House debates

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009

Consideration in Detail

10:24 am

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the members for their questions and their interest. I particularly thank the member for Blair, who, along with the member for Oxley and the member for Moreton, has been such a strong advocate for the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. We know of course that this is a mess that the coalition ignored for many years. The RACQ said in March last year, ‘We have been waiting six years for the federal government to take some decisive action in relation to the traffic congestion and safety problems.’

As a result of that, the Rudd government committed to the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway—that means from Dinmore to Rocklea. But we have committed over $2 billion to build the most urgent sections first. As anyone who drives along the road can see, construction is underway. Indeed, construction on the $255 million Ipswich Motorway-Logan Motorway interchange is underway, and it will be finished by early 2009. Within 100 days in office, we turned the first sod on the three-kilometre stage 1 Wacol to Darra upgrade. We did that on 2 March. I remember it because it was my birthday and I spent it with my colleagues in Queensland and the Prime Minister on this important road project.

We got this project going within six months of being elected—something the Howard government could not deliver within six years. We also stopped work on the former government’s Goodna bypass. This project would have put a six-lane freeway through the back yards of the constituents of the member for Ryan. The project would have cost double Labor’s plans to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Goodna, and the project was described by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman—the most senior Liberal in the country, of course—as a visual blight. This project was overwhelmingly dumped by the people of Ipswich, which is one of the reasons why the member for Blair is here now. They voted for the Ipswich Motorway upgrade and we are delivering.

In this year’s budget we allocated $5 million for planning the Dinmore to Goodna upgrade. Already Queensland’s Department of Main Roads has called for construction companies to form an alliance to build it. I expect construction will commence in 2009 and be completed by 2012. Our $2 billion-plus plan will deliver six lanes from Dinmore to Darra and it will also provide better connections to the train line and the network of service roads that will take up to 25 per cent of traffic off the motorway. Unlike the Goodna bypass, which would have delivered no relief until 2012, the upgrade will deliver progressive benefits as the work is completed. The final section from Darra to Rocklea will be assessed by Infrastructure Australia and it will be considered for funding from the $20 billion Building Australia Fund or from the next round of AusLink.

We are committed to upgrading this section and it will be done. But it contrasts with the previous government’s approach. In their 2020 plan for Australia’s transport future, on page 32—remember the great slogan ‘Go for growth’?—it said the following:

The removal of the Brisbane Urban Corridor between Darra and Mansfield from the AusLink National Network will remove trucks from local roads by funnelling them onto more suitable connections, such as the Logan Motorway or the Northern Link.

The Brisbane Urban Corridor between Darra and Mansfield comprises the Ipswich Motorway from Darra to Rocklea ...

So not only were they ruling out funding this section now; they were ruling out funding it forever, removing it from the national road network. So they would have provided no money whatsoever for the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Goodna and no money from Darra to Rocklea—no money whatsoever—with this bizarre proposal for the Goodna bypass, which was costly because it was to build four crossings of the same river on a road. Common sense tells you that that was an absurd proposal. It would have delivered no relief until 2012, and they were exposed for that.

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