Joe Hockey’s hands tied on Bruce Highway flood funding
JOE Hockey’s visit to Rockhampton didn’t begin particularly smoothly when his luggage went missing.
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JOE Hockey's visit to Rockhampton didn't begin particularly smoothly when his luggage went missing.
But it gave the shadow Treasurer an opportunity to visit the second oldest department store in the country in search of a new tie.
The Woods brothers, who own Stewarts on East St, must have been quite surprised when they were confronted by the press pack hurriedly following Mr Hockey into the store.
They queried Mr Hockey as to the purpose of his visit to which he replied "you can't fatten the cow on market day".
Mr Hockey continued his tour of the Rockhampton CBD, visiting Wendys where the owners discussed their concerns about flood benefits and flexibility of superannuation.
When questions about fixing the Bruce Highway were posed, he was adamant he wouldn't make any commitments until he had the numbers in front of him.
"I know it's about a $300 million commitment to ensure it is not subject to the floods," he said.
"I'll be talking to my colleague Warren Truss who has responsibility in this area. It is not something that's new but it is a big commitment and we only want to make promises that we can deliver.
"We need our country to live within its means."
He said he would be discussing the issue at length during his visit.
He also highlighted the carbon tax as an issue for the region.
"We are not going to have an emissions trading scheme when the rest of the world is not moving to implement their own penalty on carbon emissions," Mr Hockey said.
LNP candidate for Capricornia Michelle Landry said she would push the Yeppen round about issue to Mr Hockey.
"Number one is Yeppen," she said.
"We've been talking about that coming in from the airport today and also the facts with small business; the red tape is just killing these people."
Mr Hockey promised more visits from LNP representatives to support Ms Landry in her fight for Capricornia.
Originally published as Joe Hockey’s hands tied on Bruce Highway flood funding
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