Opinion by the Hon David Littleproud
The best of our nation’s beef sector was on display in Rockhampton earlier this month at Beef Australia 2024.
Producers, experts, and visitors from across the world gathered to experience our beef industry and Queensland was of course the perfect setting for such an event.
However, the long-term viability of our state’s beef industry is under threat due to the inaction of the Albanese Labor Government.
I was proud to join my Nationals colleagues Susan McDonald, Matthew Canavan, Colin Boyce, Andrew Willcox, and Michelle Landry at Beef Australia to highlight the fact that this Labor Government has cut funding for our Beef Corridors until the late 2020s or even the early 2030s.
It was a fitting scene because it was the same setting where seven councils from across Queensland came together at Beef21 to launch the Qld Beef Corridors campaign.
This was about one year before the former Coalition Government announced a $400 million package to fix the roads that make up the Beef Corridors.
These vital roads stretch over almost 500 kilometres from Roma in the south, Barcaldine in the west, Rockhampton in the east, and Townsville in the north, and they help form the backbone of a vitally important industry for our state and our nation.
Despite the fact these roads are a vital resource to our economy, this Labor Government callously placed the vital upgrades on its 90-day infrastructure review, before delaying them altogether.
This decision is a slap in the face to all the hardworking, truckies, stock agents, processors, exporters, and farming families that are the lifeblood of our nation’s beef industry.
Our nation’s growth and prosperity owe so much to the beef industry, and it simply could not reach the heights it has without these roads, which were originally built by governments led by Sir Robert Menzies and ‘Black Jack’ McEwen in the 1960s.
Thousands of jobs and many communities have been underpinned by these crucial roads that this Labor Government has turned its back on.
Whether it’s a poorly thought-out fresh food tax, the phase-out of the live sheep export industry, or neglecting regional roads, this Labor Government has shown time and again that it doesn’t value agriculture.
In fact, so poor is their treatment of the sector, that the National Farmers’ Federation passed a vote of no confidence in both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt earlier this month.
However, the Coalition shares the vision of Sir Robert Menzies and ‘Black Jack’ McEwen from all those years ago and understands the importance of upgrading these vital roads.
That’s why we will continue to fight until the funding for these upgrades is reinstated. You can show your support by joining our cause on social media by searching for FixOurBeefCorridorsNow.
