Labor sweeps QLD dam projects under the carpet

11 OCTOBER 2016: Urannah Dam and a host of other water projects in North Queensland have been swept under the carpet by the Queensland Labor government, putting thousands of job opportunities on hold. The Liberal National Government committed almost $20 million to fully fund work getting Queensland water infrastructure projects to construction stage. Queensland is the only mainland state that hasn’t taken up the offer, which is a travesty when there is such a great need for job creation. It is difficult to understand where the State government is coming from when the works are fully funded by the Federal Government.I asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water, Barnaby Joyce, for an update on water projects in Queensland during parliament yesterday. The Deputy Prime Minister said deals for New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia would be signed off in coming days and similar deals with Western Australia and the Northern Territory were expected to be finalised next week. However, Queenslanders had been left out in the cold through a lack of enthusiasm from the State Labor Government. Mr Joyce said: "Unfortunately, we have had to deal with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who is not progressing any of these dams. In fact, she is spending a lot more time arguing with one of her colleagues, Ms Trad, about who is going to be the next premier of Queensland than about actually advancing the issues for Queensland.”Planned water infrastructure projects in North Queensland includ the Urannah Dam, Hells Gate Dam, raising the wall of the Burdekin Falls Dam, and building the Burdekin-Haughton channel. The Federal Government has put $19.8 million on the table for 14 studies and not one of them has started. In addition, we have put $130 million on the table to start Rookwood Weir in Central Queensland, which will create jobs and inject extra incomes of $1 billion a year into the region. It’s disappointing to see the State Labor government gifted with opportunities and they are too busy playing internal politics to act in the best interests of the State.