6 years ago
Labor underwhelms with Queensland road pledge
Senator the Hon. Matthew Canavan
Over the weekend, Bill Shorten said Labor would spend $500 million on fixing up to 3000 kilometres of roads and 300 bridges in regional Queensland.
It speaks volumes that these promised funds from Labor are a mere percentage of what they plan on spending on one or two projects in the capital city.
Mr Shorten’s announced funding for the entirety of regional Queensland is one-fifth of the commitment he has made to building the Cross River Rail in Brisbane, and half of that he has pledged to fixing two sections of highway in south east Queensland.
It also works out to be roughly $150,000 in works per kilometre or bridge. A recent Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) report found it costs, on average, around $3.8 million per kilometre to build a rural arterial road.
Bearing this in mind, regional Queenslanders are right to be utterly underwhelmed by Labor’s so-called commitment to fixing local roads. You might be able to fix up a toilet block with $150,000, but upgrade a critical road or bridge? Not so much.
In contrast, the Coalition is investing serious money in upgrading key roads in regional Queensland, including:
- A share of an unprecedented $3.5 billion to fix roads in regional areas that link producers to their markets under the Roads of Strategic Importance program
- A share of $330 million to upgrade sections of the Outback Way, to cover works on parts of the Kennedy Developmental Road, Donohue Highway and Diamantina Developmental Road
- Around $280 million for 25 projects across north Queensland under our Northern Australia and Beef Roads programs, with work already underway
- A record $10 billion towards the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns
- $1.137 billion towards the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, the biggest single commitment towards a regional road
- $508 million to upgrade the Warrego Highway
- $208.4 million towards the Cape York Region Package, providing access to communities and supporting Indigenous employment
- $120 million towards the Walkerston Bypass near Mackay, providing efficiencies for freight movements in the region