Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to ask a question of this Labor government. This question has been put to me by a woman named Margaret, who last week emailed me about the recent visit by the Minister for Defence to Toowoomba for official duties. Margaret says she learned that the minister landed at the Oakey Army aviation base, where four helicopters were waiting ready for him. ‘Why four?’ asked Margaret. Is it because there was a possibility that the three would not make the warm-up period! He flew the 29 kilometres to Toowoomba for his official duties and then repeated the process in reverse. So why did the minister spend so many taxpayers’ dollars using Defence helicopters when he could have driven the 20 minutes from Oakey airport to Toowoomba? Upon inquiries by Margaret, it was revealed that it was because the Warrego Highway was too dangerous for him to travel on. So Margaret, who was, understandably, quite angry, asked this question, and I put it to the government on her behalf: what makes his life more precious than hers? What makes his life more precious than those of the helicopter pilots and the Army personnel who travel that road almost daily or the families, the truck drivers, the schoolkids and the tourists who drive on that road daily?

I have written numerous letters to the federal transport minister and his state counterpart asking for funding for the Warrego Highway. I have presented petitions with more than 5,000 signatures to the House calling for an upgrade. I was told, ‘Sorry, Bruce, there is no money.’ We discover that the Rudd government find the road too dangerous to let the defence minister drive on it but they let my constituents drive on it every day. (Time expired)