Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

On 23 April, I stood with the member for Wide Bay and the assistant minister, the member for Hinkler, at a very emotional press conference where we announced funding for section D of the Bruce Highway. I was standing behind the member for Wide Bay as he was speaking to the press, and he became quite emotional. He was a policeman, and a very fine policeman, with the Queensland state police force for 16 years. On many occasions he'd had to go and do the 3 am death knock—not something any police officer wants to do—to tell families that their relatives or loved ones were not coming home. Sometimes, those family members had lost their lives on that particular section of road. That 26-kilometre stretch of road from Cooroy to Curra is now going to be duplicated as part of the Bruce Highway upgrade, an $800 million commitment for a four-lane ring-road around Gympie. There will be greater safety and reduced travel times, and people will get home sooner and more safely. That's what the infrastructure spend is all about. With the infrastructure spend for the Bruce Highway in last night's budget, the commitment is now up to $10 billion. This will boost productivity and create local jobs whilst, at the same time, increasing road safety.

I also commend the editor of the Gympie Times, Shelly Strahan, for her advocacy. She very well put it on the front page of her newspaper, under the bold headline 'We did it'. 'We did it,' she said, 'in conjunction with the member for Wide Bay.' This followed on from another very graphic front page entitled 'Stop the carnage'. The article began:

The final leg of the Bruce Hwy bypass must be built NOW.

I know how much this means not only to the member for Wide Bay but, more importantly, to the people he represents, and that's what politics is all about. It's not just about the government or this parliament; it's about the people we serve. The sooner some members remember that the better off we'll all be.

Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—

I can hear them yell out, and I don't know why, because this is about saving people's lives. That's what I'm talking about and I don't know why you're yelling.

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