House debates

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Bills

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2020-2021, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2020-2021; Second Reading

10:47 am

Photo of Angie BellAngie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. We have a number of dolphins at Sea World. It costs $1,000 a week to feed Sunny at Sea World. Indeed it does. Also, the koalas at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary have been fed by the federal government funding, which is great. There's been $400 million for the movie industry on the Gold Coast. Of course, Movie World will benefit greatly from that, as will many of our kids who are actors. They might be able to come home and act at Movie World, which is really good news. The $10 million for regional tourism that the Gold Coast has received also will help to hold us up on the Gold Coast while we fight through this terrible economic downturn.

The 2020 federal budget looks to the future. It looks to our plan, it looks to our hope and it looks to our confidence. It looks to protect and create livelihoods and jobs. Our government knows that you out there can manage your own money. We know that. You don't need us to tell you what to do. Around 77,800 taxpayers in Moncrieff will keep an extra $2,745. There are a lot of numbers coming out here, but that means that there will be an extra $200 million that will go into the economy in Moncrieff alone. Multiply that by the three federal Gold Coast coastal seats and that's about $600 million that will go into the local economy over the next year, which is fantastic news for Gold Coasters.

We know that eight out of 10 jobs come from the private sector, and that's why I convened the City Heart Taskforce in May and the Reimagine Gold Coast forum, to bring together industry heads to reengineer a pathway forward for jobs for Gold Coasters. Since then, the Morrison government has announced $1.5 billion investment over four years for our modern manufacturing strategy called Make it Happen. That was designed by Minister Karen Andrews, the member for McPherson, also a Gold Coast colleague.

Due to the border restrictions and the Queensland government's unwillingness to cooperate with the national cabinet to agree on the definition of a hot spot, our historic Christmas trade for small business and tourism operators has now been devastated. The damage for the 2020-21 season has been done for tens of thousands in tourism, hospitality and associated jobs. It's time to turn our local focus to manufacturing as a leading key pillar on the Gold Coast. The manufacturing already on the Gold Coast is actually worth $7 billion, and 14,000 direct jobs, so certainly it's time to start looking at that and talking about that. We have a big range of manufacturers. Just a couple that I'll mention are Simone and James Emery from Emery Industries. They live in my electorate, and they produce stainless steel medical equipment, which is fantastic that they have manufacturing capability.

I'm going to skip forward a little bit because I only have a minute left. I just want to finish by saying that, in Queensland, the lack of regard for individuals is at the core of the Premier's harsh border decisions. Labor's 'Minister for Twitter', Steven Miles, is    fond of 'You were wrong and we were right' in his tweets on state border issues. But he misses the point that matters on most borders, and that's lockdowns and that's jobs. Jobs are the future. It's about trust. This Queensland election is about trust—trust to track and trace. It has been a dynamic environment, and even the best decisions change. As we move through the COVID-19 pandemic, state premiers must keep up with those changes. Australians trust our Prime Minister because of his consistent values and because he accepts accountability. He can be relied upon to be the voice of reason and the voice of fairness, and he listens. Queenslanders need to ask this question; they need to ask who they can trust to manage the economy and to manage jobs. They need to ask who they can trust to run Queensland for the next four years, and who will listen to their concerns. Do you trust Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk? (Time expired)

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