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

I am pleased to rise to talk about the Howard government’s investment, after over 10 years of responsible economic management, in new infrastructure for land transport. Particularly of relevance to the Gold Coast is the Howard government’s $22.3 billion investment under AusLink 2 into road transport. I am delighted that, since the Howard government has repaid the $96 billion black hole left by the Australian Labor Party and turned the $10 billion budget deficit into a $10 billion surplus, Gold Coasters can look forward to record investment in local roads as a consequence of the fine economic management that the Howard government has displayed with respect to the Australian economy.

I have to say, though, that I continue to be concerned at the Queensland state Labor government dragging its heels when it comes to road investment on the Gold Coast. At a time when the Australian government has been managing the Australian economy well, utilising the additional tax revenue that is being collected as a result of the strongly growing economy in addition to the extra company receipts that are being received and investing that money into improving infrastructure for our nation—while all this is happening at federal level—I am particularly concerned that the Queensland state Labor government continues to run the Queensland state budget into the red and as a consequence delays vitally needed road projects on the Gold Coast.

What I notice is that, at a time when Queensland received a 119 per cent increase in road funding under the AusLink program—and that does not include this additional $22.3 billion under AusLink 2—the Beattie state Labor government are running around the back suburbs of the Gold Coast in areas like Highland Park, Nerang and Mudgeeraba and saying that the reason they cannot build much-needed road infrastructure in those suburbs is that they do not have enough money. I say to all of my residents who live in those suburbs: do not let the Queensland state Labor government off the hook. I certainly will not and I also will not suffer the Queensland Labor government distorting the truth and claiming that the roads that they are 100 per cent responsible for are in some way delayed because of a lack of Commonwealth money. That simply is not true. These roads are 100 per cent within the jurisdiction of the Queensland state government. Vital road projects like the Nielsens Road interchange and the Mudgeeraba interchange—road projects that locals are demanding—are all being held up because the Queensland state Labor government simply do not have these roads as a priority in their roadworks budget. The simple fact is that the Queensland Labor government have had a 119 per cent increase in road funding and they have record revenue from GST, and they could build these roads projects. (Time expired)