Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All of Central Queensland relies on the Port of Gladstone, which is about the fifth-largest port in Australia. The port access road has been a discussion point for many years. An initial plan put up by the port authority to build a road into the port had no legs because it did not access the other roads into the port—roads like the Dawson Highway, the Capricorn Highway and the Bruce Highway. There was no interconnection with the Gladstone Port Access Road. So, at the moment, the state government, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the port authority and local road groups are working on a suitable access road that will interconnect with these important roads.

We want to expand the Port of Gladstone. It has so much potential. It's becoming a terminal for wheat, timber, coal and of course aluminium, which it already has, but also a containerisation port. This will take heavy-lift cranes et cetera. But we still need to get the road-train access into the port. We should be able to do this as soon as the government finish off their plans and finish off their costings on the desired route to connect with these three other major highways but also to make it interconnected with the— (Time expired)