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

I am pleased to stand here today to speak about a milestone in the long-running saga which is the Ipswich Motorway in south-east Queensland, one of the biggest issues for that whole region in Australia’s fastest-growing state. Work has finally begun on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade after nine years of consistent and constant lobbying from me and the community. I have to say, it is much to the chagrin of the member for Blair who, for that whole period, has actually opposed it, but somehow now he manages to smile as the minister turns up in my electorate to launch the first phase of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, an upgrade that I welcome wholeheartedly.

The upgrade of the Gailes-Logan interchange was urgently needed due to ongoing problems and it is arguably the most complex part of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. This interchange, together with the Darra-Wacol upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway, means that the Oxley electorate now has 100 per cent funding commitment, and work has started on the Oxley section of the Ipswich Motorway. That is right—as an opposition Labor member of parliament, I have managed to secure full funding for the Ipswich Motorway in my electorate. But the member for Blair in his electorate has achieved a total net result after nearly nine years in parliament of zero dollars. Why? Because he opposes the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway in his electorate. However, the job is not done and I will not be satisfied until we get 100 per cent of the whole motorway, not just in Oxley but in Blair as well, for all Queenslanders and everybody else who uses that road.

The government has capitulated on this issue. Imagine if we had started nine years ago. I see the member for Moreton, the brains trust of the Liberal Party, walking into this place—or should I say dragging his tail into this place. He is somebody else who has opposed the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. How does he justify now that his own government has actually paid for half of that upgrade?

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