Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have reported to the House on many occasions the fact that the only toll road in the entire state of Queensland passes through my electorate. Residents in my area not only have to pay a toll to access the Gateway Motorway extension, the Logan Motorway connection, to head on to roads west, north and, indeed, south of Brisbane but also have to suffer the problems of interstate trucks that are moving around those tollbooths during the daylight hours. At night it is not a problem because the Australian government pays the toll for the trucks. We have put $1.7 million on the table and made it a toll-free drive for trucks heading from interstate to the port of Brisbane. There were 221,000 fewer trucks on my local roads in just under two years as a result.

You can imagine how exasperated I was to find in this morning’s Courier-Mail newspaper—a journal of great repute—that the Queensland government have decided to increase tax on residents in my electorate by increasing the toll on the tollway that I am complaining about. So, instead of actually taking the tollway out of contention and making certain that the best purpose-built road in my area is in fact used by motorists and not avoided by motorists—there is something like a twentyfold potential increase in the amount of traffic that it currently carries; it runs at about five per cent capacity or less as a result of this toll—the Queensland government have decided to increase the toll. ‘It is only 10c,’ they say, but why don’t they just call it what it is? This is a form of regional taxation that impacts on suburbs in my electorate: Sunnybank Hills, Stretton, Calamvale and Runcorn. Local residents in those areas have to pay a tax to access a road that in every other part of Queensland is available free of charge.

Queensland government local representatives, Ministers Spence and Robertson, are very important people; they are ministers in the Queensland government. Stephen Robertson presides over the failed Queensland health system. He is the bloke who is in charge of the issue of ‘Dr Death’, Dr Patel. Minister Spence presides over the failures of the Queensland Police Service to adequately meet community expectations. Neither of these people speak out against this. What has been their representation in cabinet discussions in the budgetary process which has delivered this tax hike for local residents in my area? Why is it that the Queensland government can take record amounts of stamp duty from new residents in my area? All of these suburbs are new suburbs. The Queensland government are never afraid, never behind the door, when the question of stamp duty on housing and land transactions is being discussed. They are always there with their hands out but never put their money on the table to assist people to gain access to reasonable infrastructure and services. Two state members are silent. I am the only one who ever speaks out on these issues. That is the difference I bring to the local community: I draw people’s attention to the failure of the Queensland state government. (Time expired)

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