More Labor Lies on Bruce Highway
2nd September, 2008
Bizarre claims by Queensland’s Roads Minister Warren Pitt today about the status of the Coalition’s commitment to the upgrading of the Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway have been rejected absolutely by the Member for Wide Bay, Warren Truss.Mr Truss said the Coalition’s commitment of $700 million to fund this upgrade was rock solid and had been through the necessary Treasury and Charter of Budget Honesty processes.
“I fought hard for this funding and was very proud to take this commitment to the last election,” Mr Truss said. “The money was allocated from AusLink2, the national transport plan — the same money now being used by the new Labor Government in Canberra.
“The big difference is that Labor has stripped $500 million from our commitment to the Bruce Highway and is planning to spend that money in its marginal seats in Brisbane.
“As Mr Pitt admits today, Federal Labor’s $200 million pledge is nowhere near enough to get the job done.
“What chance do we have of getting this much needed funding for the Bruce Highway when the State Roads Minister will not stick up for Queensland and blindly defends the failures of his Federal counterpart?
“It is astonishing that Mr Pitt is prepared to support his Labor mate in Canberra over the legitimate needs of the tens of thousands of people who use the highway.
“Then again, Labor doesn’t care too much about anyone living outside the capital cities,” Mr Truss said.
