"It's a motherhood announcement from a tired, out of touch government that's had 20 years to actually progress this sort of development," Mr Cripps said.
"The reality is Bligh Labor did absolutely nothing until the ban on live exports to Indonesia prompted the useless Gillard government to hold some meetings. Sadly, Tim Mulherin was silent last year during the live export ban fiasco, while his Queensland Labor mate in Canberra, Joe Ludwig, brought the live cattle export industry in North Queensland to its knees.
"A new meatworks at Cloncurry, with capacity to process 60,000 to 100,000 head a year would be terrific, no question, but this is going to take a lot more to get going than a statement this morning, a month out from the election, from Tim Mulherin.
"The facts are, local grazing industry, business and community leaders have worn a track out to Brisbane and Canberra over many years seeking support for water development, farming expansion and a meatworks, but up till now all they've met is brick walls – especially in George Street in Brisbane under both the Beattie and Bligh Labor Governments.
"A new meatworks should be able to process cattle that would not go south to southern feedlots for finishing – and in good seasons, it would obviously be a lot cheaper to process heavy bullocks locally than road-train them south to Brisbane works.
"There's plenty of land, water and power is available. The big issue is finding the skilled meat workers and that really is an issue that needs a lot more work for this to become a reality.
"A new meatworks at Cloncurry would need substantial private investment - in the order of tens of millions of dollars - and heaps of commitment.
"The LNP is committed to driving investment and creating employment opportunities in regional and remote Queensland.
"Our Economic Blueprint is about driving investment. We will cut red tape and we will raise the threshold for state payroll tax.
"There's a fair bit that needs to happen to get agriculture on track in the region – and the best way for that to happen is for the long-term Labor government to be voted out.
"It's time for a change. It's time to get agriculture in Queensland back on track," Mr Cripps said.
