Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's easy to delay a project if you see only the cost of upgrading a road and not the price we've paid to get there. I commend Queensland transport minister Mark Bailey on committing to a 2023 start and a 2024 finish of the Tiaro bypass, and I commend the journalism of the Maryborough Sun for uncovering this timeline.

Former infrastructure minister Barnaby Joyce confirmed $268.8 million for the four-lane Tiaro bypass was available. Now infrastructure minister Catherine King promises to honour that.

If construction is to start next year and the new corridor is to be open to traffic by the end of 2024, the Queensland government must move to finalise designs, corridor acquisition and tendering processes. Every day we don't progress, it costs our community and our economy. For both, road infrastructure is critical. It costs our 777 Wide Bay healthcare businesses delivering care to the vulnerable, disabled and elderly, and our 2,472 construction businesses, which need to be on site to repair and build new homes. Our fight to fix this notorious section of the Bruce Highway will not be over until the four-lane Tiaro bypass opens to traffic.