Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before the last Queensland state election, the Crisafulli opposition talked a big game, and, in government, they have failed to deliver for my local community. Their first budget was not a fresh start for Ipswich and Somerset but a false start.

One thing I do want to thank them for is the thousand homes that they're going to build in the Boost to Buy scheme, which is akin to the 40,000 homes we're going to build in the Help to Buy scheme. The great irony of this is that the coalition in the last term opposed that type of scheme, but, at a state level, at least they've experienced a sort of road-to-Damascus conversion and supported that concept. It was a winner at a state level in a variety of different states, but the LNP opposition here in Canberra couldn't bring themselves to support it. But, really, in the budget there's hardly anything for my local community in terms of infrastructure plans.

They loved to hold that glossy brochure before the last state election. I went through the glossy brochure that they produced in the state government budget. It's a boulevard of broken promises. There's no plan for Ipswich and no big-ticket transport items at all. There's no matching of funding, for example, for the federal Labor government's commitment of $200 million for the Amberley interchange upgrade. They had billboards on the side of the road during the last federal election saying, 'No more plans; no more business cases—let's just fund this.' But the LNP government in Queensland failed to come up with the $200 million to match our commitment that we made and, actually, didn't come up with any funding on that in opposition across three terms. Federal and state Labor governments made a $20 million commitment for the safety upgrade along that highway and some business-case development and looking at what we need to do on the Ripley roundabout and the Swanbank roundabout as well. What we're doing here is investing money in Ipswich. In opposition and in government, the Crisafulli government has failed to do so. During the last federal election, having talked this up again and again, all the LNP opposition here in Canberra could eventually do was follow our lead on this issue.

I want to say this to the Crisafulli government: how about you have a look at the state of the Brisbane Valley Highway? You completely botched the upgrade there. We've put in $40 million—$20 million in the election commitment and another $20 million in the city deal. I want to say to the Crisafulli government that I reckon Queensland's Minister for Transport and Main Roads should have a drive on that highway, because you're responsible through TMR to maintain it and fix it and improve it, and you haven't done so. It's money wasted by the Crisafulli government.

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