The government should back up its rhetoric about supporting Western Queensland, Robbie Katter says.
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The State Member for Mount Isa said no project west of Ipswich was listed among the top 20 priorities in the latest Building Queensland Infrastructure Pipeline Report.
“Any plans to move Queensland forward need to have a strong representation of projects from Western Queensland,” he said. “We need these projects to generate jobs and enable industry, but also to boost the businesses in our rural towns.”
“The Government shouldn’t have to look too hard to see a number of development opportunities in Western Queensland which stack up to boost productivity in the region.”
Mr Katter said Karumba Port should opened up for more development and a multi-user infrastructure corridor was needed to provide transport between the North West Minerals Province and the Gulf.
“More upgrades are required for transport links to support mining and agriculture, and they need to invest more on our rail line so we can pull trucks off the road and get more product back on the rail,” he said.
“The Flinders Highway should also be made a true all-weather road.”
Mr Katter said it was time for the Government to support Western Queensland and redirect its spending to the regions.
“It needs to be more than just recommending projects where the votes are in south east Queensland,” he said.
“Western Queensland is the engine room of the state, but instead of that money being reinvested back into the economies of which they were generated, it’s used to buy votes with road or rail tunnels closer to the coast.”
Mr Katter was pleased the Premier headed west to start the year in rural Queensland by visiting Longreach and Roma.
“It would be been nice if she also visited somewhere a little further north like Hughenden, where 29 jobs in a town of 1150 people were lost recently, the equivalent to the loss of around 50,000 jobs in Brisbane,” he said.
“This needs to be recognised through infrastructure investment so Queenslanders continue benefiting from these industries.”
“The average gross regional product in the north-west per person contributes around $186,503 per person (2011), which is three times the state average of $63,631, which shows why there needs to be a greater focus on our region.”