Camil,

It’s been a difficult summer across Australia, so I hope this weekend you’re able to enjoy a Happy Australia Day long weekend.

Central Queensland bushfire recovery

Farmers near Yeppoon and the Capricorn Coast suffered major damage last year with the devastating bushfires that roared through Central Queensland.

While much of the focus has been on the bushfires in the southern states, here in Central Queensland the Federal Government has kicked into recovery mode.

Over the past fortnight, Capricornia MP Michelle Landry and I held a series of shed meetings with fire affected producers, to hear how the Commonwealth can best get them back on their feet.

We have also brought the National Disaster Recovery Agency Coordinator, Andrew Colvin and Natural Disaster and Emergency Management David Littleproud MP to Central Queensland, to hear directly from those affected about how we can best recover and integrate resources as part of the national bushfire response.

What we’re consistently hearing is that to prevent these fires in the future, we need less red tape and a greater focus on local knowledge from our rural firefighters on hazard reduction needs.

We've also seen the generosity of Australians in spades following this disaster. If you can donate to those in need, please go to http://www.givit.org.au/disasters or https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-nsw/vinnies-nsw-bushfire-appeal-nsw

Free trade agreement boost for Queensland beef producers

With the new year, we have seen the implementation of major tariff reductions for our beef exports – as part of the Liberal National Government’s agenda to pursue Free Trade Agreements with our neighbours in Asia and the Pacific.

So what does this mean for our cattle farmers?

Last year, Queensland exported $1 billion worth of beef to Korea, $1.5 billion to Japan and $5.4 billion overall. With major tariff cuts with China, Japan, Korea and across the Pacific coming into effect on January 1, this means our beef exports have enormous potential to grow.

This week, the CQ LNP Team of Capricornia MP Michelle Landry and Flynn MP Ken O’Dowd visited the Gracemere saleyards to hear from producers about how these tariff reductions will affect them – and the feeling on the ground is they’re stoked at the opportunities on the horizon.

Another win for jobs over mobs

Over the last few months, there has been a particularly vile campaign run by Greens-aligned activist groups against companies working with Adani.

It got to the point where activists were publishing individual personal details of staff working for the company Siemens, which has a contract to build rail safety equipment in Central Queensland.

Thankfully, common-sense has prevailed – and Siemens is sticking with its rail safety contract. It’s heartening to see that the vile behaviour of publishing personal details hasn’t paid off.

Let’s hope it’s the last time the superglue anti-jobs activists engage in such reprehensible tactics.

As always, if there is anything that I or my office can help you with, please get in touch on 07 4927 2003 - or drop into my Rockhampton office at 34 East Street, Rockhampton. We’ll be happy to assist.

Wishing you a Happy Australia Day – enjoy the long weekend! 🇦🇺

Best regards,

Matt Canavan
LNP Senator for Queensland
Minister for Resources and Northern Australia
http://www.mattcanavan.com.au/