Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very aggrieved by the attitude of the coalition to the Ipswich Motorway in South-East Queensland. Before the election the coalition said one thing to the people of the western corridor and after the election they said a very different thing indeed. In fact, the coalition took a policy to the 2004 election of opposing the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway. We supported of the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway in the 2004 election. In the 2007 election, again the coalition opposed the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway and Labor took a policy to that election to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway. In the 2010 election, the coalition took a policy to the electors in the electorates of Blair and Oxley opposing the continuation of the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway, and Labor supported the continuation of the upgrade to the Ipswich Motorway.

That upgrade from Dinmore through to Darra has been completed, affording thousands and thousands of jobs to the people who worked on it, including to Indigenous apprentices. Nothing has improved the lifestyle and lives of people in the western corridor more than that $2.8 billion commitment from the former federal Labor government. In March 2008, then federal infrastructure minister, the member for Grayndler, was there to do the first sod-turning on the Dinmore to Goodna stretch of the Ipswich Motorway, which was completed six months ahead of schedule and under budget. It was the largest federally-funded road project in the history of the state of Queensland. It was completed on 15 May 2012.

Ninety thousand vehicles a day use that section of the Ipswich Motorway between Ipswich and Brisbane. Motorists and truck drivers have noticed the difference. The upgrade improved safety and delivered quicker and less frustrating driving conditions for motorists. It was important for small business, for large businesses, for farmers and for residents across the western corridor. I am proud to say that it was a project which I supported and campaigned on for three federal elections along with my friend the member for Oxley.

The Queensland department of main roads has shown the number of crashes resulting in hospitalisation on the Ipswich Motorway has dropped. The upgrade has been a life saver for motorists, with the new stretch of highway from Dinmore to Goodna being fatality free since its opening last year, according to The Queensland Times on 2 August 2013. Last year, 10 people were hospitalised after crashes on the upgraded road; so far this year one person has been hospitalised as at August 2013. That continued the downward trend in serious traffic conditions on the motorway since 2007 when two people were killed and 33 were hospitalised. Nothing has driven economic development and improved the lifestyles of people in the western corridor between Ipswich and Brisbane, the rural areas outside in the Brisbane Valley, the Somerset region, the Lockyer Valley and the Scenic Rim more than the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, initiated and done by the federal Labor government.

There is a final section on that Ipswich Motorway not in my electorate—from Darra to Rocklea. We provided $40 million to the Queensland government to undertake a study. It came back and it was going to cost about $2.6 billion to do the final section. We said that we would kick-start the construction. So in the May budget this year, we announced for the section from the Oxley roundabout to Suscatand Street an injection of $279 million to get it started. We did that because we thought it was important. We delivered that and we said we would do it from 2014-15 to 2018-19 in the Nation Building Program, along with many other projects to secure jobs growth and economic development not only in South-East Queensland but also across the whole of the state of Queensland. So this is a very important project.

What did the coalition do? Having opposed the upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Darra election after election, they said nothing about this until 21 August this year during the election campaign when they came out and said, 'Coalition matches ALP on Ipswich Motorway'—for the first time, a Damascus road conversion experience, having voted against the upgrade again and again and again in federal parliament.

But it did not last long. It could not take, despite the flattering and favourable headlines that TheQueensland Times gave the coalition about bringing forward funding. I had a look at the fiscal budget impact of coalition policies. We had put aside $279 million to kick-start the final stage. Have a look at the coalition's infrastructure package. The Prime Minister says that he is going to be not just the Indigenous Prime Minister but also the infrastructure Prime Minister. There was $279 million. So I went looking for it and I could not find it. There at 4.15 was the Ipswich Motorway, Darra to Rocklea. I expected to see $279 million, but what did I find? Nothing in the first year, $20 million in the next year, $20 million in the next year and $25 million in the final year—$65 million.

Now, having gone to an election saying they are going to put $279 million towards the final section of the Ipswich Motorway, the coalition's own fiscal budget impact of coalition policies says $65 million. Why should we be surprised? Having voted against Ipswich Motorway again and again and again—having campaigned against LNP and Liberal candidates who consistently oppose the Ipswich Motorway upgrade—I finally get one that says they will do it. And it did not last more than a few weeks, because this thing released just before the election shows $65 million, not $279 million. In May this year the Queensland LNP government said they would not come to the party to help with the construction of the Darra to Rocklea section of the Ipswich Motorway.

The Queensland Times, in the headline to an article on 30 November, said 'Ipswich M-Way upgrade is going nowhere fast'. Well, it is certainly not going anywhere under this government, because this government has gone back to form: opposing the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, in effect. We saw, election after election after election, opposition. And when John Howard was the Prime Minister, for 11 long and dark years, they did nothing—ignorance, idleness, inertia; that is their attitude to the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. And it was not just Ipswich; it was other road funding across the region. They opposed the upgrade of the Blacksoil Interchange currently under construction on the Warrego Highway. Go along the Warrego Highway and you will see it. It was opposed by the coalition.

So I am thoroughly and utterly aggrieved at the duplicity of the coalition on the Ipswich Motorway. But why should I be surprised? I really should not, because no-one is more anti-jobs when it comes to road infrastructure and lifestyle improvement than the coalition in the South-East Queensland corridor. Ten thousand people across the life of that project worked on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. It has improved massively what has happened in this corridor. There are bikeways. There are 26 new or rebuilt bridges in the Dinmore to Goodna section. We have seen seven kilometres of service roads taking 20 per cent of the traffic off the motorway, 24 kilometres of shared pedestrian bikeways and cycleways, upgrading the motorway from two lanes to three lanes each way. But they could not see the benefit for South-East Queensland.

What the coalition does not understand is that this is the fastest-growing region in South-East Queensland. Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said it brilliantly when he asked: 'What is $65 million going to do? Pay for helicopters to fly over and see all the traffic jams.' And that is the attitude of the coalition on the Ipswich Motorway: opposition and inertia, and they will do nothing. I guarantee that when I go to the next election I will face a candidate from those opposite—it will be about my fourth candidate—who will say one thing and do something different. If the coalition wins the next election, because that is their attitude to this corridor: opposition, opposition, opposition. (Time expired)