Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will start off by seeking your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker Gillespie; I have a case of the man flu coming on, which, as you can understand, is pretty diabolical! But I never miss an opportunity to talk about how important it is that the Morrison government is investing in delivering infrastructure solutions for our local bottlenecks.

I would like to commend the member for Mackellar for bringing on this motion. We know the coalition's investment—$100 billion in roads, rail and airports to ease congestion, particularly to fix local congestion bottlenecks. I pick up the member for Mackellar's theme: as a government, we are not reducing congestion just for the sake of it or because we like changing stats or anything like that. We do it because it's important to the families in our electorates. Reducing congestion is not an end in itself; it's a way to get people home sooner and safer to the ones that they love. It makes sure they can spend more time playing sport or in the backyard with their kids rather than sitting in congestion. The way that the Labor member for Chifley has just derided the minister, in relation to focusing on urban infrastructure projects like roundabouts, shows just how out of touch Labor is. It is these local projects that will make the biggest difference in the lives of people, certainly in the lives of people in my electorate of Ryan, when they're going home.

We have two very significant local urban infrastructure projects. Before I get onto that, there are a couple of ways that the Morrison government's investment is benefiting the residents of Ryan. First of all, as part of funding for the dedicated commuter car park fund for my electorate of Ryan, they will see increased car parking available at Ferny Grove station. This has been a source of contention for quite some time. As our local suburbs continue to grow, more car parks are required at our local train stations. We have also made a significant investment in the Brisbane Metro. This is set to revolutionise public transport in Brisbane by ensuring we reduce the bottleneck for buses in the Brisbane CBD. It stands in stark contrast to the current Labor state government. We have $300 million on the table and the LNP-led council has the rest of the money on the table. We don't need any money from the Labor state government; we just need them to get out of the way and let us build this important project to improve public transport in the Brisbane CBD. But, despite literally hundreds of meetings between the Brisbane City Council and state Labor officials, Labor still can't see their way to putting pen to paper and letting the council and the federal government get on with these projects. Unfortunately, it is an example that we see time and time again.

The federal government continues to work very well with the Brisbane City Council, nowhere more than on the Indooroopilly roundabout. The federal government has committed $25 million to fix this local congestion hotspot and to work alongside Mayor Adrian Schrinner. For the last few months there has been public consultation about the best option to fix this notorious and dangerous bottleneck. With 32 incidents recorded between 2013 and 2018—10 requiring hospitalisation and a further 17 requiring medical treatment—I know how important it is to my local community that we get on with the job of fixing it.

Hundreds of locals have responded to my call for feedback about the best option to fix this important congestion bottleneck. Overwhelmingly—90 per cent—locals have gone with the overpass option. I provided that feedback to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and just last week he announced that he will be progressing with this design so we can get on to fix this notorious intersection in the Ryan electorate.

Make no mistake, residents of Ryan, it is not bipartisan that you get home to your families sooner and safer. It was Labor's own lord mayoral candidate for Brisbane who came out and called this project a 'wicked, wicked waste'. So money is put in to reduce congestion in the western suburbs—which, for decades, have seen chronic underinvestment by Labor state governments—to finally get some projects kickstarted, thanks to this federal government, working in conjunction with an LNP council, and all Labor can do is to turn up their noses at it. It shows again how out of touch they are with local residents who are keen to see congestion reduced—not to mention, as I said, the importance of fixing this bottleneck as a safety issue.

We see it as well with the Kenmore roundabout project. As a federal government we have committed $12.5 million. Labor has been dragged kicking and screaming to match that funding but they show no signs of getting on with the job. I call on Minister Bailey to do that.

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