Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

His constituents, I am sure—and I spoke with one of his constituents just this morning—want a better deal from their local elected representative. What they want is a representative who will start delivering on road infrastructure projects, not just behaving as though he is in opposition and has no influence over the federal government. For instance, where is the member for Ryan when his colleagues want to cut a swathe through the leafy suburbs of Ryan with an outrageously expensive monstrosity called the half Goodna bypass—another federally funded project, for which the research money also came from the federal government.

When compared to the billion-dollar plus road that would loop between Dinmore and Gailes through Priors Pocket, the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway between the exact same two points—both federal projects—would cost only $300 million. Just do the simple sums on this: $1.1 billion for a pie in the sky federal project which may never get off the ground or a ready to go $300 million project which delivers a much better outcome. Let me answer that for members here—where is the member for Ryan? He has gone missing. When confronted with any tough issue in his electorate, he tries to blame anyone but himself or his government. I recall very well the community meeting on this very issue. More than 1,000 of his constituents turned up, but he did not because he was too busy having dinner with the US ambassador at the time.

I would now like to encourage the member for Ryan to show some courage and join me in trying to get a solution to the infrastructure needs in South East Queensland, which his government has so openly neglected for the last 10 years—that is, the federal government. For example, he should follow my lead on the Ipswich Motorway—another federal government issue. In my view, it is an eminently sensible and affordable solution that the federal government will eventually have to adopt because of its desperate need. I am sure many in this place are aware of this as I have spoken about it many times and I have been campaigning on this issue for many years, even before I was elected to parliament. But we need to take the politics out of road infrastructure and we need to get the federal government to, at the very least, take up its own responsibilities on this issue.

As a result of my campaigning, I have been able to secure close to $550 million for the residents of Ipswich and south-west Brisbane—so much so that some members have commented and asked me whether or not I was a National Party member! A few members will understand exactly what I mean by that. The notorious Ipswich Motorway is a crucial link in the national highway network. But there is more to be done, and I will not give up just because I have managed to secure $550 million. I will do that work whether I am in opposition or whether I am in government—it makes no difference to me—because I believe that completion of this infrastructure needs to be carried through.

Since 1998, with the support of the community, I have led the campaign to get the Commonwealth government to face up to its responsibilities and fund a full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. In 2001 I helped secure $66 million for a range of interim safety works and planning along the Ipswich Motorway corridor—another underfunded federal government matter. In 2004 the Commonwealth government finally agreed to provide $160 million for the upgrade of the Logan-Ipswich Motorway interchange, which is locally known as spaghetti junction. Recently, after starting the media-adopted ‘dial a motorway’ campaign, which encouraged local residents to call the Prime Minister directly and demand he release funding for the full upgrade, $320 million was allocated for roadworks between Wacol and Darra. That just goes to show that, if you apply the blow torch to the belly, sometimes it just does work. This brings the total amount of money extracted from the Howard government to $546 million. Sure, it was like pulling teeth but it also means that the community campaign has successfully secured funding for the part of the Ipswich Motorway, between Goodna and Darra at least, but it is not over.

There is much more to be done, and I will not rest until every single Queensland Liberal member takes up their responsibilities to fix the federal government’s roads in the area. If it were not for more than eight years of campaigning on this issue in the region, we would have received a big fat zero. This money has been gained despite the efforts of the member for Ryan and, more importantly, his fellow traveller in the clueless club, the member for Blair.

The Prime Minister’s announcement in November last year to fund the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway between Wacol and Darra is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. It has been done, though in the most cynical way, despite every effort from the member for Blair to absolutely block it. While the money is welcomed, it is nowhere near enough, as I have said. What I have asked the Prime Minister to do on many occasions is go the full monty. Let’s go the whole way: let’s fix the road, let’s stop wasting tens of millions of dollars on a half-baked half bypass that does not even deliver half a solution. South East Queenslanders deserve much better from the Prime Minister. They deserve to have the Ipswich Motorway fully upgraded, regardless of who their representative is in parliament.

A further $345 million is needed for the full upgrade between Dinmore and Goodna and $205 million is needed for the Darra to Rocklea section, which touches into Moreton. This means the people of Ipswich and south-west Brisbane have been short-changed by a total of $550 million, which should have been delivered a long time ago. Just imagine for a minute that that money had been delivered on time: today that road would be fully completed and we would not have the roadblocks, the rage, the accidents, along with other problems, and the economic failings of the area because of the condition of the road. On behalf of local residents, I would like to continue to lead the campaign to ensure they get a modern, safe motorway and to make sure that we address the growing traffic problems in the region.

The principal reason that local residents have not received the money needed for the full upgrade is the member for Blair’s continued blocking of it. While a government member may not always get money he wants to fund a project, I can guarantee people that if he objects to money for a project in a local area it ain’t ever going to be coming. So if the member for Blair were not insisting on investigating some pie in the sky Goodna half-bypass, the Prime Minister would have no option but to fund the full upgrade. If the member for Blair backed himself out of his own corner and swallowed his pride, we would now have a fully upgraded motorway.

Instead of going into bat for local residents and trying to get some money to improve local road infrastructure, the member for Blair has argued against fixing the motorway and is delivering nothing for the people of Ipswich whom he represents. The member for Blair is the man who has single-handedly thwarted the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway at every turn—day in, day out. I cannot stress that enough, because it frustrates me so much and it must frustrate so many local people. He has blocked the upgrade year after year. He is the one-man roadblocker. He has let the people of Ipswich and South East Queensland down time and time again.

Even this morning, the member for Ryan, like nearly every other Queensland based government member in this House, was trying to blame the Queensland state government, local councils, the bogeyman—anyone they could think of—for the infrastructure problems in South East Queensland, but they will not come to the party when it comes to funding their own responsibilities. They will blame anybody.

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