Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to stand here today to speak about a milestone in the long-running saga which is the Ipswich Motorway in south-east Queensland, one of the biggest issues for that whole region in Australia’s fastest-growing state. Work has finally begun on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade after nine years of consistent and constant lobbying from me and the community. I have to say, it is much to the chagrin of the member for Blair who, for that whole period, has actually opposed it, but somehow now he manages to smile as the minister turns up in my electorate to launch the first phase of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, an upgrade that I welcome wholeheartedly.

The upgrade of the Gailes-Logan interchange was urgently needed due to ongoing problems and it is arguably the most complex part of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. This interchange, together with the Darra-Wacol upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway, means that the Oxley electorate now has 100 per cent funding commitment, and work has started on the Oxley section of the Ipswich Motorway. That is right—as an opposition Labor member of parliament, I have managed to secure full funding for the Ipswich Motorway in my electorate. But the member for Blair in his electorate has achieved a total net result after nearly nine years in parliament of zero dollars. Why? Because he opposes the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway in his electorate. However, the job is not done and I will not be satisfied until we get 100 per cent of the whole motorway, not just in Oxley but in Blair as well, for all Queenslanders and everybody else who uses that road.

The government has capitulated on this issue. Imagine if we had started nine years ago. I see the member for Moreton, the brains trust of the Liberal Party, walking into this place—or should I say dragging his tail into this place. He is somebody else who has opposed the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. How does he justify now that his own government has actually paid for half of that upgrade?

Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Hardgrave interjecting

Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, the member for Moreton!

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand here very proud today to say that I have achieved full funding for the Ipswich Motorway in the Oxley section. But the Liberal member for Blair has achieved zero dollars. The member for Blair has thrown up instead this half-brained impossible scheme that is the Goodna half bypass loop, which, if built, would be eight kilometres of wasted bitumen and part of a $2.6 billion white elephant road. It will do nothing to alleviate the current traffic problems and would be forever labelled the most expensive stretch of road in Australia.

But I am not too concerned about that, because I know that it is impossible. This government will not spend $2.6 billion—and that is just the first estimate. Wait until we get to the real estimates when they start doing more reports and waste more money on reports! We will see how we go with that in the future. If the member for Blair is keen to talk about bypasses as some alternative to the Ipswich Motorway, I am prepared to have the debate. In fact, since 2000 there has been a report on the table from the state government regarding the Ipswich Western Bypass, a much more sensible approach—a real bypass that would actually do something for the real traffic problems experienced in south-east Queensland—than some half-baked scheme, an eight-kilometre loop road between Dinmore and Gailes.

I can see government members are very anxious for me to finish, but I have got a little bit more time yet. I and the federal Labor Party remained 100 per cent committed to the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway and that priority will happen. It is south-east Queensland’s No. 1 priority. It will go ahead. Of course, half the job has been done because the government has finally capitulated—it had to be dragged kicking and screaming all the way to the funding table, but it has finally done it. This government should very seriously look at its funding responsibilities in terms of federal roads and look at real solutions, not half-brained schemes with eight kilometres of road worth $2.6 billion.

The Ipswich Motorway, as I have said, is currently half done and we need to get on with the job and fix the rest of it. This government ought to stop blaming everybody else and look at what its own real responsibilities are in terms of infrastructure in Australia, in Queensland, in particular in south-east Queensland. It should look at the people that it is actually hurting. It is certainly not about hurting the people of Oxley—I am sure that has crossed their minds. This is about everybody who uses that road. It is time they got on with the job of fixing all the roads that are their responsibility and it is time they got on with the job of fixing the Ipswich Motorway. It is time they stopped neglecting the people of Ipswich. The irony of Oxley getting 100 per cent of funding and Blair getting zero dollars, I think, is not going to be lost on the good constituents of Blair. My challenge is simple: get on with the job. Give us the rest of the money. If the member for Blair cannot get the dough, I will be working hard to make sure that they do get it. I will make sure that they get the money, just like I did for the Oxley section of the Ipswich Motorway, because the people of Ipswich deserve it. (Time expired)