Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hope the member for Richmond tells her constituents that the Leader of the Opposition’s advice given to the Goss government in the early 1990s—when he was in charge of the cabinet office in Queensland—against building the Wolffdene dam is at the centre of other proposals, such as crossing the Queen Victoria era etched boundary between Queensland and New South Wales in the search for water, and is a very strong factor in the sorts of discussions she has spoken of. She needs to drive home the fault of the water problems in south-east Queensland, very much so, to the member for Griffith, the Leader of the Opposition.

I wish also to raise some matters, apart from water, that are of grave concern to constituents of mine. Water is the No. 1 concern. The whole failure of infrastructure in south-east Queensland is hurting residents in my community most dearly. In fact, the only toll road in the entire state of Queensland runs through the electorate of Moreton. The best purpose-built road for interstate trucks has a toll on it. I have been fighting against this toll for the past 10 years. It has taken 10 years for the state government to acknowledge that sending B-double trucks past people’s letterboxes along roads like Granard Road, Riawena Road, Kessels Road and the Mount Gravatt-Capalaba Road is pure folly when a purpose-built highway has probably only about five per cent of its real capacity used at any given time as people protest against the toll by not using the road. If the toll were taken off the Southern Brisbane Bypass, the Gateway Motorway connection to the Logan Motorway, we could create a far better amenity for people in my electorate.

The toll costs a truck only about $6. Yes, they could amortise it across their load and, yes, by using the toll road there is far less wear and tear on brakes and clutches than using the alternative route that the state government until recently wanted them to use—with seven major hills and 14 sets of traffic lights. The state government for 10 years told me that it could not be done but now, almost overnight, they have decided it can be done. But what they need to do, apart from having a proper truck and traffic management plan for our area, is to say to the transport industry, ‘We know you are a vital part of what we need in Australia and Queensland, but we need to build you roads that are going to work for you.’ What we need from the state government is an end to the toll on the Southern Brisbane Bypass—get rid of the toll booth at Persse Road at Runcorn. That would make a difference to all sorts of motorists in my area.

Already the Australian government has backed my ambitions—$1.7 million spent over the last couple of years to buy out the toll at night, and 221,000 fewer trucks between 10 at night and five in the morning has been the result. So the road will be used if the toll goes. I think it is wrong that residents in south side Brisbane have the only toll road in Queensland. The Beattie government should stand condemned, work with the Australian government and get on with the alternative.