Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The previous member for Groom actually promised in his maiden speech, in 1998, that the second range crossing for Toowoomba would be built, he hoped, by 2005. It is now being completed by the Palaszczuk Labor government, with the cooperation of this government. He promised that. In a debate that I had with him, with the council of South-East Queensland mayors, he put up some money towards it, but it was not anywhere near the money that was needed. It was a false economy. He was like he was saying, 'I'll give my daughter $70 to buy a pair of sneakers,' when they cost $170. He claimed it was going to be done. The member for Groom should have a chat to his predecessor.

Let us have a look at infrastructure in Queensland. We are talking about a four-year program of $40 billion by the Palaszczuk government. Ten per cent of the hours worked on those projects, which will create 31,000 jobs, will be done by apprentices. The Turnbull-Abbott government have seen 130,000 fewer apprenticeships in this country since they came into office.

You want to talk about infrastructure in South-East Queensland? I campaigned in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 for the Ipswich Motorway upgrade from Dinmore to Darra. This mob made a campaign commitment in 2010 to actually stop construction on the Ipswich Motorway. That is what Warren Truss, the then Deputy Leader of the Opposition, said in October 2009 in this place. He said he would stop construction. That is 10,000 jobs in South-East Queensland, and guess what—the LNP would stop construction. What happened in the May 2013 budget? We put in money, hundreds of millions of dollars.

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