Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The LNP Bruce Highway group's fight to get more funding for the highway has been bolstered by the RACQ's recent Unroadworthy Roads survey, which reports its entire length as being amongst the top 10 worst state and national road networks in Queensland. Our highway group will be redoubling efforts to get serious funding for improvements such as road resurfacing and widening, as well as more overtaking lanes and additional maintenance. I already have a number of highway black spots in my electorate and I would like to see them fixed as a matter of priority. As a member of the group, I will be asking local residents to put forward their own nominations for repair and rehabilitation.

Every member of the LNP's lobby group knows the importance of fixing the highway, and we are committed to seeing billions going into improvements and upgrades over the coming years. I ache when I see waste by some government departments while the vital arterial roads which service Queensland struggle for funding. So I make no apology for keeping up judicious pressure. Having said that, I am not churlish so I recognise that work is now well advanced on the Isis River Bridge at a site that is not only dangerous in its own right but a major bottleneck at flood time

Under Labor, our nation's finances have been in such an appalling state that the 2011-12 budget did not contain one additional dollar towards fixing the Bruce Highway. In fact, the only announcement of any significance for the next 12 months was the reinstatement of five previously deferred upgrades. That is nowhere near good enough. The RACQ's survey mirrors my own concerns about the government's failure to get serious about the highway and it also highlights state and federal Labor's neglect of regional and local roads which are vital as part of our investment profile. A prime example is Old Toogoom Road in my electorate, which has been the subject of two coalition election pledges, whilst Labor has studiously ignored it. In fact, it was listed in the top five worst individual roads in Queensland; whereas I have pledged $1 million towards fixing it at two elections, Labor has consistently failed to match that. It must be said that the Old Toogoom Road had to be 'named' and Labor 'shamed' to get any action on it. I hope that it, along with the Urraween extension and River Heads Road in the Hervey Bay area will be seriously considered by the federal government as being in areas where an expanding community needs additional support.