Transcript - Urannah Dam funding announcement, 14 April 2019

EO&E

Subjects: Urannah Dam, Bob Katter, shark nets

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Right to go? Well, Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Development, and great to be here at the Kinchant Dam with my National Party, LNP colleagues, Michelle Landry, the Member for Capricornia, and George Christensen the Member for Mackay and Dawson.

Indeed, this is going to be a great announcement I'm about to make. For Mackay, indeed, for Central and North Queensland. Also, good to be here with David Evans, who has been with the Bowen Mackay, Bowen Collinsville, Bowen Collinsville Enterprise. Sensational to announce that $10 million is going to go pre-construction works and a business case for the Urannah Dam. This is going to be so exciting, not only because this is one of the first dam projects that is going to actually have so much of a triple bottom-line effect in as much as it's going to be good for urban areas. It's going to be good for the resources sector, the coal-mining sector, and it's also going to be good for agriculture.

This is going to have the capacity to build on 20 thousand additional hectares of agriculture and of course that is going to provide more exports, more farming endeavours, and I know that David Evans has told me that this has been a project of theirs for many, many years, in fact it was first talked about in 1967. Well, Michelle Landry and George Christensen are getting on and they're delivering.

That's what the members for Capricornia and Dawson do. They hear, they listen, they go to Canberra, and then they act. And they deliver. And they achieve. This Urannah Dam has been talked about for decades. Well The Nationals, the LNP, in government, are delivering. This is going to provide 148,000 mega litres, additional water each and every year, that's the yield. That's incredible delivery, for the farmers, for the resources sector and for the urban areas around here. Moranbah, it's going to provide water for so many areas, the Whitsundays, right throughout this region, it's going to have water security.

This is what the Nationals do, this is what we do. It's part of the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund. Already we've tipped in an additional half a billion dollars, taking that money up to $1.3 billion, because water is our most valuable resource. Make no mistake, you add water and you can grow anything. You can provide for any resource sector. And of course, we all need drinking water, so that's what this particular 10 million dollar announcement does, for the pre-construction works for a business case to make sure that we add water security, to make sure that we add investment, and of course, the 1000 jobs, George will tell you it's probably going to be a whole lot more than that, it's going to be both indirect and direct jobs. It's going to be such a bonus for this region. Such an incredible bonus for this region, and I know that Michelle Landry and George Christensen are focused so much on jobs. Not only this election campaign, but they're always talking about it. They're always campaigning for it, well today they have again delivered. 10 million dollars for the Urannah Dam, once thought a pipe dream, now a reality. I'll hand over to Michelle and then I'll ask George Christensen for some comments.

MICHELLE LANDRY:

Thank you. Is that too high?

JOURNALIST:

Is it high?

MICHELLE LANDRY:

That's alright, I'm very good at changing these things.

Okay. Thank you Deputy Prime Minister for the $10 million for the business case and early works for Urannah Dam. This is extremely important, it is in the electorate of Capricornia but it has a big effect on the electorate of Dawson as well. This water project will actually help the township of Collinsville enormously. We see recently that the Prime Minister had announced $10 million for a feasibility study for the ... for a coal-fired power station up in Collinsville, so this water could be used for that as well.

When we look at places close by, Glenden, then we've got Moranbah, all those mining towns actually need more water. They are very reliant on the mines themselves, the mining companies, to actually get water. Then we look at places like Emerald, that had the Fairbairn Dam built many years ago, and that made that community go from a small township to a thriving area. So water is extremely important.

In the, probably further south in my electorate, around Rockhampton, we've been fighting hard for the Rookwood Weir there. So, what we have done there is put $176.1 million on the table, we're waiting for the State Government to come on board with that. But these water projects are so important, for the future development of this state and this nation. And we will continue to fight for these water programs.

The Deputy Prime Minister doesn't know this yet, but we're fighting him also for money for a feasibility study for the Connors River Dam, and I would also like to see the Nathan Dam move ahead as well. But I've just be out to Moranbah and Clermont this week, and we certainly do need some work out there on the Theresa Creek Dam as well. So there's lots of water projects that we would love to see move ahead. Water is what this nation needs to thrive, and I think that it's extremely important that the Coalition puts these forward, that we don't back down to Labor and the Greens, they don't want to see these projects go ahead. We're all about water and developing regional Australia.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

George.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

Well thank you very much, Deputy Prime Minister and thank you gathered media for attending. To acknowledge Michelle Landry, who's done a lot of hard work in securing this, because not only are we here at Kinchant Dam in Michelle Landry's electorate, but also the electorate of Capricornia is where this dam will be. Urannah Pastoral Holdings is in the electorate of Capricornia, but it's got widespread benefits for the entire Mackay region. So when I got a call from the Deputy Prime Minister the other day saying you got this funding, I basically told him that I'd kiss him, I won't do that, Deputy PM, now…

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

That's a relief.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

But, look it is such a great announcement. $10 million, what that will do is not just paperwork. It'll de-risk this project, it will get rid of all of the costs that would be involved for a proponent for approvals, whether it be an environmental approvals, it'll cover the indigenous land use issues, it'll cover, obviously, finishing off the business case, and some of the detailed design work and engineering. But more than that, contained within this 10 million dollar envelope, is some funding to do early works.

Actually, all the service re-locations, building the local roads, things like that, that need to happen, before you get the big gear in there and you're pouring concrete. So what the Deputy Prime Minister has announced today, this 10 million dollars, gets us right up to the point of pouring concrete.

That is making this a reality, and I have spoken ... Actually, before I say this, I want to commend the Bowen Collinsville Enterprise and particularly David Evans. It's great to have David here today, because David has been passionate about this project for a hell of a long time, Bowen Collinsville Enterprise has been driving it. We provided them 3 million dollars that Michelle and I fought very hard to get to that group, so that they could basically update all the work that's out there on Urannah Dam. We were presented with the efforts of that 3 million dollars that their work there, in the last fortnight, and not only did the dam stack up, but it stacked up with a bullet.

This is… got… I think, for every dollar that would be invested in this project, there will be a $1.70 return. You do not see numbers like that on projects that don't go ahead. And one of the private sector players that's been heavily involved in this project told me, just the other day, what this 10 million dollars will do, is completely de-risk this project for an investor, completely de-risk the project for an investor and that will mean that private capital will flow. So that's the technical stuff, but let me tell you, what does it do for our region?

Well, 1000 jobs with the construction of the dam. More jobs with the operation of the dam. Over 20 thousand hectares of new farming land opened up, that will, I'm told, it'll just about double the agricultural employment within the Mackay region. That is phenomenal stuff, because what we're gonna be having is high yielding, very, very expensive export market [inaudible] products [inaudible] and it's all going to be master planned. So that's really important for this project, is about growing agriculture, because agriculture grows jobs. This project is about growing the mining sector, the Bowen Basin and the Galilee Basin, because mining creates jobs. This project backs in in our strengths as a region, it backs in mining, and it backs in farming, because that's where the jobs are.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

David.

DAVID EVANS:

It gives me a lot of pleasure to stand here today with the Deputy Prime Minister and Michelle and George, to acknowledge the contribution that could be made to the further development of the business case early works, and looking at the environmental, cultural heritage, and native title issues that can often delay projects. I think the important thing about this is that it will de-risk the project. Very few private proponents are prepared to take projects on now, unless the environmental and cultural heritage issues are addressed, and I think this is a very important step in the process. I think the allocation of funding to the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund has been a wonderful outcome for North Queensland and Northern Australia. And this allocation of funding, a further 10 million dollars, will allow the project to continue to proceed.

Bowen Collinsville Enterprise is an organisation that has previous, its previous organisation at Collinsville District Development Bureau, have been working on this project since 1992. So we're up to 27 years, and it's been a wonderful ... the last few years have been wonderful outcomes for us. First of all, the 3 million dollars under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund for the feasibility case, as George said the feasibility case has proved the project to be an outstanding opportunity for the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday region. It's all about water security, and providing opportunities for regional development based on existing infrastructure within the region and growth.

Unlike many projects in Northern Australia, this is not a Greenfield project. We're in an established area with established industries, with established infrastructure. And it's to build on that established infrastructure rather than start from scratch in remote areas. So, it has an opportunity to proceed very quickly if the project proves to continue to be feasible and the planners push to proceed.

Thank you very much. Well done, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Tremendous.

DAVID EVANS:

Thank you.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Any questions?

JOURNALIST:

So the 10 million dollars that's been announced, will that provide for the whole amount of funding that's required or is this-

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well we previously had provided 3 million dollars for a feasibility study, now we're providing 10 million dollars for a business case, and pre-construction works. And as George Christensen, Member for Dawson, clearly enunciated, these pre-construction works take the project up to just about pouring concrete for the dam wall. Just about everything will be covered off in that 10 million dollars. So this project is a goer. This project, as George Christensen has just said, will return $1.70 for every dollar invested. That's great for the mining sector, great for agriculture, and great for the urban communities around here which are going to benefit from having increased water security.

JOURNALIST:

10 million dollars will cover pre-construction works, what will the actual construction works cost?

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

So, the actual construction of this dam will be in the vicinity of 690 million dollars, and there would perhaps need to be more investment over the top of that with an irrigation area created. But as David no doubt knows, having worked with one major investment company, there are private investors out there who are super keen on this. They were waiting to see a commitment that would de-risk the project, once that's done, they're waiting to move. And pardon the pun, but the money will flow in. It will flow in.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Pipeline of investment George.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

A pipeline of investment, a dam of opportunity. So, you know, we can go with all the puns we want here. They're flooding in. But um, what this will do as well, is that dam obviously creates jobs during construction, it creates jobs during operation. 1000 jobs is what the 3 million dollar study that Bowen Collinsville Enterprise has completed has shown …

What Bowen Collinsville Enterprise has done already, with the 3 million dollars we've given as a feasibility case, which actually shows that it stacks up but also shows about 1000 jobs directly created, and about another 5 thousand jobs indirect. It's actually not so indirect, because most of those 5 thousand jobs are going to be from the new farmland opened up. But there's also going to be some from the new mining developments that will be opened up as well. So, 5-6 thousand jobs, or thereabouts, that's not a small thing. That's a lot for this region. And, you know, we'll probably…we've already got a labour shortage, so we’ll probably have to drag some people from Rocky up and from out west and from Townsville down to actually do this work.

JOURNALIST:

So with the private investor that you said was waiting to see if this was seen through, how solid are they? Have they signed any guarantee that once they see the funding come through, this is guaranteed from them?

DAVID EVANS:

They've basically, as I understand it, there are a group of investors looking to continue with the project provided it can be de-risked. And the important thing about this process is the environmental, cultural heritage and native title issues will determine the reduction in the risk of the project. And the reality is, you will not get projects like this to go ahead now following the Adani experience unless those risks are taken out of the equation. And that's the message really, with this one.

JOURNALIST:

And that group of investors, are they local or overseas investors?

DAVID EVANS:

Basically, they're local. It's an Australian group that's looking at it. We also have two indigenous groups that are looking to become involved with the dam, and with the baseload power station at Collinsville should it eventuate. If that does eventuate, it will require Urannah water. So, there are indigenous groups that are currently part of the Urannah property, and Urannah Properties Association. So there is an involvement there with indigenous groups and it really reflects the ethos that came out of the White Papers for the Development of Northern Australia. Northern Australia can't develop without indigenous cooperation and involvement. No projects can. And this one really has that element to it, which is fairly unique.

JOURNALIST:

And is this project being put forward for NAIF funding, or is that something that could be considered now that this government funding announcement’s been made?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, essentially, it could. This funding is out of the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, so the money's good, the money's in the budget, the money's right. And yes, potentially, I've been speaking to Senator Matt Canavan on the way here, he's delighted with the project, and yes, potentially, all sorts of funding streams, pardon the pun, could come into it.

This is an exciting project. Build it, and they will come. We are very much looking forward to making sure that this development gets off the ground. We want to make sure there's additional water security. We want to make sure that there's additional jobs. And that's what it's all about, at the end of the day. It's jobs, jobs, and jobs. And Michelle and George have been fighting hard for more jobs, more secure jobs, permanent jobs. Whether they're direct, whether they're indirect, this project is going to create them. And I know that everybody, all the proponents, David and his team, Michelle and George, and the communities are right behind it. Only people who'll be against this are the Greens. And potentially Labor, who knows what they'd ever think any day of the week.

JOURNALIST:

Will the State Labor Government [inaudible]

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Look, the fact is, I talked to Anthony Lynham all the time, and look, I'm willing to work with any state government, which is willing to work with the Commonwealth. Any state government that wants to put on the table projects under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, we've got half a billion dollars. This is a good project. This stacks up. If the Queensland Government wants to come on board, well and good. That would be fantastic because even Anthony Lynham would know that this project is going to be very good for this region, very good for regional Queensland.

GEORGE CHRISTSENSEN:

Can I add one other thing?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Sure.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

I guess that we've got this commitment now from the Deputy Prime Minister, the commitment obviously will only be able to be enacted if we're returned to government as the Liberal National Coalition. So the onus now is on the Labor Party, to actually put money down on the table as well, so that this project becomes a reality regardless of the outcome of the election.

And I am calling on Labor to do that, it is a project that's supported by Bowen Collinsville Enterprise, actually supported by our peak economic development organisation of the Greater Whitsunday Alliance. It is a project that's opposed by the green movement, the Mackay Conservation Group has spoken out against it already, and there's no surprise there. They found a bottom breathing turtle that apparently they're going to use to hold it up. We've seen this sort of use of different species before to hold up projects, mainly with the Carmichael mine. So The Greens oppose it, we know that. Are Labor going to side with The Greens once again, or are they going to side for local jobs? Because myself, Michelle, the Deputy PM, we're on the side of local jobs.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Progress.

JOURNALIST:

David touched on it briefly, talking about the Adani experience in terms of getting major projects off the ground. Is there a concern within government that people aren't, or private industry, isn't going to be willing to put money in, on the risk that there could be, you know, really long holdups, or a project not even reach fruition?

MICHELLE LANDRY:

There is great concerns out there, and people say to us, "Why do we stick up for the Adani Coal Mine?" Well why we do is because The Greens and Labor are trying to shut down the coal mining industry in this nation. They want ... if they have a win with the Adani, they won't stop there. They'll continue on with every coal mine in the Galilee and the Bowen basin. And it's an absolute disgrace. I've been out at Moranbah and Clermont this week, and I'll tell you what, there's a lot of concern out in those areas from people about the Green movement and organisations like "Get up." And farmers, farmers are just so concerned that these radical greens and vegans are going to go onto their land, disrupt their businesses, their homes. There's places out at Clermont, that are banning these people from going into their properties. When they have the big rally out there with Bob Brown and his mates in a couple of weeks. So, we have to look at these projects, we've got to support them. The Australian Government's got to be strong on them. Because we can't back down to these radical green movements who want to stop every coal mine and every new industry in this nation, including existing industry.

I mean I keep saying I don't know what they want us to do, and they are just the biggest hypocrites out. They're all running around with diesel, petrol cars, they're on planes to come up here to save the country. They all have phones, they all have cars with air conditioning. You know, if they’re fair dinkum with this, go and turn off all that, hand the mobile phones in. And every one of these things comes from coal and a lot of it from Central Queensland. So, we're standing strong in supporting projects like this, and we're not going to be pushed around by Labor or The Greens.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Here here.

JOURNALIST:

So, how much of the $230 billion in tax cuts that Labor is opposing is going to high income earners?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

To high income earners? That Labor's opposing? Well, you'd have to ask Labor that. The fact is, we're not going to actually, we're not providing tax cuts for one section of the community, at the expense of another section of the community. We don't whack the high end of town, or any end of town, to penalise somebody who wants to get ahead in this world, who wants to build business, who wants to create employment, who wants to create opportunity, and then give it to somebody else.

What we want to do, is our tax cuts are making sure that we have fair and equity, fairness and equity, in the tax system. And if you want to have a go, you'll get a go through the Liberal Nationals. You want ot have a go, you’ll certainly get a go through our government. But what Labor wants to do is they want to take away from one sector of the community to give to another. That's always the way with Labor. It’s always a class warfare. And they always try and divide the community, and they always try and create arguments on tax, create arguments with equity, and create arguments in society. What we want to do is have a fair and equitable system, we've already got the business tax rate down to 27.5 percent. That's the lowest it's been since 1940, so the lowest it's been for 79 years. And we want to make sure that less people have to have the unfairness that Labor is presenting. We want to make sure that if you earn money, you can keep more of it under the Liberal Nationals. The Labor way, well who would know what Chris Bowen wants to do.

MICHELLE LANDRY:

I don't even think he knows himself, does he?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Or what side he gets out of bed, I suppose.

Alright. Good good.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

We understand there’s a number of workers who right now, might be out of a job so I haven’t received an update from the Department of Transport and Main Roads or the State Government for that matter on what’s going on because they are project managers so they’re controlling the whole thing and what I’ve said quite clearly to them is that they need to immediately pull in the prime contractor and say to them that there needs to be surety over what these businesses who may be out of pocket and a lot of them will probably be local businesses, I would think. If these businesses are out of pocket, they need to step in and ensure that the 80% of the federal funding goes into it and the 20% of State funding goes into it. It gets to these people and pays all the bills.

We can’t have local businesses hurting from a project like this. And the workers are, well, given the project may have finished early, that this sub-contractor was doing, they could be re-deployed into efforts to finish the project I would think or perhaps other activity on the Ring Road.

I heard someone else likely say this was a bump in the road. It’s not a bump in the road, it affects people’s businesses, it affects people’s livelihoods and it’s just got to be fixed.

JOURNALIST:

Sure. And another question for you George. We’ve got Bob Katter coming to Mackay tomorrow.

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

Oh yes.

JOURNALIST:

Is there anything that you would like to put to him ahead of his visit?

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

Well I understand that Bob is coming to talk about Mackay Sugar and that’s fine and Bob’s got a particular point of view, which in the main, I agree with, that Australian agricultural businesses should remain in Australian hands. The problem is that Mackay Sugar doesn’t have a potential Australian buyer. There’s a big question over why that is the case. We’ve got all this money locked up in superannuation funds across the nation but they don’t seem too interested in agriculture or agribusiness when we’ve got foreign pension funds that are. And you’ve got to say that, I think Australian Super Industry Super Funds really need to take a long hard look at themselves and why they’re not coming in and backing agriculture but look, we’ve got one potential buyer for this and it is a German company. It’s a company that’s owned by growers in Germany and they’re not talking about buying it out completely, they’re talking about keeping an ownership there for Mackay Sugar growers of about 30% and also saying to them, if you believe in the future you can actually buy some of it back from us, we’d be keen to support you in that too.

And they’re going to bring in investment to upgrade the facilities which really have had little investment in the mills over recent years. So I would hate to see any political interference in here cause that lifeline I guess to Mackay Sugar, to fall over and I just ask that anyone that’s involved in the discussions around it, be very, very careful because if it falls over and you don’t bring anything to the table to actually fix the problem, you’re going to cause the collapse of the sugar industry in Mackay and there’s hundreds of actually, mill workers whose jobs are on the line as well and port workers are on top of that so and obviously he’s pretty upset about it as well [interference – man protesting].

QUESTION:

Sure. And one more question. I just wanted to know, do you support the State Government’s appeal to the Administrative Appeal Tribunal into shark nets and drumlines in the Great Barrier Reef [indistinct] in the interim-

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

Yeah, well, you know [protester interrupts] (laughs).

Yes. Look, the short answer is I, we’re obviously (laughs). We’re obviously, well, this shows you, there’s going to be tourism potential actually on that new dam as well.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Enjoying life under an LNP Government in Canberra, George (laughs).

GEORGE CHRISTENSEN:

So, um, shark nets. Serious issue though. Those drumlines are, I guess that, the process currently is that the sharks that are caught on there are killed. And they’re not endangered sharks. None of the species, as I understand, are endangered. But yet, there’s a decision that’s been made to stop the killing of the sharks which makes it pretty difficult for the people who manage it, which is, you know, the State Fisheries and other authorities. So I spoke with the Environment Minister a week before last about this, the day that the decision came down. At that particular point in time, they were liaising with the State Government, getting their own legal team in to look at the implications of this and there was strong consideration for backing an appeal should the State Government want to go down that track and I think that they do. So, we’re in caretaker mode now. We’ve got five weeks until the election but I would hope that after that, that the Federal Government will join Queensland if Queensland indeed, does want to appeal that decision because we’ve got to put people’s lives ahead of anything, including sharks that aren’t even endangered sharks. You know, the green movement was the one that actually caused this to happen, by taking it to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. So they put the lives of animals in front of the lives of humans. Well, we want to put the lives of humans and the livelihoods of humans first and foremost.

Shane Manning