Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for that very important question. He is a very strong advocate for the people of his community, who are extensive users of the M1 between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. Indeed, the M1 is an extremely busy corridor. It carries some 150,000 vehicles a day. So as the member for Forde rightly says, the Turnbull government made a very important commitment of $215 million—$105 million towards a project to widen the M1 to five lanes from the Gateway Motorway merge to past the Rochdale Road off-ramp, and $110 million to upgrade the M1 between Mudgerabah and Varsity Lakes. I also want to acknowledge the terrific work of the member for Macpherson, who has been a very strong advocate for her constituents. Both the member for Forde and the member for McPherson have come forward to secure funding from the Turnbull government to deliver extra capacity on this vitally important corridor.

Of course, the Turnbull government proposed that this funding be provided on a fifty-fifty basis, with the Queensland government to match on the same level, just as previous funding of projects on the M1 have consistently been provided under federal Labor and federal coalition governments over many years. Unfortunately, it seems that the Queensland government has a different idea, and they have come up with all kinds of reasons why they are not able to provide their 50 per cent. I want to thank the member for Forde and the member for McPherson for joining me last week to meet with the Queensland roads minister, Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate, the RACQ and the CCIQ to discuss this issue and see if we can identify a way forward so that this money, committed by the Turnbull government to reduce congestion on the M1 between the Gold Coast and Brisbane to provide a better service, a better transport option for the people who use that vital corridor every day, can be put to work.

I encouraged the Queensland minister to go out to the construction industry and get a firm price, go to a request for tender or an EOI process, because around the country we are seeing very good prices at the moment when we go through that process. I also said that the Commonwealth stood ready to pay its contribution earlier if that assisted the Queensland government to pay its contribution and to fund its fair share. I want to thank the member for Forde and the member for McPherson. The Turnbull government has put this very significant contribution on the table so that we can improve the M1 and deliver better transport outcomes for the people of South East Queensland. I call upon the Queensland government to come forward and provide its fair share. We look forward to working with them so that the two governments can deliver the outcome the people of South East Queensland want.

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