Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate today and to congratulate my colleague the member for Ryan for raising this matter. He is a strong campaigner on road safety issues in his electorate. I know he has taken a very strong stand in the campaign against hooning, something that I think he really does deserve some credit for. It is good that he proceeds with that, because I know that there is a lot of concern in the community about people behaving badly on the roads and the risks that that creates for residents. My congratulations and support go to the member for Ryan on his steps in that regard.

Today we are speaking about the Black Spot Program. In the electorate of Blair, we have had quite a lot of success in attracting road funding for black spot projects. The Commonwealth funding for these projects has been well received in our area and it has certainly been of assistance. I would like to speak about some of the projects that have been funded under the Black Spot Program, in particular a couple of recent announcements. One involves a project outside the Brassalls Shopping Centre at Albion Street and Workshops Street which is being funded to the tune of $113,000 by the Commonwealth. That was just announced late last week. I saw the local councillor at the weekend and she endorsed that project and said what a good thing it was that the Commonwealth has come to the party on it. I visited the SES at the weekend in the electorate of Blair where there is to be some work at the intersection of Thorn Street and South Street, in the vicinity of the SES—$35,000 is to be allocated there.

These projects are allocated according to areas of need. So it is important that we get adequate assessment of the areas of need and the dangers as well as the remedies being proposed when we undertake these projects. There are some very good black spot projects being undertaken in country areas within the electorate of Blair. For example, up near Jimna on the Kilcoy to Murgon road, funding has been received for work on 17 kilometres of that road. It is a windy gravel road and that work is well received. In the area of Brassall, $40,000 is being spent on the Vogel Road and Haig Street intersection.

However, I would like to turn to the behaviour of the Queensland Department of Main Roads in relation to one particular black spot project—that is, the ill-fated project to modify the signals and lanes at the intersection of East and Limestone Streets. That was a black spot project recommended by the gurus in the state main roads department for which the Commonwealth allocated $300,000. The money was paid in November 2006 and fully acquitted with the Department of Transport and Regional Services in December 2006. Then it was ripped up in March 2007 because it was a total waste of taxpayers’ dollars. The main roads department in Queensland and its minister have an appalling record in dealing with traffic difficulties in the Ipswich area.

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