Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This federal Labor government has invested a record $8.7 billion in road, rail and ports funding in Queensland. Those opposite have a trinity of sins when it comes to issues of road funding and infrastructure funding in Queensland. For example, they opposed the nation-building and stimulus funding that provided so much funding for roads in Queensland, including the Bruce Highway, the Ipswich Motorway and other funding in Queensland. They then opposed the flood levy, which was used by this government to rebuild nearly 10,000 kilometres of roads in Queensland after the floods. Then, when it comes to the funding under Regional Development Australia, funded through the minerals resource rent tax—with $2 billion to Queensland for road, rail and infrastructure, including $54 million in my neck of the woods on the Blacksoil Interchange—those opposite and the LNP state members from Queensland opposed that.

It is not just one strike, it is not just two strikes, it is three strikes in this place, voting repeatedly against road funding in the state of Queensland. They go back to their electorates and bleat and moan and carp and say we are not doing enough then they come into this place and vote against it. We hear the words from those opposite—you will hear more in the next speech and in those beyond—but when it comes to the opportunity to actually vote for funding for their electorates and for their state of Queensland, they repeatedly vote against it. Three sins, three strikes and you are out, fellas. That is what it comes to. You should go back to your electorates and say in your newsletters, 'I voted against funding for the Bruce Highway, I voted against funding for the Ipswich Motorway and I voted against funding to rebuild your roads after the floods.' That is what happened. They do this all the time.

I thank the member for Moreton for bringing this much-needed private member's motion before the House because it shows the difference between this side of politics—Labor— and those opposite. The best example in the state of Queensland has to be the Dinmore to Goodna section of the Ipswich Motorway. The member for Moreton, the member for Oxley and I, over three federal elections, fought against those opposite, whose policy was to oppose it each and every time. The economic lunacy of those opposite on this issue can be seen from their policy at the last federal election, which was to stop construction on that section of the motorway and put thousands of people out of jobs. That was their policy. They still have not supported the Dinmore to Goodna section of the Ipswich Motorway. That is a $1.76 billion project, making such a difference to Ipswich, Brisbane and the Western Corridor. They do not care about the people of Moreton, Oxley or Blair.

The people who drive those 90,000 vehicles a day—the drivers, the kids in the cars, the truck drivers—want to use that motorway safely. They want to get to their destinations quickly; they want to get to their medical appointments, the shops and their schools quickly. This is a worthy and noble goal. Those opposite opposed it. They opposed it time and time again. For suburbs along the Ipswich motorway like Riverview, Dinmore, Redbank and Goodna, they opposed the service roads, which took 20 per cent of traffic off the roads. They opposed the cycling paths, which I know the member for Oxley was very keen on. We have got eight kilometres of upgraded motorway, seven kilometres of service roads and 24 kilometres of shared pedestrian pathways and cycleways. That project has seen 26 new or rebuilt bridges and a million trees, and thousands of people work on it, but those opposite opposed it over three federal elections.

The people of The Western Corridor know very well about the attitude, the inertia, the idleness and the ignorance of the LNP in Queensland. We are seeing it now. There are cuts to jobs, cuts to services and cuts roads. There are hundreds of millions of dollars in road funding projects that Campbell Newman in Queensland cut almost straightaway—none of them in federal or state Labor-held electorates. But do we hear anything from those opposite? There is muted silence. They have gone into hiding—in the crevice of a rock when it comes to Campbell Newman and his commitment to Queensland, or lack thereof. (Time expired)

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