Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

CJ Cregg in The West Wing said this: 'In democracy, oftentimes other people win.' I could be aggrieved at the outcome of the recent Queensland state election, but I'm pleased that the people of my state could express their democratic right to vote. Democracy is precious and needs to be cherished. There is a tendency towards authoritarianism across the globe, and we need to stand against it. Respect for each other is absolutely critical and important in a democracy. Acceptance of the outcome is absolutely vital to the sustainment of democracy. I want to congratulate all candidates who participated across the various electorates that straddle the electorate of Blair. There are four LNP seats and four Labor seats.

A real highlight for me was Wendy Bourne winning back the seat of Ipswich West for Labor, after losing it in the by-election in March this year. Since it was created in the 1960s, Ipswich West has been held by Labor continuously, except on a few occasions when the non-Labor forces have won it and Labor has won it back at the next occasion. Wendy won it back in style. She ran a strong campaign and worked very hard, contacting 95 per cent of her constituents, making thousands of phone calls and knocking on thousands of doors. There were 37,000 doorknocks and phone calls made by her campaign. She's a community champion with a long history of working in the Ipswich and Rosewood communities. She has worked extensively in federal and state government, and she'll bring a huge focus to her care, concern and love for the people of Ipswich West and the attention she gives them. I congratulate her on winning the seat with a margin of close to four per cent.

I wish Darren Zanow, the retiring LNP state member for Ipswich West, whom I've known many years, the very best as he grapples with his health issues. I've known Darren through his work in the Ipswich community and as president of the show society. I wish him and his family the very best as Darren deals with really troubling, longstanding and potentially debilitating health issues.

During both the by-election and the general election I was pleased to work with Wendy to lock in a number of joint government commitments on road infrastructure and other projects. The federal and Queensland governments committed $277 million in joint funding to fix the Mount Crosby Road interchange, duplicating the crossing with a bridge over the Warrego Highway and service roads down the side to potentially connect to a corridor leading towards the Brisbane River. This will improve the safety and capacity of this vital transport link for Tivoli, North Ipswich, Brassall, Karalee, Mount Crosby and the Karana Downs area. It is absolutely vital. Nearly 60,000 vehicles go through the Mount Crosby interchange each day. The detailed design work on the project is well advanced, with the focus on sustainability and with ecological requirements in line with industry best practice. There's 50 per cent budgeted by the federal government and 50 per cent funded by the state government. I want to make sure that the new Crisafulli LNP government in Queensland continues that budget funding and make sure that that Mount Crosby interchange duplication is completed. It's really vital for the people of Ipswich.

The second thing I want to do is make sure that the shared commitment of $85 million that we funded—the fifty-fifty commitment, federal and state—for the Bremer River Bridge improvement and restoration is carried out. There needs to be a strengthening of the westbound segment of the bridge, built just after the 1940s. It needs to be strengthened because of cracks in and underneath the bridge. It's a safety issue. There are design faults and problems there, so there'll need to be a lot of patience borne by the people of Ipswich and surrounds as that bridge is restored to what it needs to be. There's $85 million committed, and we need to make sure that that work's carried out, so I'm calling on the Crisafulli government to honour that budget commitment of the previous Miles Labor government.

In addition—this is a real game changer—during the state campaign we announced $20 million of federal and state government funding for detailed planning on the Cunningham Highway. This will be used to undertake business cases for the Amberley interchange, connecting the Ipswich-Rosewood Road to the Cunningham Highway, and for the Ripley Road and Swanbank Road interchanges. This is really important work. It'll futureproof the Cunningham Highway. It will be critical for the nearly 8,000 people who work on RAAF Base Amberley in military and civilian capacities. It's part of a broader Australian government commitment of $170 million to the Cunningham Highway. The congestion cost has been estimated to be $45 million a year. Eight thousand vehicles go through the Ipswich Rosewood Road connecting to the Amberley interchange each day, and 20,000 vehicles are on the Cunningham Highway, with more than 15 per cent of those being heavy vehicles. I recently went to the Amberley consultative committee, and, just after 4 pm, I drove out from the RAFF base at Amberley to get onto the Cunningham Highway to find the traffic backed into the base. This is a common occurrence.

This detailed plan, which has been accepted by local people generally and has been welcomed—we've never had a detailed plan—will look at a grade separation, a bypass or duplication of the highway. I want to see the Queensland state government and the federal government come together to basically do what they did on the Blacksoil interchange on the Warrego Highway, which has been so critical to the people of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley and the Somerset region.

Safety upgrades are very, very important. We've seen 90 crashes on the Amberley interchange in the last six years, including fatalities. On the Ripley interchange we see the traffic backed for at least half a kilometre every afternoon. Swanbank is almost the same. So there needs to be some safety upgrades there, and I'm calling on the new Queensland government to honour the budgeting commitments that have been made. Those upgrades are really important as Ripley township and Ripley Valley community continue to grow. There will be up to 60,000 people there in the next couple of decades. And Ipswich is growing at a pace that exceeds nearly every other place in South-East Queensland. So those upgrades are very important, and I'm calling on the new government to do what it needs to do to honour those budgeting commitments.

During the election campaign, Wendy and Queensland Labor made a commitment of $146 million towards the construction of a second river crossing in the centre of Ipswich. The LNP didn't match that. They put $4 million towards a commitment to develop a business case. They didn't actually put any money towards construction costs. Once that business case is done, I'm asking that the new Queensland government honour the commitment that the former Labor government made to put money towards construction. There are about 45,000 or 46,000 vehicles a day that go over the David Trumpy Bridge, which is not far from Riverlink, where my electorate office is, in Blair. It's really important that that second crossing be built. So I'm urging the new government to work with all stakeholders—federal and state governments and local council—to achieve not just a business case for a new bridge but also the road infrastructure in and around that particular bridge.

I know that the new government have said that they will match the $10 million commitment made by the former Queensland government. The Albanese Labor government has put forward $20 million, and the Ipswich City Council has also committed $10 million towards a proposed North Ipswich sports and entertainment precinct. That is stage 1 of the upgrade of the North Ipswich Reserve. I'm calling on the Crisafulli government to honour their pre-election and election commitment to match the money that has been committed, because this is absolutely vital. This will be a marquee project for several years, and, of course, Ipswich is a place where there is a bid for an NRL licence. The Jets are putting a bid in. Ipswich is home to some of the greatest Rugby League players—the Langer brothers, the Walters brothers, Ali Brigginshaw. These are all residents of Ipswich. I'm calling on the LNP government to honour that commitment.

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