Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise an issue of great importance to residents on the western side of my electorate, those residents who live in the suburbs of Highland Park, Nerang, Tallai and Carrara. All of the residents in those suburbs suffer on a daily basis from a lack of investment by the Queensland state Labor government into the Nielsens Road interchange. Recently, I had cause to write to some 10,500 residents in that part of my electorate highlighting that I had heard and understood their concerns about how the massive traffic congestion, the dangerous roundabouts and the intersection of Nielsens Road and Alexander Drive with the Pacific Highway, the M1, were causing them so much concern, but also highlighting that that traffic congestion was a consequence of the Queensland state Labor government not following through on their promise to have improvements to that interchange completed by the middle of this year.

The response from residents has been overwhelming, and I have been very pleased to receive hundreds of postcards. As I undertook to do in my letter to those residents, I will deliver those postcards to the Queensland state Premier, highlighting how residents are calling upon him and the local Labor member, Dianne Reilly, to follow through on her promise to have improvements to that road completed. We already know that the roadworks will not be completed when they said they would be completed. Nonetheless, together with the residents, I am still calling for the interchange and the improvements to this road to be completed as soon as possible.

My concern, however, is that the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Paul Lucas, took out another full-page advertisement—about the sixth that I have seen from the Queensland state Labor government, again blowing tens of thousands of Queensland taxpayers’ dollars—once again shirking responsibility for any roadworks that the Queensland government must undertake with respect to state government roads. My principal concern is that, despite record funding of tens of billions of dollars under GST and financial assistance grants to the Queensland government and despite record funding under AusLink and Roads to Recovery programs, the Queensland state Labor government still considers the Gold Coast such a low priority that it would rather engage in petty politics and in taking out full-page newspaper advertisements, funded by Queensland taxpayers, to rub salt into the wounds of Queensland residents, especially those in my electorate, who simply want the state government to get on with the job. I will continue to highlight the poor work of the local Labor MP in my area and to very strongly support the Liberal candidate for the sake of the residents in that electorate. (Time expired)