Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Following the Treasurer's delivery of the budget last night, the Abbott government will invest close to $50 billion across Australia over seven years to deliver vital transport infrastructure for the 21st century. In my home state of Queensland, we will invest $10.3 billion from 2013-14 to 2018-19, plus an additional $3.1 billion from 2019-20. Our investment also includes $6.7 billion over 10 years to 2022-23 to fix the Bruce Highway—a much-welcomed move. One such remarkable piece of infrastructure is the Legacy Way project in Brisbane, which I inspected in January this year with the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Hon. Jamie Briggs. The Abbott government has maintained the $500 million commitment to this project. It will deliver the much-needed infrastructure into the 21st century for the City of Brisbane.

Legacy Way will provide a 4.6 km tunnel connecting the Western Freeway, Toowong, with the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, making it a quicker journey for the hundreds of thousands of Brisbane people who travel every day between the western suburbs and the CBD. All works are expected to be completed in 2015 and the Legacy Way project is becoming a reality. The construction of Legacy Way will support around 5,100 jobs over the life of the project and a further $10.5 billion in flow-on benefits for the Greater Brisbane Region.

See this speech in context