Mr BAYLEY question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
Your new policy seems to be, ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story’. On 7 May, you said that if the stadium legislation is defeated, ‘The Project of State Significance process will not go ahead.’ Nice try, but sorry. TPC has called out your rubbish again. The head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPAC) wrote to the TPC last week, saying that the Crown will ‘cease to actively engage with the POSS process.’ The planning commission’s response was swift. It pointed out that it has a statutory obligation to continue the POSS assessment regardless of the government’s participation, unless parliament revokes its authority. It said POSS will continue with or without you. In other words, if your stadium bill fails, the POSS will continue.
Will you not you admit that your ultimatum to the upper House was just a clumsy bluff, and will you set the record straight with Legislative Council members?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for the question. The agreement is very clear. There are clear-cut timeframes and timelines to deliver on this project and the team. For all the criticism of the deal from some quarters, it is important that the deal was struck to ensure we deliver on time. This is about securing the future of the football team, not just for the next couple of years, but it needs to be sustainable for many decades. That is why we have secured the deal, that is why we have to stick with the deal and deliver the associated infrastructure.
This is notwithstanding the enormous additional benefits this will bring outside of the AFL team. Stadia infrastructure, or the stadia economy, across the nation two‑and‑a‑half years ago was $8 billion, and we need to have a slice of that, no doubt it is more, no doubt it will be more in 2032 when the enabling legislation goes through the Queensland parliament to get that infrastructure up and running and we have the Olympics; no doubt it will be more. It is decision time. You might not like to have to make a decision. I know what your decision will be because you have always fought against it the whole time.
A member – Accountability, Premier.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, no one has been more accountable than me when it comes to this project.
Mr BAYLEY – Point of order, Speaker, Standing Order 45, relevance. The question was explicitly about the POSS process and his threat to the upper house that the POSS will stop, that has been shown –
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER – Thank you, members on my right, I cannot hear the point of order.
Mr BAYLEY – That has been shown that it cannot happen, you cannot unilaterally pull out of that process and the question was: will you not admit that it is a clumsy bluff and will he set the record straight with legislative councillors? It is about the POSS itself, not the stadium.
The SPEAKER – I will draw the Premier to the question.
Mr ROCKLIFF – I reject your characterisation of that. I was simply pointing out the fact that it is decision time and we have to move on.
Dr Woodruff – From what? You cannot get out of the POSS process like that. What is the point?
The SPEAKER – Leader.
Mr ROCKLIFF – We all have to be accountable in this place for the decision – and very clear timelines, as part of the agreement. There is nothing more democratic than legislation being delivered to parliament and –
Dr Woodruff – You set this process in train.
The SPEAKER – Leader of the Greens.
Mr ROCKLIFF – for us as parliamentarians to vote on and get across, like we do with every legislation, like we did with the Meander Dam, remember that? You fought against that as well. I know, I remember, like the Parliament Square –
The SPEAKER – Premier’s time for answering has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Mr BAYLEY – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary.
Mr BAYLEY – Copycatting Gunns by refusing to participate in the POSS is a different thing to the POSS ceasing, which is what the Premier threatened the upper House with. The TPC has said that is clearly not true, the POSS will continue unless parliament says otherwise. Why would he want to kill off POSS and, if his bid fails, how would he actually do that? He has not gone anywhere near the POSS threat and the fact that the POSS will cease.
The SPEAKER – Time for asking the supplementary has expired, I genuinely think the Premier has answered and I know it is not an answer that you like. You will have another opportunity to ask another question, but whilst the answer is not the one you wanted, it is close enough in terms of being relevant to be a relevant answer.
