Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

There is $5.6 billion on the table over six years to complete that task. Before the end of this year the $115 million upgrade of the Kundabung to Kempsey sections and the $683 million for the Oxley Highway to Kundabung section will be underway. They will be major projects that will employ many people on the way but will also make a real difference to the movement of traffic along the Pacific Highway. There is another 115 kilometres between Woolgoolga and Ballina still to be commenced, but the design work is advancing on that project. All of this has been possible because the coalition has restored the traditional 80-20 funding mix for the Pacific Highway, unlike Labor, who were demanding that the state pay 50 per cent of the cost—money that they did not have. Under Labor this project would have taken a decade to complete, or even more, because the state would not have been able to find—

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