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

I am deeply and historically aggrieved at the attitude of the coalition with respect to the road infrastructure in South-East Queensland. I say to the coalition: what is the attitude of the coalition to the $255 million allocated in this budget towards the Ipswich Motorway's Dinmore to Goodna section? What is the attitude of the coalition to the $54 million allocated in this budget to the upgrade of the Blacksoil Interchange? In the three election campaigns which I have fought, on each occasion the coalition opponent has opposed the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. Why should I not be surprised about that? My predecessor who I fought in 2004 and 2007 opposed the Ipswich Motorway upgrade and the coalition opposed it for 11½ years while they were in office. The member for Wide Bay, the shadow minister for roads, in this place just last week poured scorn on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade and said that they would not do it. In fact, his view was that they would support a Goodna bypass. In October 2009 he said, in an interjection he made in federal parliament, that he would actually stop construction on the Ipswich Motorway.

If the coalition had their way, the 25 kilometres of road between Ipswich and Brisbane would not have anything done on it and for 11½ years almost nothing was done. But just before the 2007 federal election former Prime Minister John Howard came up with an idea at the request of my predecessor that he would cross the Brisbane River on at least two occasions, possibly four occasions, with a road that cut through the leafy suburbs of Brisbane but with no off ramps so that people from Ipswich could get into Brisbane that way—because you would not have any Ipswich riffraff in the leafy suburbs of Brisbane! That is the attitude of those people in the posh suburbs, the wealthy western suburbs of Brisbane. But guess what? The cost would be twice as much in real terms to the Ipswich Motorway upgrade from Dinmore to Goodna now. That puts in not an $11 billion black hole for the coalition but a $15 billion black hole.

The Ipswich Motorway has at its least busy 80,000 vehicles a day across the length and breadth as people commute—farmers, small business operators, workers, mums and dads taking their kids to school—because it is a very important road not just for the people of Ipswich but for Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, the Brisbane Valley and the Scenic Rim in Brisbane. Up to 100,000 vehicles per day use that road. It is probably the most important road apart from the Gateway Motorway and those of us from Ipswich say that it is the most important road in South-East Queensland. Yet the coalition has steadfastly opposed road funding for it.

I say to the coalition members opposite: what will your attitude be to the road funding and the nation building funding we have put in this budget? Having voted against the Ipswich Motorway funding allocations year after year after year and bill after bill after bill, what is your attitude now? It is one of disdain and disrespect for the people of Ipswich—that is the attitude historically in relation to that. For 11½ years the coalition failed to upgrade the Blacksoil Interchange. The Blacksoil Interchange is the intersection between the Warrego Highway and the Brisbane Valley Highway. The Blacksoil Interchange was No. 1 on the list of projects—one of the magnificent seven—that the South-East Queensland Council of Mayors supported. Guess who was the chair of the South-East Queensland Council of Mayors? It was Campbell Newman, the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane, yet the coalition did not fund it, did not support it for 11½ years and failed to make a commitment in the last federal campaign with not a whisper, not a peep from the coalition in relation to the Blacksoil Interchange. This is really important because 8,000 vehicles a day go through that intersection on the Brisbane Valley section. Up to 40,000 vehicles a day go through the intersection from the Warrego Highway through to Ipswich Central. Yet the coalition has voted against the road funding allocations and the nation building funding to resurface that road. All the funding that we have given in relation to the Warrego Highway towards Toowoomba the coalition has voted against. The LNP candidate and member for Lockyer consistently bleeds about the issue yet when John Howard was the Prime Minister they capped the funding.

We have put in an enormous amount of funding and so has the state Labor government in Queensland. The state Labor government in Queensland, on this $70 million project of the Blacksoil Interchange, has added $16 million to our $54 million. What is the attitude of the LNP opposition in Queensland in relation to it? I have not heard a peep about it—not a whisper, not a scintilla, not a jot, not a dot—nothing from the coalition in relation to the Blacksoil Interchange. I have not heard anything from them in this parliament and they have said nothing about it in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. There is nothing in the media back home and yet I have coalition mayors and coalition councillors throughout South-East Queensland talk to me regularly about this particular project but they will not do anything about it. Their failure with respect to road infrastructure in South-East Queensland is appalling. Let us talk about the Toowoomba bypass which they failed to do for 11½ years. The member for Groom constantly bleats about it offering mythical money in relation to it. It is the federal Labor government that is putting so much money into the Warrego Highway, the Brisbane Valley Highway, the Ipswich Motorway and all the road infrastructure in South-East Queensland. I will give one illustration of the failure of the previous coalition government and of the impact of regional infrastructure and the commitment of this government to road funding in the area. The Somerset Regional Council is the least populated council in South-East Queensland, but it covers the biggest area in South-East Queensland. Mr Deputy Speaker Slipper, you would know parts of it well, having previously been responsible for the Kilcoy area. But, guess what? The coalition allocated $357,000 for road funding in their last year for this local council that has the biggest land area in South-East Queensland. We are putting in nearly double that in this budget—$653,000. That is a demonstration of this government's commitment to road infrastructure. The opposition have opposed our Regional Infrastructure Development Fund, which provides $2 billion for states like my state of Queensland. Bear in mind that we have put in $8.5 billion for road, rail and port infrastructure in Queensland—more than double the amount the coalition put in when they were in power.

The coalition did not really care about the economic development of South-East Queensland and the western corridor between Toowoomba and Brisbane or my electorate around Ipswich and the Somerset region. They are not worried about the safety concerns, about the lives and the lifestyles of the farmers, the small business operators, the employees, the schoolchildren and the mums and dads in my area. They have failed comprehensively and totally with respect to road infrastructure in South-East Queensland and Ipswich particularly. We have shouted and screamed and agitated and advocated for that funding for a long time. For 11½ long years those opposite did nothing about it. They stand condemned. I am very proud to be part of a Labor government that has done something about this. We have fulfilled our election commitment on the Ipswich Motorway and fulfilled our commitment on the Blacksoil Interchange.

The days of those opposite are gone. I am proud to be part of a government that funds the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, that provides business opportunities and opportunities for the whole of South-East Queensland and beyond. South-East Queensland is the fastest growing area in all of Australia, and Ipswich is the second fastest growing area in South-East Queensland. The Somerset region is the fastest growing area in South-East Queensland. Those opposite adopt a flagrant, extravagant approach to road infrastructure. They come out with mythical funding that does not even exist. There are outrageous, expensive and unrealistic options. We are about responsible, prudent economic management and economic prosperity and development. They cannot grasp the obvious, that even the state coalition opposition in Queensland supported the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. Yet those opposite continued to oppose it. Their position is untenable, unacceptable and irrelevant.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Does the honourable member for Riverina wish to have an hour out of the chamber?

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

They previously said that upgrading the Ipswich Motorway was a shemozzle and a hopeless situation. I say to those opposite that the only shemozzle and hopeless situations are those opposite. I welcome the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway and the Blacksoil Interchange, and so do all the people in South-East Queensland and every council, including the coalition. Coalition members here have no idea about the needs, aspirations and lives of people in South-East Queensland. (Time expired)

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the debate has expired. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Main Committee adjourned at 11:03