Few people in the bush will be sorry to see the back of 2019.
It has been a year of fire and floods across much of the state.
And this month even more council areas have become drought-declared, including most of south east Queensland.
People living on Brisbane's doorstep are now experiencing the same conditions that the south west has endured for seven long years.
The drought is having a catastrophic impact on rural communities. No-one can make it rain, but good governments can make a difference.
Unfortunately, Annastacia Palaszczuk and her hopeless Agriculture Minister are making a desperate situation even worse.
Labor's response to the drought has been too little and always too late. Just look at the water crisis that his hit Stanthorpe - a crisis that everyone but Labor saw coming.
Incredibly, Labor is already planning to make $50m of cuts to drought funding, even as the number of drought-declared areas continues to rise.
From vegetation management laws and a 25 per cent cut to the Rural Fire Service, to reef regs and the closure of our ag colleges, Annastacia Palaszczuk has been the worst premier the bush has ever seen.
The Palaszczuk government has got to go. The next state election is on October 31, 2020 and the LNP will be ready for it.
My LNP team has produced a plan that will get our regions back on their feet. Water security is front and centre of our plan - because water means jobs.
An LNP government will back major new dam projects in central and northern Queensland, including the Nullinga Dam, Rookwood Weir, Urannah Dam and raising the Burdekin Falls Dam.
But our biggest water project will be the New Bradfield Scheme. The New Bradfield will create Queensland's biggest dam and a hydro-electric plant capable of powering 800,000 homes.
Most importantly, it will allow an area larger than Tasmania to be cultivated in outback Queensland and channel water into the northern basin of the Murray-Darling for the exclusive use of Queensland farmers.
It is a big and bold plan, but that is what Queensland is crying out for after years of drought.
We can get the regions back on their feet - but I'll need your support at the next election before we can get to work.
- Opposition leader Deb Frecklington.
