TRANSCRIPT TOOWOOMBA PRESS CONFERENCE 23 November 2020
10:46AM AEST
E&OE
WITH: GARTH HAMILTON, LIBERAL NATIONAL PARTY CANDIDATE FOR THE GROOM BY-ELECTION & PAUL WIEDMAN, LOCAL BUSINESSMAN.
Subjects: Inland Rail, Water Infrastructure, Groom By-election;
GARTH HAMILTON
Thank you so much for all being here today. We have only got a couple of days now until the by-election this Saturday. So I have been out and about meeting people and throughout the course of my travels, I have come across an old friend of mine who we are going to meet today, Paul Wiedman. Paul, apart from being a great prop for Rangers, he runs Paul Wiedman Electrical and we are going to hear about how Paul’s 2020 has panned out. It is a great example of a small business taking advantage of the plan that the Morrison Government has put in place to rebuild this economy. It includes the Instant Asset Write-Off, taking advantage of that, he has two apprentices that have been brought on by the 50% wage subsidy and we are going to hear about how JobKeeper has kept his business open and people in employment. This is a great story – it is all about how we are rebuilding the economy, about how we are fighting back against this pandemic and I am going to introduce Paul now, to talk to you about it.
PAUL WIEDMAN
So, I’d just like to start by saying thank you to the Morrison Government for being able to ensure that we have been able to keep all our staff on. It was a bit touch and go there for a while but all of our staff have been secured full-time positions through this pandemic and we know it is not an everlasting thing. It is one of those things that is going to end soon so we’ve got plans in place for that but it is just a really good insurance that we can keep operating and keep running a business. We have been running now for nearly 10 years and it has been a god-send for us to be able to make sure that all of our staff and their family are well provided for and they don’t have to be looking for jobs elsewhere, especially in this climate.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Paul Wiedman Electrical, doing commercial, doing household electricity options right across Toowoomba, right across this region. He has just put on two apprentices, Alex and Elliott, under the 50% subsidy apprenticeship program that we have put in place as a Government to help small business through this pandemic. And Paul Wiedman is just the sort of person, just the sort of business, that is the reason for why we have put in place this measure. But not only that, this afternoon he is taking delivery of a new ute, to be able to go around the city, go around the wider region making sure that people are wired up – wired up for the future. And whether it is Alex driving it or whether it is Elliott driving, whether it is Paul behind the wheel or any of the other people he employs, that ute is being written-off instantly, written-off automatically, under the instant asset write-off program which is in place to help businesses, family-owned businesses, small businesses just like Paul Wiedman Electrical, to get ahead. And that is why we are putting these measures in place, whether it is the instant asset write-off or whether it is the apprenticeship subsidy, whether it is JobKeeper, all of those measures to keep small businesses like Paul Wiedman Electrical afloat. He was contemplating, back in March, of laying staff off, he was contemplating downsizing. And but for JobKeeper and but for the programs and incentives that we put in place, he had a mindset change. He said, “No, no, I am going to give this a go.” These incentives, these attractive business opportunities have helped Paul not only continue to keep the business open, not only to keep all my staff employed but to take on two new apprentices, Alex and Elliott. This is the sort of business that Garth Hamilton is going to be backing. Garth Hamilton, the LNP candidate for Groom for the by-election, he is going to ensure that businesses like Paul Wiedman Electrical and all the other businesses in this fine city, in this outstanding region, get ahead thanks to what we are doing as a Federal Government. Thanks to what we are doing to back the regions. So whether it is the instant asset write-off or whether it is JobKeeper, we have put in place the measures, the hundreds of billions of dollars of measures, to make sure that regional cities can be there best selves and in Garth Hamilton, we have got a fighter. We have got somebody who understands Toowoomba, who understands the Groom electorate. Who understand business, who understands what it is like to have jobs and to keep jobs and to grow those jobs and to grow agriculture and to grow resources. He is just the sort of person, a mining engineer, business person, family man, that Groom needs to vote for leading up to the by-election this Saturday. Of course, we have got pre-poll already open, we have got those postal votes coming in, but most importantly on Saturday you need to put a one next to Garth Hamilton’s name and, of course, fill in every box on the ballot paper and make sure that you get a candidate who is going to make a difference for Groom, continuing on from what we have done as a Government for this electorate and for Queensland and indeed for Australia. Because without that, we’d be a long way short of where we need to be. We’ve made sure as a Government we back-ended the health outcomes; we made sure that Australia – whilst we have lost 907 people and that is very, very sad and very tragic and we mourn for those families who won’t have a loved one around the Christmas table this year because of COVID-19. But compare what we have been able to do with what any other country in the world and we have done remarkably well. And I say thank you to Australians for doing what you needed to do as far as social distancing is concerned, for quarantining, for downloading the COVIDSafe app and for doing everything that you have been asked to do – I say thank you. But we also have to cushion the economy, businesses like Paul Wiedman Electrical, we have cushioned them from the effects of COVID-19 which is a global pandemic, we have got on with the job and that is why Australia is in the position it is in today.
JOURNALIST
There was no recommendation made in the route review that was quietly uploaded to the internet a week and a half ago. Have you made a decision yet on whether you’ll go with this route – the new route proposed in this review or whether you’ll stick with the original route?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, the original route was adopted and endorsed by cabinet back in 2017. And I understand that there were concerns from Millmerran, from people who wanted us to look at an alternative route. That’s why we got independent analysis done. That’s why we looked at making sure we looked at all options available. But they’ve come back to us and told us that the route that was originally endorsed by cabinet back in 2017, that the route is the preferred route. It’s 25.9 kilometres shorter, the preferred route, the original route. It involves up to 134 less impacted landholders and businesses. It’s 17 minutes shorter in distance when you look at the overall route from Brisbane to Melbourne, and the other route was also going to cost nearly half a billion dollars more. So it makes sense when we want to get on and build this project, which is going to involve 7,200 jobs in the construction, that’s going to involve Toowoomba being its best self in the future. When those first trains go down that first inland rail alignment in the mid-2020s, it just makes sense that we get on and we do what we need to do.
Of course there’s still environmental impact statements to go ahead. Of course, we’ve just had the Queensland election, and I look forward to working with Mark Bailey and other ministers. I spoke to him on the very day after the election to say, “Well, Inland Rail, you’ve signed the intergovernmental agreement; we need to get on with it.” We’ve had the other route looked at. We’ve had other routes observed here in this particular region. We’ll continue to consult, though. The Australian Rail Track Corporation will continue to consult with communities, will continue to take on board through the EIS process all of that. And we understand we need to get on with this job. It does – it is going to create many, many jobs. It is going to benefit many, many businesses, some businesses which have not even actually as yet started but will be made possible by Inland Rail and what it brings and what it offers.
JOURNALIST
In terms of that consultation, while you’re on the Darling Downs will you be meeting with the Millmerran group? I understand they’ve written to you and also David Littleproud quite strongly suggesting you should front up in person and explain this?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I’ve spoken to the group on many occasions. I’ve spoken to them on the phone. Wes Judd and I speak very, very often. I’ve given them my mobile number. I’ve faced them in their hometown. I’ve faced them in Sydney. I’ve spoken to them in Canberra. We need to get on and, yes, work through their issues and concerns. And I appreciate that in Australia, you know, everybody has the ability to put in alternative routes and alternative cases, and the government listens to them. The ARTC listens to them. But it’s time to accept the advice of independent analysis. It’s time to get on. And I appreciate that GTA has done a job there which has been very thorough, very exhaustive. It’s been endorsed by cabinet in 2017. We’ve looked at all the alternatives. We now need to get on and make sure that we go through the proper processes and protocols, which we are doing, through the ARTC, but with that community consultation still very much at hand.
JOURNALIST
You haven’t met with them, though, since that review came out –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I’ve spoken to them.
JOURNALIST
And they have a number of concerns about the costings, especially about the fact that we actually still don’t know what that base case route is going to cost. Do you think you do need to go and explain to them –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I can’t it today. Sure, I appreciate that people’s livelihoods are affected. But, as I said, there are many, many landholders which are going to be affected if we do go down the alternative route. It’s the same with Coonamble in north-west New South Wales and elsewhere. There’s always going to be landholders when you build nation-building infrastructure. Indeed, right up and down the line, 1,700 kilometres, there’s hundreds of landholders who are going to be affected. And I understand that and I appreciate that. But we can’t have a country where we build absolutely nothing because people have concerns, as legitimate as they might be. That’s why we go through these processes and that’s why we go through the very exhaustive and detailed investigations as to weighing up run route as opposed to another as opposed to another. We come to a preferred option which is best for the nation, which is best for the most number of landholders as far as making sure that they are not affected, making sure that we get the right outcomes for Toowoomba.
I had a discussion with Paul Antonio this morning. He wants us to get on with the job. And whilst I appreciate that there are a number of people who would prefer Cecil Plains, would prefer a different alternative route, we’ve gone through that process. I’ve spoken to Wes Judd, I’ve spoken to others. I write to them every week. Anybody who’s ever written a letter about Inland Rail, I’ve written back. I’ve made sure that we’ve continued that engagement. I’ve made sure that I’ve continued that personal engagement. But the decision was made in 2017, before I became – it was actually two ministers before I became the Infrastructure Minister, the Transport Minister, the Regional Development Minister. It’s time to get on with the job.
JOURNALIST
Ultimately, though, given the fact that we’re multiple ministers on, we’re still having that conversation, do you think that –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
And that’s because we’ve been open and transparent.
JOURNALIST
– do you think the ARTC’s consultation and that your consultation has been good enough given that years on we’re still having the exact same conversation?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, that’s because the landholders haven’t accepted the decision. I appreciate that. But ultimately we also have to accept the decision. Ultimately we’re not always going to be happy with every decision made. I mean, I come from New South Wales; I’m probably not happy with every decision made in the State of Origin last week, but I’ve accepted the result. I congratulate Queensland and we move on. I accept the result that the GTA and the independent analysis has been done. I understand, as I clearly outlined to you in this press conference, and clearly outlined to those who have concerns about the fact that there’s less landholders affected with the preferred alignment that was looked at and agreed upon in 2017. I also have indicated –
JOURNALIST
[Indistinct].
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Please let me finish. I have also indicated that it’s less cost to the taxpayer and more viable options for more businesses going forward. This is what a government needs to do. We’ve been transparent and accountable the whole way through.
JOURNALIST
Minister, the GTA inquiry is confused and it’s not comparing like with like. It includes a lot of inaccuracies and –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Who is saying that? I mean, they compared one with the other. So whilst I appreciate, you know, you’re saying that, they did compare one with the other. And they –
JOURNALIST
But the report doesn’t show that. And the report shows – and they’ve confused everything by comparing routes through Oakey and another route from [indistinct] when it was always the intention for the forestry route to come via Wellcamp Airport. And that was not recognised and –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, speaking of Wellcamp Airport –
JOURNALIST
And when you said that there were 134 more properties affected through the forestry, I disagree with that, because through the ARTC route, there are 260 individual properties that are affected by the Inland Rail and through the forestry and through to Wellcamp Airport from via Cecil Plains there are 60. That’s a saving of 200 individual properties that are not affected.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I appreciate you might have different analysis, too, and I appreciate that, indeed, we need to look at this as a government as to what is the best available route for the majority of people and to ensure that we get that product from port – from paddock, sorry, and from businesses, from factories, from farms, from small businesses to port and, therefore, to markets within 24 hours. That was the whole idea of the Inland Rail. Now we can look at every different section. We’ve just finished the Parkes to Narromine section, the first of 13 sections. We can pull this apart. We can tweak it. We can do more flood modelling. We can do more independent analysis if some people didn’t like one independent analysis and they want somebody else, we could continue to go down this path and we might finish in 2060. No, no, no, we need to get on with this. We need to get on with it. We need to have it built by the mid-2020s. That’s what we said we would do and we will do it to ensure that taxpayers get best bang for buck.
Now it has been a costly project, of course. And costs because of the different culverts that we’ve done and the different grade separations that we’ve needed to do, the different flood modelling that we’ve put in place, it has ensured that the costs have been more than what they were originally intended. It was originally intended to be just a tad over $9.3 billion. That cost is now higher, and I appreciate that. But the fact remains, we need to get on and we need to build the benefits for the Parkes to Narromine section, $110 million going to 99 local businesses. Local businesses procuring to that, and more than 800 people on site, local people working.
Now, I appreciate that, you know, everybody who is affected who doesn’t like that preferred route will have a different view, will have a different opinion. And opinions, everybody’s got one.
JOURNALIST
Minister, it’s a view based on fact, and if you study that inquiry that came out of your office there are inaccuracies. They’re not comparing like with like.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Sir, if you want to write me a letter, I’m more than happy to go through all the analysis that you’ve got, all the necessary material you’ve put forward. And I appreciate the other reporter mentioning the ARTC with their consultation. Yes, perhaps the ARTC could have been a little bit better earlier in the piece, but we’ve been talking about Inland Rail since the 1890s. It’s time to get on and build it. We could be, if people like, a banana republic – build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything. We could ensure that we stop this project right in its tracks, literally, with the Narromine to Parkes section and do no more. But we want to get on and build it. We are a nation that needs more than ever through COVID-19, more than ever because of the drought and in some areas that the Inland Rail goes through with bushfires, we need to make sure that we boost the economy, and one way to boost it is to build infrastructure. And one of the best ways to build infrastructure is to build rail infrastructure, particularly freight rail infrastructure to get the wonderful product that Toowoomba and the region and the Darling Downs etc produces and to get it to those markets which are yearning for Australian produce, the best and the cleanest and the freshest.
Now I appreciate that there’s still a way to go. I appreciate that there’s still the environmental impact statement process to be done. But we will work closely with the Queensland Government, the recently re-elected Queensland Government, to ensure that we get the best available line to get the best available route for all concerned. It won’t be satisfactory to 100 per cent of the population. I appreciate that. But we’re going to get on and we’re going to build it.
JOURNALIST
Have you met with Mayor Paul Antonio to discuss the $5 million –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I have. I met him this morning. I had a good meeting with not just Paul Antonio but, indeed, the RDA, with local business people, with the council and had a very, very good discussion with Garth Hamilton. Garth, when I spoke to him on the night he was preselected, the first thing he mentioned to me was the capacity to do more as far as water infrastructure is concerned given the fact, of course, that we’ve got $2 billion added to the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, given the fact that, of course, we’ve established the National Water Grid with the advisory body set up, headed by Chris Lynch. Garth Hamilton knows Chris Lynch. Paul Antonio appreciates the role that the National Water Grid is going to play in building water infrastructure. So I had a very productive meeting. Garth is very much in favour of adding to, of course, Toowoomba and the wider region’s water security, as am I.
JOURNALIST
So you back [indistinct].
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I’m very much looking at it. I didn’t bring the cheque book today, but I came here to support Garth obviously, but to talk to the local council and local businesses about what this could mean. And very much I’ll take that back to Canberra. I’ll have a look at it. They’re going to finalise their submission, put that into me, and when they do I’ll have a very close and good look at it.
JOURNALIST
What about the Wagner’s proposal for an entertainment precinct out at Wellcamp Airport? Is that something the federal government is looking at?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Again, I spoke to Dennis Wagner about it. I’ve spoken to them as well as Mark Skaife and others about this very proposal. Indeed, it could increase visitor numbers to Toowoomba by hundreds of thousands Dennis tells me this morning. And knowing what an entrepreneur and what a businessman and what a solid citizen he is, I don’t doubt for a minute the word that he described about how much benefit it would bring to the local economy. And we want to do things like this. We want to build local infrastructure with, of course, private players such as the Wagner family.
They’ve been very, very good – very, very good – for Toowoomba and the wider region. But, of course, it’s got a big price tag to it, so we have to weigh it up along with every other measure that we’re doing. And I think the state government could play a part here, too. We’ve put in the table more than $500 billion as far as COVID recovery and other relief measures we’ve put in place over the last 12 months. I think it’s time, too, that states can also stump up a bit of their cash for these sorts of projects and others.
JOURNALIST
They already have, though. The state government has put $40 million on the table for this project.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Fantastic. Let’s see the colour of their money. I’m more than happy to work with the Wagners, to work with the state government. I’ve worked very well with the state government since I’ve been elected as the Deputy Prime Minister and looking after infrastructure. I’ve worked very well with Mark Bailey, and I’ll go on working well with Mark Bailey, because we want to build the infrastructure that Queenslanders need, want expect and deserve. And I’m looking very much forward after Saturday with working with Garth Hamilton to bring about good infrastructure options for Toowoomba and the wider region.
JOURNALIST
Just on Inland Rail again, is it fair to say that the route will go through Millmerran or do you expect with the work that the Queensland Government has to do, there might be some push back there or are you prepared to say –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, let’s see. As I say, the EIS process is still working through. But the preferred route that we settled upon, that we agreed as a cabinet with state approval and with all those things back in 2017, that is the route. We’ve had independent analysis look at it. It’s come back to us and told us that the preferred route, the preferred alignment, was the best possible option.
JOURNALIST
Are you still confident in ARTC’s ability to deliver this project? Both David Littleproud and Senator Susan McDonald have expressed some pretty serious concerns about their handling of this project. Do they still have your confidence?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yes, they have.
JOURNALIST
Michael, just a question from Melbourne. Dan Andrews has announced a sick leave [indistinct] for casual workers to help with the COVID efforts down there. Is that something the Federal Government [indistinct]?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, it goes back to my previous answer – the states have to stump up a bit of their cash as well to support the efforts that we’ve done as a commonwealth.
JOURNALIST
In the lead-up to the Eden-Monaro by-election the Federal Government –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Now we’re digging up history.
JOURNALIST
Yeah, yeah. The Government made – both the Liberals and the National Party – well, you know, they made several promises for the region and the press releases were coming out all the time about different promises that were being made. There so far has not been any real big ticket items –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
What? For Eden-Monaro or –
JOURNALIST
For Groom. So for Groom there have been no real big ticket promises from government. Is the Government taking Toowoomba and Groom for granted?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
What we’re doing is we’re making sure that we’ve got the best possible candidate who’s going to come to Canberra and fight loudly and proudly for the people of Toowoomba and the electorate of Groom. And in Garth Hamilton that’s what we’ve got. Yes, of course we made sure that the seat of Eden-Monaro, which was very, very hard hit by bushfires and COVID on the back of a very prolonged drought, we made sure that we were talking about the infrastructure projects that we had rolled out. And, of course, it just so happened at the time that – of the Eden-Monaro by-election – that we’d announced the round of successful airports which were going to receive funding under that Regional Airports Upgrade Program. I was delighted to go to Tumut with the Nationals candidate. He wasn’t successful, Trevor Hicks, to announce that, but that was just a matter of timing. And I very much invite, indeed, Queensland country seats, Queensland country regions to apply for that second round of funding. There’s in the order of $58.8 million of available funding for that second round of regional airport upgrades. But given the fact that also the seat of Eden-Monaro abuts and borders the seat of Riverina, of course, I do spend more time in Eden-Monaro. I’m on the Sounds of the Mountain Tumut Radio FM every other week talking to David Eisenhauer about the region because it is where I live. And I’m sure David Littleproud is in and around this area, too, talking up the benefits of Queensland. That’s because this is where he lives. But I know that certainly the people of Groom are not going to miss out, just as the people of Eden-Monaro have not missed out from the federal assistance that we’ve provided through the drought, through very, very prolonged drought conditions which are still ongoing in this region, but also through COVID-19 as we build back better through what has been a global pandemic.
JOURNALIST
Will Garth be sitting in the National Party committee room in Canberra or the Liberal Party room?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
It won’t be the committee rooms he sits in, but I hope he will be sitting in Liberal National Party rooms when we talk about not just the successes that we’ve had for regional economies, but indeed for the future, more importantly. But Garth will be with the Liberal Party as I understand, that’s a matter for the LNP. I’m here to support him though because I know Garth’s a great local, regional person and we need more regional people in there fighting hard for their electorates. I know that Garth, having spoken to him on many, many occasions, he indicated to me very early on that he had spent time in my own electorate in the north, Parkes. So anyone who has spent time in the Riverina has to be all right. I spent this morning with him and I know in Garth you’re going to have someone who’s going to back business, who’s going to back families, who’s going to back anybody who wants a better life and a better lifestyle here in Toowoomba. That’s the Garth Hamilton I know, that’s the Garth Hamilton I’m happy to support and the that’s Garth Hamilton people in Groom should support in the by-election here on Saturday.
ENDS 11:13AM AEST