Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand today to speak on the LRCI funding in my electorate of Flynn, which over the years has been quite humungous. We have looked at many projects, and jobs are being done. There's still some work outstanding. I can cite, for instance, the John Peterson Bridge outside Mundubbera on the Durong Road. It's been an atrocious bridge, with a left-hand S-bend over the Boyne River. We're soon to get that started. But, of course, we rely on the TMR, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, to actually organise it and get the job done. They have scoped the bridge, they have costed the bridge, and now all we need is for them to start that particular project.

There are eight councils in my electorate, including Central Highlands Regional Council in Emerald, the Banana Shire Council, parts of the Rockhampton shire, parts of the Bundaberg shire, North Burnett, South Burnett and the Aboriginal town of Woorabinda. They are supported through financial assistance grants, FAGs, which can range from anywhere between $6 million and $12 million a year; our Roads to Recovery Program; and our Bridges Renewal Program. That's a great help to these small councils, who don't have the rate base to support their roads. A lot of the roads in those council areas are still dirt roads. A lot of roads go across black soil. It's good farming country. Whether they are sealed roads or dirt roads, they do need maintenance on a regular basis. That's what's happening between Bauhinia Downs and Moura at the moment. We're flattening out the roads and redoing the edges. There are ongoing projects right across Flynn.

The famous worst road in Australia goes from Springsure to Tambo. We have put aside $40 million to get that 250 kilometres of road sealed. The $40 million will go a long way to adding to the 50 kilometres that is already sealed. It will be an ongoing project. It will link the west to Central Queensland and into the port of Gladstone. You can drive any sort of truck, a B-double or a road train, from Clermont to the Townsville port, but you cannot drive a B-double from Emerald to Gladstone port, which is one of the biggest ports in Australia. But we're working on that too. That will be fixed with the Springsure to Tambo road and the other roads along the Capricorn Highway.

We've done a lot of work. There's work underway now at Three Moon Creek, which is between Eidsvold and Mundubbera. Deep Creek between Gayndah and Mundubbera has just been completed. There's the Valentine Creek Bridge west of Gracemere. The last wooden bridge on the Capricorn Highway was replaced. The Capricorn Highway goes from Rockhampton right through to Longreach. That was the last wooden bridge to be replaced.

Of course there are other projects. When I first became a member of this House there was a single-lane road between Gracemere, which is a town of about 8,000 people just outside of Rockhampton, and Rockhampton. That is now a four-lane highway. I can tell you that the people of Gracemere and anyone who uses the Capricorn Highway are very pleased with the project. We've got plans to do a ring-road around Rockhampton, as is the case with towns up the coast along the Bruce Highway. They bypass towns like Gympie. The Rockhampton ring-road will take in some parts of Flynn around Alton Downs and those areas.

It's all happening, but it does cost a lot of money. The federal government are prepared to spend that money because they know that, if the regions are doing well, we need these roads for our beef industry and our agriculture industry. As a previous speaker just said, our agriculture industry has grown even in these tough drought times—from $60 billion to $68 billion. (Time expired)

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