Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I will speak about transport infrastructure on the southern Gold Coast, specifically about the upgrades to the M1.

There is quite a long history to this particular upgrade. Back in the lead-up to the 2007 election, there was a commitment made by the coalition government to upgrade the M1 from the south of Brisbane through to Tugun on the Gold Coast, with the priority area to be the upgrade from Tugun to Nerang. The Labor opposition at the time also matched that commitment so, even though there was a change of government, the funding still came through and the upgrades went ahead. Unfortunately, the upgrade didn't start at Tugun; it actually started south of Brisbane and came south. This meant, unfortunately, that by the time the upgrade had got as far south as Mudgeeraba, the money had run out.

As the federal member for McPherson, I went back and secured additional funding—firstly, to upgrade the M1 from Mudgeeraba through to Varsity Lakes. Then I had to go back a second time to get further funding so that we could complete the upgrade from Varsity Lakes through to Tugun. That work is currently underway. It has been a mammoth exercise that started in 2007—and here we are in 2024 without that upgrade completed.

The people of the southern Gold Coast have waited long enough for this upgrade to be completed. It must be prioritised by the state government. We must make sure that we do everything we can to ease congestion and get the upgrade finished.