Bill Shorten has promised the NRL's Cowboys will be playing in a new stadium by 2020 if Labor wins the election.
The opposition leader confirmed Labor's commitment to invest $100 million to build a new stadium which would create 700 jobs as well as boost tourism and small business in Townsville, which is struggling with unemployment.
He took a swipe at Liberal National MP for Herbert, Ewen Jones, for failing to match the commitment.
"What sort of planet do you live on if you don't understand the value of 700 new jobs, if you don't understand the value to tourism and small business," Mr Shorten told reporters at the stadium on Tuesday.
"You don't have to be very long in Townsville to realise it is experiencing the downturn of the mining boom."
Work on the new stadium could start in 2018 with a new home for the Cowboys by 2020 if Labor is elected on July 2, he said.
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