Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise here today in this estimates consideration in detail and to put a question to the Deputy Prime Minister, who has on a number of occasions visited my electorate on key infrastructure projects and has taken a very keen interest in making sure that we are able to address some of the deficits in road funding that have occurred under many years of Labor administration in Queensland, and of course during that six-year period when the Labor Party here in Canberra had very little interest in regional and rural Australia. Deputy Prime Minister, I know this coalition government has got a commitment to regional and rural Australia. Are you able to please describe some of the government's infrastructure investment plans for my electorate? I am particularly interested in the Warrego Highway, with the announcement this morning of the Northern Australia white paper. The Warrego Highway is a vital link that runs from Brisbane right through to the west, past the Landsborough Highway, linking with the north-west of Queensland and then the Northern Territory. It is a vital part of the link between the capital cities. I am particularly interested in the section between Chinchilla and Dalby. It is an area that has received a lot of heavy traffic—as well as the rest of the road for that matter—with the development of the coal seam gas industry. There is a section between Chinchilla and Dalby that has had very little attention. Whilst most of it has been reconstructed, there is a section there that has not.

I am also interested—bearing in mind that it is the Queensland Labor government that now has responsibility for the administration of the main roads expenditure in Queensland—in whether there are any plans in the forward estimates for further passing lanes on the Warrego Highway east of Dalby, particularly Dalby to Toowoomba. There have been a number of road accidents with actual fatalities in that part of the electorate along the Warrego Highway.

The other road that I am interested in, Deputy Prime Minister, is the Eight Mile intersection on the New England Highway just north of Warwick. I know that you have visited that site with us—with me, the mayor and the local state member. It is a notorious intersection, and we have seen a number of deaths at that site. Prior to the last federal election, we said that we would have it as a priority black spot but I would be interested to know whether the new government in Queensland—the Labor government—has shown any interest in taking forward that Eight Mile as a priority area for funding between Commonwealth and state. It is an issue that we do need to address, and I would be particularly interested in what plans we may have or, more particularly, whether the new Labor government in Queensland has listed it as a priority road for funding and attention at a Commonwealth and state level. Thank you, and I look forward to your answers, Deputy Prime Minister.

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