Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the M1 motorway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and, in particular, the bottleneck that runs from the Gateway Motorway merge to the Logan Motorway—and I see my good friend the member for McPherson here, who also has issues further down the highway, but we will focus on the Gateway-Daisy Hill section at this point.

To the frustration of many thousands of commuters on a daily basis, they are stuck in constant traffic jams. The congestion is not only affecting people commuting to and from work but also affecting the business community, with many of our local tradespeople caught in that traffic. Logan's population is expected to grow to more than 452,000 by 2031, and the Gold Coast population will grow to more than 798,000. This is now the busiest piece of road in Queensland, bar none.

I call on the new Palaszczuk state government—not only the minister for roads, Mark Bailey, but also other state members who are affected—to work with both me and the member for Rankin, Jim Chalmers, to find a solution to this problem for the benefit of all of our communities.

I would like to thank the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Warren Truss, for being open and willing to discuss this significant issue for our community. (Time expired)