of people are hearing those words and are enthused by that but we’ve heard it before. What can you do to make it happen?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have to secure the support of the Senate, as you know; we proposed some legislation in the last Parliament which was rejected in terms of vexatious litigation. I think the important thing is strong co-operation with state governments – Greg Hunt did great work in this regard when he was Environment Minister to make sure that the state-federal approval processes work hand in hand.
But really we need to be very open minded and very practical about this. The objective is not to cut environmental corners, not to short change the environment, but to get decisions made more quickly and the delay is a – a delay is often as good or as bad as a denial.
AARON STEVENS:
So what’s the message you want to deliver to Central Queensland during your visit today?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are committed to Northern Australia, we’re committed to Central Queensland, we’re committed to investing in water, we’re committed to investing in road infrastructure, we’re committed to ensuring that Northern Australia continues to realise its potential. It is the frontier, the great growth frontier of Australia. We believe in that, we’re committed to it – that’s why we are here and that’s why we’re putting billions of dollars to work in Northern Australia, right across Northern Australia.
AARON STEVENS:
Prime Minister can I ask a favour – we did have a number of people call through this morning to ask questions to you, I know we’re not going to have the time now this morning, can I ask that in a couple of weeks if I could give you a call and we could answer some of those questions. Would that be okay?
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely, very happy to do that and happy to do that from wherever I am in Australia.
AARON STEVENS:
Alright, good to see you in CQ today, enjoy your stay.
PRIME MINISTER:
I do, Michelle Landry and I will be out with Barnaby Joyce making a big commitment to the future of Central Queensland, the future of agriculture, the future of our children and grandchildren in a prosperous Northern Australia.
AARON STEVENS:
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thanks for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
Ends