Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) analysis of Australian Road Assessment Program data by the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) has found that motorists travelling on the national highway between Gympie and Cairns are five times more likely to be injured or killed in a crash than people driving on the national highway between Sydney and Melbourne;

(b) the RACQ has found that 1,398 kilometres of the national highway between Gympie and Cairns is undivided and much of this section is rated just two stars out of five for safety;

(c) the Government's funding cut to upgrades of the national highway from 80 per cent to 50 per cent of project costs will:

(i) delay or cease future upgrades to the national highway;

(ii) put motorists' lives at risk;

(iii) leave communities disconnected when the national highway floods; and

(iv) constrain economic growth and regional development by failing to properly fund upgrades to increase the capacity of the national highway and make it more efficient; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) restore the former Government's 80 per cent funding share of projects to upgrade the national highway to expedite projects that will make it safer, increase capacity, and make it less prone to flooding; and

(b) work with the Queensland Government to prioritise and fast track projects to make the national highway from Gympie to Cairns as safe as it is between Sydney and Melbourne.

Motorists on the Bruce Highway know what it's like to dodge potholes or to have their bones rattled and tyres burst as they hit big obstructions on a defective road. You recall the flash of panic on a narrow, undivided section when the driver coming towards you loses concentration and drifts into your lane, praying that they come to their senses before it's too late, and also the anxiety that comes with sharing a single-lane road with B-doubles or, even worse, when you're teaching your learner-driver kids to drive on a single-lane road with B-doubles.

Successive governments have expected us to just accept crashes, fatalities, injuries and near misses as part of driving on the Bruce Highway in regional Queensland. All motorists on the highway experience these things, and for too many it can be the last thing they experience. In Wide Bay this year, there have been 14 fatalities on our section of the Bruce Highway between Gympie and Maryborough. At Bororen, we've seen the chaos, mayhem and massive disruption following a tragic, fatal crash that cut the highway for five days. It's obvious how much work still needs to be done to make the Bruce Highway safer from Gympie going north, but this work has become much harder due to the Albanese Labor government's decision to cut funding to National Highway projects from 80 per cent to fifty-fifty with the states.

The Prime Minister claims to have driven every inch of the Bruce Highway and says, 'You can't build a road with a media release; you need to build it with dollars and workers and a plan to get it done.' He's right, but only offering 50 per cent of that cost will never get it done. The only way state governments will be able to afford projects like the Gympie bypass is if funding arrangements go back to the way they were under the coalition. The coalition delivered 80 per cent of the bypass costs by contributing over $1.2 billion for sections C and D of the Cooroy-to-Curra upgrade, compared to Labor's $655 million contribution to sections A and B. It's important to note that, when he was federal transport minister, Prime Minister Albanese funded section B because the then state Labor government had planned to flood eight kilometres of the old Bruce Highway with its failed Traveston Crossing Dam, and he only agreed to fund section A because the state LNP government wanted it done and offered 50 per cent of the project's cost.

The RACQ has found that 1,400 kilometres of the Bruce Highway between Gympie and Cairns is undivided, with large parts rated at two stars, out of a five-star safety rating, and that those travelling on the same stretch of highway are five times more likely to be killed than those driving between Sydney and Melbourne. This is truly appalling. The government must restore its 80 per cent funding share and work with the Queensland government to prioritise and fast-track projects to make the highway from Gympie to Cairns as safe as it is from Gympie to Melbourne. No-one can afford the years of procrastination and delay that this government will cause with its funding cuts, which not only increase risk but guarantee tragedy.

I have personally seen what a difference an upgraded, world-class, four-lane, divided highway makes. In Wide Bay, from Cooroy to Gympie, we have that road. As I said, that's partially a result of the Labor government, but it's predominantly a result of the coalition government. I worked as an accident investigator on the old highway, and I saw what happened. I dealt with it and delivered those terrible messages to the families of the people who were tragically killed on that road. This is a serious matter. This is infrastructure that the government provides to the people of Queensland. This is infrastructure that is killing the people of Queensland, and we need to do better. Everyone needs to do better. State, federal, Labor and coalition—we all need to do better.

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