John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I had lengthy and detailed inspections of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing construction with Trevor Watts MP, the state LNP member for Toowoomba North, in whose seat most of the work is taking place. I note, of course, the neighbouring state LNP electorate of Lockyer and the electorate of Condamine, represented by Pat Weir, who, under the local leadership of Trevor, has been a key supporter of the project to its fruition and now its construction. From a federal perspective, it spans the electorates of Groom, which is my electorate, and Wright, which is represented by my good friend Scott Buchholz. I thank the Nexus construction consortium for facilitating our visit.

We saw the magnificent viaduct being constructed off the edge of the Toowoomba range along the Blue Mountain Heights escarpment into the Lockyer Valley, which will be a significant geographical feature for our region in the years to come. It is truly a tremendous sight to see. I inspected earlier this year with the Prime Minister and Minister Chester a significant culvert being cut through the top of the range, and other bridges and overpasses that are already under way.

It is a $1.6 billion project, with 80 per cent funded by the federal government and 20 per cent by the state government. It is the biggest inland road project in Australia. It involves 1,800 direct and indirect jobs during its design and construction. It will bring improved road safety, reduced travel time and greater efficiencies for transport through our part of the world and freight delivered through to the eastern seaboard and beyond. The project is 41 kilometres in length as it skirts Toowoomba to the north and to the west. It will be adjacent to inland rail as that is completed through our region, our new international airport and the existing western rail line, and it has linkages to the New England, Warrego and Gore Highways. That just emphasises the importance, from a logistical perspective, of this major piece of infrastructure.

Much work has gone into the background behind this project. As our Toowoomba Regional Council mayor, Paul Antonio, quite rightly reflects, it has been talked about for many, many decades. Over those years, successive local councils—both Toowoomba regional councils and, prior to that, Toowoomba city councils—have actively advocated for its construction. But in the end it took the alignment of Toowoomba Regional Council, a state LNP government and the federal coalition government to actually bring it to fruition. My predecessor, Ian Macfarlane, was a great leader in the process and his untiring efforts in steering that process cannot be underestimated. In early 2014, the deal was finally done, with a signed funding agreement between the federal coalition and state LNP governments.

Under federal and state Labor, it was never a priority. The facts simply reveal that it was not prioritised under Labor and it was never promoted as a nationally significant project. I therefore find it absolutely astounding that state Labor—particularly, the perennial Labor candidate for the state seat of Toowoomba North—has the gall to belatedly claim the project as their own. This is a nation-building project and an example of true commitment from this side of the House towards fair dinkum infrastructure development, especially in regional areas. It is progressing very, very well, on schedule and on budget. It will be completed in late 2018.

Make no mistake: the facts are that it's been brought about by a coalition government working with the state LNP government in Queensland. I know that because, in early 2014, it was the former Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss who signed the deal for the Commonwealth, and it was I, as the then acting Treasurer for Queensland, who signed the deal for the LNP state government, to the great advantage of our part of the world.