Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For two years now the Queensland state Labor government has been crawling like the Bruce Highway at peak hour toward the publication of the desperately needed Caloundra to Pine Rivers upgrade planning study. During those two years and following a lot of hard work from members on this side of the House, the Commonwealth government has committed $2.3 billion to upgrading the Bruce between the coast and Brisbane. We're ready to go. The money is there. The only thing holding us back now is Minister Mark Bailey. Minister Bailey assured me last year that the study would be published before the end of 2017, yet after six months and no fewer than eight direct requests from my office we are still waiting.

Every week Mark Bailey delays is another week that Sunshine Coast residents must needlessly put up with this dangerous and congested stretch of road. My community needs and demands the results of this study now and in full. It's no longer good enough to publish only part of the plan. We have all the money we need in place. We need to know what the full program will look like so we can get shovels in the ground on all of the necessary work now. On behalf of all my constituents, I say to Minister Bailey: enough is enough. Publish the planning study in full today and commit to the state's 20 per cent share of funding, and we will do the rest with our 80 per cent and get this job done.