Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night during estimates, officials from the Department of Defence confirmed that this government is walking away from its commitment to the construction of the Samford Road entrance to the Enogerra Barracks, at the edge of my electorate. This means that the state government upgrade to Samford Road and Wardell Street will have to proceed without any works occurring on a new entrance to the base. In recent years the size of the base has expanded greatly due to new projects, and the impact of increased traffic on local roads is significant. It is absolutely imperative that the federal government recommit to the new entrance to help alleviate the impact on local residents of traffic going to and from the base.

What is even more puzzling is that, after 2½ years of negotiation with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, they waited until the state government was ready to commence construction on the upgrades to Samford Road and Wardell Street before deciding on 're-assessing the benefits of providing a new entrance'. I call on the government to immediately cease the delay, cease the uncertainty, get on with the job and recommit to the new entrance on Samford Road.