TIM:
We're now joined on the phone by the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Malcolm Turnbull.
Good morning, Mr Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, great to be with you.
TIM:
Thank you very much.
JESS:
We are so excited Mr Prime Minister, I mean, you're coming up to Rocky today. Are you excited to be in Central Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
I really am and I'm so thrilled to be there with Michelle Landry and Ken O'Dowd to announce that the Rookwood Weir is going to go ahead and that is - it's just so good.
We know we were up there two years ago announcing our commitment to it, about two years ago, I think in May 2016. And now the Queensland Government came on board a couple of months ago and there's been a new analysis of the costs - which have gone up a bit - but we've looked at that and we're now satisfied that we can go ahead with the whole thing.
So that's great. It's going to, it's going to create a lot of jobs, you know. It's really going to be a huge shot in the arm for the whole you know, both the Gladstone area and Rockhampton. It's fantastic.
JESS:
It has been a long journey to this point and I mean you've announced an extra $46 million into this project which is so fantastic.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yep.
JESS:
And I mean like you said it's going to bring so many more jobs and a little bit more security for different sectors across the region as well.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, that's right. Well it's all about water security of course. It's going to produce about, or yield about 76,000 mega litres and 42,000 of that goes to irrigated agriculture and another 34,000 is for industry and town use.
So I think this is a real game changer. It's a good project. You know it doesn't involve flooding valleys or anything like that. It's a weir, not a huge dam. So it's essentially backing the river up to use it as a storage, the river bed, I guess. And that means it's a relatively low impact water storage scheme and it's going to produce lot of opportunities. So that's good, excellent.
I know Michelle and Ken have been such staunch advocates for it and really have been banging the drum there for a long time. The state government was very, again I don't want to be critical, but they, we could have got on with this quite some time ago. But they came on board in February only, with some revised numbers which we've looked at and we're now happy to proceed on that basis.
TIM:
It is great to have you here in Rockhampton in Central Queensland because we have spoken to Bill Shorten, Opposition Leader, a few times. He's come a number of times since you've been elected and he always makes a point in saying that you don't often visit here, are you excited to come up and finally sort of see what central Queensland is about especially with the Rookwood Weir?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah of course I am. I've been up to Rockhampton on a number of occasions as you know and held you know meetings and Politics in the Pub, meetings and so forth so I'm always happy to be back in Rocky. I think, look it's a beautiful city and I’m just delighted to be coming up today.
JESS:
Look Mr Prime Minister we are so honoured to have you on our show here on Hit CQ.
TIM:
Of course.
JESS:
I'm not sure if you've been staying up to date with our show, with our catch ups?
TIM:
We know it's tough.
JESS:
We have been trying to get Keith Urban on our show. And as the Prime Minister of Australia, surely you've met Keith before?
TIM:
We just need to know if he's a nice guy, because he's ducking us and if we can get the leader of our nation on the show surely Keith Urban should be no sweat.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look I'll leave the music to you and I'll just focus on the politics and the water today.
JESS:
Okay, if you do happen to see Keith though, give us a little shout out, just let him know Tim and Jess are good people.
PRIME MINISTER:
Why are you especially keen on Keith?
TIM:
I need to apologise. I don't like his music and I like his new song, so I need to apologise
JESS:
He needs to apologise for the years he has been slagging him off on this show.
[Laughter]
So we've been trying to get him on but he keeps seem to be ducking our calls. And we've got the Prime Minister of our country on the show and we can't even get Keith.
TIM:
So that’s fine, but we do appreciate you having a chat to us.
PRIME MINISTER:
What is like what is the new number that you're so keen on?
TIM:
It's ‘Parallel Line’, his new song.
JESS:
Have you heard it Mr Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Why don't you play it? Play it now.
TIM:
We'll play it. We'll play it soon, if you like.
JESS:
Chuck it on! Chuck it on for Malcolm
PRIME MINISTER:
Chuck it on.
TIM:
Thank you very much. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull there, in Rocky today celebrating the Rookwood Weir. Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks a lot, okay good on you.