Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can see it now: bunting festoons the podium, Townsville Mayor Les Tyrell takes the three short steps up to the microphone, taps the microphone to see if it is on and then proudly cuts the ribbon to a flash of camera light bulbs as he declares that Blakey's Crossing has finally been flood proofed. Alas, it is but a dream; that has not happened. We are coming to the end of another dry season, and this has not come true as yet.

Just $21 million would ensure that the major industrial artery between Garbutt and the Bohle is kept open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Twenty-one million dollars is a lot of money but not when you compare it to the $70 million it would take to build a flyover over the Mather Street roundabout, which would just shift the problem from Mather Street to Duckworth Street, where we would have to spend another $70 million on another flyover there, which would just shift the problem to the Pilkington Street roundabout, where you would have to spend another $70 million on that roundabout.

The state government has pulled over $100 million in land tax alone from the industrial development along Ingham Road. All governments of all persuasions have ignored this small, relatively inexpensive stretch of road. I was able to get a commitment from Tony Abbott and the coalition to finally fix Blakey's Crossing. I was able to do that by demonstrating the cost of the alternatives and the economic benefits of fixing Blakey's Crossing. I did that by explaining how much time, energy, fuel and money is wasted by having to make the detour around this small stretch of road.

I acknowledge that the Labor government did not make this commitment during last year's campaign but, come on: for just $21 million you will have the thanks of all North Queenslanders. We have just had the Prime Minister in Townsville and she has made a promise of $150 million over three years for roads. Can we just get this fixed? We have had the current state Minister for Main Roads, Fisheries and Marine Infrastructure, Mr Craig Wallace, come up and offer, somewhat disingenuously, to go halves with the Townsville City Council in this job. Can I ask that the federal government offer to take up that offer on behalf of the people of Townsville and pay half and accept Minister Wallace's offer and get this job done? That would make it a little over $10 million each—less than a quarter of the cost of the World Cup bid, less than a third of what the state government is spending on its bid for the Gold Coast to host the Commonwealth Games, and about five hours of a day's borrowing by this government.

We are coming into another wet season and it looks like it is going to be another big one. Every time Blakey's floods it will be a failure of both state and federal governments. And it will be the working men and women of North Queensland who will be paying. It will be the residents of our northern beaches who will pay. Please fix this.