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

I want to speak tonight about a motorway up in my electorate which has often been regarded as Queensland’s worst national highway—that is, the Ipswich Motorway. There have been some media reports which have misconstrued the Rudd government’s position in relation to the Ipswich Motorway. The Ipswich Motorway is the main arterial road from Brisbane, and approximately 80,000 vehicles a day travel along it. It services Ipswich, which has 150,000 people. In the next 15 years another 150,000 people will be added to that, and there will be great growth in the Lockyer Valley as well as in the old Boonah shire.

For those interstate who do not quite understand where Ipswich is in relation to Brisbane, it is about where Parramatta is in relation to Sydney, and Toowoomba is about where the Blue Mountains are. The Ipswich Motorway leads from Brisbane to Ipswich and veers off to the Logan Motorway down to the Gold Coast. It keeps going to the south, going into the Cunningham Highway, which goes down towards Warwick and into western New South Wales. It veers off to the north, up to the Warrego Highway, which goes from the Brisbane Valley up towards the South Burnett region. As I say, it goes along the Warrego Highway towards Toowoomba and western Queensland. So those from interstate can see how important that motorway is. It is a vital link between Ipswich and Brisbane, and also for other parts of Queensland and also western New South Wales.

For 11½ years the Howard government did very little in relation to the Ipswich Motorway.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wrong! Absolutely wrong!

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

It is interesting that the member for Wide Bay interjects. It is all words now, but there was no action for 11½ years. Where were the National Party and the coalition on the Ipswich Motorway for 11½ years? It is all rhetoric. Their response to the Ipswich Motorway can be characterised by three things: ignorance of the issue, inertia and inaction.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And hundreds of millions of dollars!

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

No, inaction. I can tell you what, Mr Speaker: it is quite clear that the coalition says a lot now but did nothing for the people of Ipswich on the motorway. The member for Oxley and I have campaigned on this issue for years against the coalition government, which fought against the upgraded Ipswich Motorway, I can assure you. The Ipswich Motorway upgrade is important for the safety of property and people in the Ipswich area, and not having the upgrade—because of the opposition of the previous government—has been holding back economic development. The reality is that the Ipswich Motorway is going to be upgraded in four stages, just like the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast: the Dinmore to Goodna section, which the coalition steadfastly refused to upgrade; the Goodna to Wacol section; the Wacol to Darra section; and the Darra to Rocklea section.

The coalition government had a report back in the middle of 2003 and did nothing in relation to it despite the requests of the Queensland government and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman, a Liberal. Despite the support of the coalition opposition in Queensland, of all the councils in the surrounding area and of the Queensland state government, the coalition did nothing much in relation to the Ipswich Motorway. The reality is that we will be investing $2.2 billion to upgrade the busiest section. Of course, $255 million is being put towards the Ipswich-Logan interchange, and it will be completed by 2009. Seven hundred million dollars is going to the Wacol to Darra section, which will be completed by 2010. A further $100 million has been set aside for the Wacol to Darra section stage 2. There is $1.14 billion to upgrade the most critical section, the Dinmore to Goodna section, which Labor pledged during the election campaign.

I am pleased to say that the Prime Minister has declared that we will honour our commitment to the Ipswich Motorway in full. We will upgrade the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Rocklea. The Prime Minister said today:

“On the Ipswich Motorway, we committed ourselves to its upgrade prior to the election … For the remaining 6km as you describe it through to Rocklea, we will either have that submitted for consideration by Infrastructure Australia to be funded out of the Building Australia Fund or alternatively from the next round of AusLink funding. Either way we will be honouring that commitment.

He went on to say:

It’s basic for us, for the people in that corridor who have suffered from very poor treatment in terms of their major road connections through the city of Brisbane for far too long … Far too many people frankly have found themselves in real difficulty on that road in terms of traffic accidents as well.

Labor is committed, and the Rudd government is committed, to upgrading the Ipswich Motorway in full. As the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government has said on occasion in the past, this is the most critical funding priority. On 29 January 2008 he said:

There is no more important road project than the Ipswich Motorway on our priority list. No more important anywhere.

(Time expired)