Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This coming weekend I will be heading back to the Sarina Range, just west of Mackay, to meet with a community that is literally broken, though not in spirit. Cyclone Debbie left the townships around the Sarina Range completely isolated from their work, their schools and their access to services. Three months on, there does not appear to be a light at the end of this very long tunnel.

Here is the current situation. The people who have to travel to Mackay for work have had their travel time doubled to nearly three hours a day. Some have opted to stay in Mackay rather than travel the dangerous Koumala range at night, adding additional cost to an already tight budget. Added to the stress, there is no after-school care or child care available to working parents. As the Koumala route is not suitable for school buses, the students are now learning out of a makeshift temporary school, isolated from extracurricular activities and their classmates. Residents have a raised number of concerns about the conditions and safety of the Koumala range road, the only alternative access. Businesses are also suffering. This is a beautiful part of the world. Until the Queensland government gets on with restoring access, visitors will not becoming either, putting even more strain on this tight-knit community. Understandably, the people whose lives have been interrupted indefinitely just want answers. The Sarina Range may not be as big as Brisbane and it may not be as strategically important to the Palaszczuk government, but the residents deserve better. The federal government has approved category B funding to restore the road, so I urge the minister to prioritise this project. If you can find $2 billion to spend on a rail line for inner-city Brisbane, surely you can fast track these urgent repairs.

My office has made numerous attempts to get updates from the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. Requests for information are referred to the minister, who only wants to discuss this issue with his Labor colleagues. They took two months to get the road assessment done, citing concerns for the safety of their own crews. Where is the same concern for the people of Sarina? We know that the work required is not going to be cheap, and we know that safety is important, but, please, get your priorities right. We are still waiting for answers and so are the people from the Sarina Range.