Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about what is one of the most critical pieces of 21st century infrastructure to my constituents and to the greater Brisbane area, and that is the very badly needed upgrades to Kingsford Smith Drive. There was much excitement recently in response to the announcement from Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk that the badly needed upgrade of Kingsford Smith Drive could be brought forward following the receipt of an offer from the Queensland Investment Corporation to take control of the operations of the Legacy Way Tunnel and Go Between Bridge. Under the deal, the Brisbane City Council would hand over operational responsibilities and tolling rights for the tunnel and the Go Between Bridge to the Queensland Investment Corporation in exchange for up-front fees and probably a portion of the tolling revenue. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk explained the benefits of the deal: 'Offloading the assets would save the council $650 million and enable it to bring forward the upgrade of the Kingsford Smith Drive, completing stage 2 before 2017 and beginning stage 3 shortly afterwards.'

The $10 million first stage of the upgrade was completed mid-2011, and the Brisbane City Council still needs $792 million to complete stages 2 and 3 and transform the road into a six-lane 'tree-lined boulevard' complete with a bicycle and a pedestrian path. As I understand it, this deal relies on a previous commitment by Minister Albanese to contribute $500 million of taxpayers' money to the Legacy Way project, which he is starting to become vague about. So I would urge the minister to provide an assurance to the parliament about whether his previous commitment still stands.

The upgrade of Kingsford Smith Drive is a crucial piece of infrastructure for Brisbane. It is a vital arterial connection not just for Brisbane but for Queensland and the nation in terms of trade, freight movements and commuter transit. It is a project of national significance and, as the long-suffering residents of the Brisbane inner north well know, it is well overdue. Kingsford Smith Drive provides direct access to residential and industrial lands along the north bank of the Brisbane River for residents, customers and employees. It also provides secondary access to the airport now that Airport Link through the northern suburbs is completed. And, most importantly to the residents of Ascot, Hamilton, Clayfield and Albion in my electorate, it is a route that many parents use to drive their kids to school and it is the route that many workers use to go to work either in the city or in the suburbs or out to the airport or the trade coast.

Unfortunately, it resembles a car park for most of the day. Add to these pressures the further high-density residential development of the Northshore Hamilton development, and the urgent need for these upgrades becomes even more obvious. In the next 20 years, Northshore Hamilton will provide for approximately 15,500 residents, and commercial and retail development will provide 24,000 jobs. You would expect that the vast majority of these residents and workers will rely heavily on Kingsford Smith Drive for their daily commute. Yet this project is not on the Infrastructure Australia priority list for the state of Queensland, even though the Brisbane City Council and Newman government both support it.

I am passionate about these upgrades. They simply must happen to ensure that we do not have that bottleneck choking the connection between the Brisbane CBD, the Gateway Motorway, Brisbane's domestic and international air terminals and the port of Brisbane, which is greatly hampering productivity and growth. I call on all three levels of government to work together to ensure that a cost-benefit analysis is complete and that all the costing requirements are met so that this project can be put on the Infrastructure Australia priority list. I will continue to lobby my federal colleagues for an extension of the commitment already made by Tony Abbott to the upgrade of the Gateway Motorway, and I will continue to work every single day in this House to push for the needs of the residents in the local area and the northern regions of Brisbane and to make sure that this very important and extremely vital project is built and that Infrastructure Australia has this project on its radar.