Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a sad day for me as the federal member for Petrie to stand in this House and again talk about the Linkfield Road overpass at Bald Hills and Carseldine. The reality is that the state Labor government are absolutely pathetic when it comes to building infrastructure in Queensland. We've recently seen the Palaszczuk government change ministers and get rid of the health minister. What we need is not just a new health minister; we need an entire new state government. Thirteen times I've stood here and spoken about infrastructure on the north side of Brisbane—in particular Linkfield Road. All my speeches are here. Thirteen times I've spoken in this place on Linkfield Road alone, and still it hasn't started. When you get on to the Department of Transport and Main Roads now, they're talking about more community consultation. We don't need community consultation. The thing just needs to be built. The Paluszczuk government and their hopeless minister, Mark Bailey, need to get this thing going.

Here are some of the statements I've made in the last six years. On 13 September 2017, I said, 'People in my electorate want the Linkfield Road overpass delivered.' In February 2018 I said, 'This road is in need of an urgent upgrade.' In March 2018 I said, 'I've been fighting for this for at least five years now.' In May 2018 I said, 'We need Linkfield Road upgraded urgently.' On 20 September 2018, I said, 'It's a bit of a death trap and a bottleneck, and every morning and every afternoon the traffic piles up on the Linkfield Road overpass. In November 2018 I said in this place, 'The Linkfield Road overpass remains a typical example of the Queensland Palaszczuk government's total lack of vision, planning and future-proofing.'

We have one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia in South-East Queensland. We've got the Olympics not far away, as the member for Wright would know, and this hopeless government can't build infrastructure. I've written to the minister three times. We also had a truck hit the Linkfield Road overpass and put a massive hole in it during COVID. I said to the minister, 'Just get this thing built.' Still there was no action. Repair jobs, patch jobs—for three months Queensland police were on that bridge, making sure heavy trucks didn't come over it. The reality is that this state Labor government needs to get its act together.

To add insult to injury, today's Courier Mail, talking about the Albanese Labor government, says, 'No cash for major Labor road promise until after next election'. The reality is that this Labor government is conning people in South-East Queensland. You cannot trust Labor to build infrastructure. The current Labor government is putting at risk the Griffin on- and off-ramps, the Beams Road overpass and the upgrading of the Gateway Motorway as well as Linkfield Road. I will keep fighting.