George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Stage 1 of the Mackay ring-road, a half a billion project, is already creating 500 jobs in the local economy. But there's more to come. The shorter stages, 2 and 3, will close the loop on this ring-road. I'm keen to see specific funding allocated for completion of the future stages before the first stage is completed. We want to see a smooth transition of works from stage 1 to stage 2 and then stage 3. Labor has tried to play politics with this project, knowing nothing about it. They offered a promise, for what that's worth, to fund less than a third of what's required to keep it go going.

North Queenslanders want to see more than tokenism. They want to see this project fully funded. That's what I am fighting for. Earlier this year, I sadly donned lycra to recreate a Beyonce music video, telling the Deputy Prime Minister, if he liked the money from the Mackay economy then he should put a ring-road on it. We have had tremendous support for a petition calling for funding to be released instead of that video but It's time to take the campaign to the next level. I will release another video this week to drive home the message to Canberra that this ring-road is important for the Mackay economy. Closing the loop or putting a ring-road on it will not only create jobs, it will make our local roads safer in the Mackay region. It will make industry and productivity all the more efficient. I wholly support the ring-road, and not that video coming out.

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