Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Tonight I rise to speak about the Coopers Plains level crossing in my electorate. This is a very dangerous level crossing and an overpass should have been built there some 25 years ago. Lack of an overpass contributes to the problems which cause one of Brisbane's most congested intersections, the intersection of Boundary, Orange Grove and Beenleigh Roads at Coopers Plains. Lack of an overpass has caused small business to decline in the general Coopers Plains area and it has also, unfortunately, caused several fatalities.' Those are not my words; they are the words of my predecessor, the former Liberal member for Moreton, the Hon. Gary Hardgrave, back in 1996. Twenty-two years later, people on the south side are still risking their lives daily at this dangerous crossing, but there are more of them.

The RACQ spokeswoman, Lucinda Ross, just last month said it was worrying that there had been more than 30 boom gate strikes over the past seven years at the crossing. I've been calling for a solution to this dangerous crossing for years. I wrote to the Prime Minister earlier this year, before he brought down the 2018 budget, asking him to commit federal funding to fix the Coopers Plains crossing. Sadly, no money was provided in the Liberal's 2018 budge. But the Prime Minister did respond on 24 May and said he had referred my letter to the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities, who would provide a detailed response. Eighty days later, I am still waiting for the minister's response. Jules Verne went around the world in that time.

I wrote to the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, asking him to reconsider his 2018 budget. The Brisbane City Council has previously funded 50 per cent of two crossing upgrades on the north side of the river—one in Geebung and one in Bracken Ridge. However, the Liberal lord mayor, in his response, is only prepared to fund 15 per cent for the upgrade at Coopers Plains on the south side of the river. There is one rule north of the river and one rule south. I've received a response from the lord mayor. He admits he has made much more generous funding arrangements on the north side of Brisbane than he is willing to contribute to the dangerous south-side crossing, but he refuses to budge from this miserly 15 per cent. Why is Lord Mayor Graham Quirk treating south-side residents as second-class citizens? The locals are sick of political buck-passing. I think it's fair that the cost to upgrade this dangerous crossing be shared equally between the three levels of government—a third each for federal, state and local. How's that for a solution?

The Palaszczuk Labor government in Queensland has already shown strong commitment in its recent budget, with funding for the first full business case. But a miserly 15 per cent from Graham Quirk, when I'm only asking for 33 per cent, is a slap in the face for south-siders. Labor, at both a federal and state level, is prepared to get this mess sorted. If Lord Mayor Graham Quirk would stop playing politics and pay this fair share, we'd be much closer to having shovels in the ground and that would make it safer. It is time that we got this mess sorted. Schoolkids, trucks, cars and commuters all want it sorted. It's time for the lord mayor to step up.