Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With all the argy-bargy that goes on in the parliament, there's one thing that I think unites all members, and that is that the single most important electorate in the country is that of Fairfax on the Sunshine Coast!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I am glad I'm uniting those opposites tonight with that fact. The seat of Fairfax, together with the seat of Fisher, constitutes the Sunshine Coast by way of LGA—local government area. Not only is it one of those unique places where you have all the values of the past married up with the opportunities of the future; it's a growing region. In fact, it's one of Australia's fastest growing regions. Of course, being the lifestyle capital it is, as growth continues we are seeing more congestion and more strain on people getting from A to B. It's becoming increasingly difficult for people to travel from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane. And we know that this sort of problem comes about when you have that strain of population growth, which is why the objective always has to be—as difficult as it can be—to try to build infrastructure ahead of population growth.

When we were elected to parliament, we went hard on just that objective from 2016 onwards, and we are enormously proud of the fact that under the coalition government the Sunshine Coast received more federal funding than it ever had before. Never before had the Sunshine Coast seen so much funding for infrastructure. We're really proud of that. We got about $3.2 billion allocated for upgrades to the Bruce Highway. Never before has so much been allocated to improve that important road spine.

We then were able to secure nearly $400 million for upgrades in rail. This is a rail line wholly owned and operated by the Queensland state government, yet we were able to put in an enormous amount of money to ensure we could see an upgrade—in fact, a duplicated rail line which goes north of Beerburrum, with the duplication going up near Landsborough, with some improvements up to Nambour. It is an extraordinary amount of money. We were also able to put record funding into the Sunshine Motorway, for the Mooloolah River interchange—again, completely a state responsibility. When you have well over $100 million on that project alone because it's a pain point for road users and for families, that's exactly what we need as a region.

Amidst all these good infrastructure projects, there's been a prize that the community on the Sunshine Coast has been looking for, for years, and that prize has been improved rail. Yes, we've got some duplication happening but we need to see that rail duplication go all the way up to Nambour—that is, two lines all the way up to Nambour so that we can separate passenger from freight, so that we can improve the speed, frequency and reliability of rail connectivity for everyone south of Nambour. To that end, we were able to secure $5 million to have a business case mapped out. Despite the years gone by, that $5 million which was meant to be matched by the state government, who is, again, wholly responsible—the state member in the seat of Nicklin confirmed he would go in to bat and we'd do it together. On that basis, I locked in the $5 million. But still, to this day, the state Labor government—nothing, not a thing. No confirmation. There is $5 million sitting there, and they will not act on it.

The other part of this prize of improved rail connectivity is, for the very first time, to bring rail along the coastal strip of the Sunshine Coast. As we look at population growth, we have seen through the years a movement towards the coast. As more and more people come to the Sunshine Coast, it is that coastal strip that is going to be congested. We have land already resumed for transportation, sitting there, waiting to be used.

Some years ago, we went in to bat—I think it was under the Turnbull government—to secure funding to do a business case on connecting regions to capital cities. We received $6 million to do a business case. I went and saw the minister in the Queensland state government at the time, and he had agreed he would work with us. They wouldn't put in cash but would at least work in kind. A steering group was established for a syndicate who would work with the Department of Transport and Main Roads. The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads was on a working committee doing a business case for this rail line that would go to the Maroochydore CBD—through the coastal strip, Beerwah, Caloundra and Kawana up to Maroochydore. DTMR worked with a syndicate on that. They were on a steering committee looking at that business case. The business case came in. The price tag for that rail connection—Beerwah to Maroochydore—came in at $2.9 billion. The state government were very happy; the Premier was on record saying so. The minister himself was very public when we put this deal of this rail line to him; he thought it was 'absolutely viable'. They were his words. So we continued working hard.

Along came the opportunity for us to secure the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games—an opportunity we could not let pass. I was delighted to play a role on behalf of the Prime Minister at the time, Prime Minister Morrison, as his special envoy on that negotiation. We secured the deal. We secured the 2032 games. The Sunshine Coast, together with the Gold Coast and other areas of South-East Queensland, will host the games with Brisbane. It will be labelled Brisbane 2032. In order for visitors to Australia in 2032 to travel from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast for events, including the marathon, fast walking and kite racing—there are a range of other sports, like basketball preliminaries and football preliminaries—they've got to go up the Bruce Highway, and, no matter the money we have allocated for the Bruce Highway, it can't be done; you can't handle that many people. So we went back to the idea of rail to the Maroochydore CBD.

We were able, in last year's budget, the coalition budget, to secure $1.6 billion to pay for 50 per cent of that rail line, and we were delighted. We were absolutely delighted. The community united around this. It wasn't a political thing, because we had people of all political colours cheering for this. The Labor state government had said that they thought this was viable, and we all wanted it for the games, but something happened mid-last year. Sadly, the coalition lost government. We accept that; it's the will of the people. But, despite Labor going to the election at the federal level with candidates saying locally that they were going to deliver on the same project, we've had nothing since then.

Unfortunately, the state government, who were apparently very enthusiastic about this, are now saying that they're doing a new business case. Instead of looking at the business case they had done themselves and been party to, they've thrown that out. They're doing a new business case, and now the new federal government has postponed the release of any funding. The Labor federal government is now holding back money, saying, 'We're going to postpone the release of any funding.' As a result, and in a highly inflationary environment, we know what's going to happen. The $3.2 billion price tag is going to blow out. The $1.6 billion that we had to pay for 50 per cent—that's not going to be enough. Are we going to be able to build rail to the Maroochydore CBD in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032? Well, that is up to Anthony Albanese and Annastacia Palaszczuk. If they do as they promised, they'll make decisions this year and get it going. If not, it is on them. It'll be another broken promise.