Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ipswich is the fastest-growing city in Queensland. It's got a population of 230,000 and it'll double in the next 20 years. It doesn't have the infrastructure to match this growth, with 70 per cent of that growth being in the southern corridor linking Springfield to Ipswich CBD. It's the oldest provincial city in Queensland, but demographically it's the youngest, with an average age of five years younger than the whole of Queensland.

Currently, there are two rail passenger lines: one at Ipswich CBD and one at Springfield. The state government and the Ipswich City Council have progressed the idea of a rail link between the two railway stations to service the growth corridor, including Springfield; Redbank Plains, which happens to be the biggest suburb in Ipswich; the growing Ripley Valley development; Deebing Heights, which will have 25,000 people in the next decade or so; and Yamanto. This corridor is secure. A rail link between the University of Southern Queensland Ipswich and Springfield campuses will be so important for so many students who are first in family at university, and it will also service the Ipswich Showgrounds, home to the exhibition and convention centre and an evacuation centre. The Ipswich City Council put $500,000 towards the business case, and the state government has put a million dollars. I call on the Deputy Prime Minister and infrastructure minister, who came to Blair last week, to fund this in the budget. I've spoken to him personally and I ask him to do the right thing by the City of Ipswich.