STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa) (13:45): I rise to congratulate and thank the Crisafulli government, particularly water minister Ann Leahy, who has recently announced that she will review the water licence issued to a Chinese company to extract 96 megalitres of water a year to export back to China from a community just east of Warwick. The initial water licence was issued by the former Labor government for a housing development, but this company now wants to change the use of that water to bottle it and send it back to China.

When the community and farmers of Southern Downs are going through and will continue to go through droughts, relying on aquifers to keep stock going, this is an abuse of what that water licence was originally issued for, and it should not be allowed. I congratulate that Crisafulli government and the minister herself have listened to the Southern Downs Regional Council, who opposed any changes to that water licence so that it would only be used for primary production or domestic uses, which is what the licence was originally issued for.

They have had the courage to listen to both the Southern Downs Regional Council and to me. Unfortunately, I have written to the agriculture minister, who also has the power to say that she would not issue an export permit for that water. I did that on 2 March and am yet to get a response back.

This would send a strong message that Australian resources are for Australians.