Published Sunday, 22 April, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure
The Honourable Anna Bligh
SEQ’s MESSAGE TO PRIME MINISTER: SHOW US THE MONEY
Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Anna Bligh has one message for the Prime Minister when he brings his Cabinet to Brisbane: “Bring your chequebook, John.”
Ms Bligh accused the Federal Government of deliberately stalling on a $408m commitment to the $1.7 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme while pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to other plans “drawn up on the back of an envelope”.
“While two million Australians are battling the worst drought in their history, John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull have so far refused to commit one cent to help them,” Ms Bligh said.
“Two million people are sick of this. They demand to know why the Prime Minister is leaving them high and dry.
“Don’t come here and stand in front of our dams and talk about how bad the drought is – do something about it.
“We have teams working around the clock to make history by building the Western Corridor pipeline in world record time.
“This is not some engineer’s pipedream - we are on the ground building billions of dollars worth of projects to stop south east Queensland running out of water.
”I challenge the PM to go on to the site, look the workers in the eye and explain why he hasn’t put one cent into the largest urban drought response in this nation’s history.
”The best he’s been able to offer so far is to tell us to pray for rain.”
Ms Bligh said despite being provided with a comprehensive 52-page breakdown of the WCRWS, Mr Turnbull was running a “nonsense” campaign that more detail was required.
“Mr Turnbull thinks he is still a merchant banker. He can’t look at something without wanting to make a buck out of it. If he saw a starving person, he’d open a restaurant.
“He’s waving his calculator around, demanding to make a profit on this scheme and wanting some mythical business case.
“At the same time, he’s pledged hundreds of millions for a pipeline from the Northern Rivers that’s nothing more at this stage than a desktop study.
“And we have seen that the Federal Treasury didn’t even get a look at the $10 billion Murray-Darling package. The hypocrisy is staggering.
“The Prime Minister saw himself this week how Wivenhoe dam is at its lowest level of all time but his visit turned out to be just another hollow photo opportunity.
“I’ve got one message for the Prime Minister – when you come to Queensland next week, do the decent thing and bring your chequebook.”
Ms Bligh said the State Government remained committed to building the pipeline, “whether the Federal Government helps us or not”.
However, lack of Federal funding clearly would have an impact on the price south east Queenslanders paid for water.
More information: Scott Dixon, Deputy Premier’s Office, 0448 614420
Ms Bligh accused the Federal Government of deliberately stalling on a $408m commitment to the $1.7 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme while pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to other plans “drawn up on the back of an envelope”.
“While two million Australians are battling the worst drought in their history, John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull have so far refused to commit one cent to help them,” Ms Bligh said.
“Two million people are sick of this. They demand to know why the Prime Minister is leaving them high and dry.
“Don’t come here and stand in front of our dams and talk about how bad the drought is – do something about it.
“We have teams working around the clock to make history by building the Western Corridor pipeline in world record time.
“This is not some engineer’s pipedream - we are on the ground building billions of dollars worth of projects to stop south east Queensland running out of water.
”I challenge the PM to go on to the site, look the workers in the eye and explain why he hasn’t put one cent into the largest urban drought response in this nation’s history.
”The best he’s been able to offer so far is to tell us to pray for rain.”
Ms Bligh said despite being provided with a comprehensive 52-page breakdown of the WCRWS, Mr Turnbull was running a “nonsense” campaign that more detail was required.
“Mr Turnbull thinks he is still a merchant banker. He can’t look at something without wanting to make a buck out of it. If he saw a starving person, he’d open a restaurant.
“He’s waving his calculator around, demanding to make a profit on this scheme and wanting some mythical business case.
“At the same time, he’s pledged hundreds of millions for a pipeline from the Northern Rivers that’s nothing more at this stage than a desktop study.
“And we have seen that the Federal Treasury didn’t even get a look at the $10 billion Murray-Darling package. The hypocrisy is staggering.
“The Prime Minister saw himself this week how Wivenhoe dam is at its lowest level of all time but his visit turned out to be just another hollow photo opportunity.
“I’ve got one message for the Prime Minister – when you come to Queensland next week, do the decent thing and bring your chequebook.”
Ms Bligh said the State Government remained committed to building the pipeline, “whether the Federal Government helps us or not”.
However, lack of Federal funding clearly would have an impact on the price south east Queenslanders paid for water.
More information: Scott Dixon, Deputy Premier’s Office, 0448 614420