Bruce Highway upgrade should not wait for Building Australia funding
16th December, 2008
It is not surprising that the Rudd Labor Government has again placed lives at risk by failing to bring forward funding for the Cooroy to Curra stretch of the Bruce Highway in its latest infrastructure program, Federal Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today.“Funding for the Highway should have been made a priority through the federal Government’s $4.7 billion nation building spending spree, yet this dangerous section of road was once again passed over by Labor. This is another missed opportunity that jeopardizes motorists’ safety,” Mr Truss said.
The RACQ has found that the Bruce Highway, from Cooroy to Curra, as the worst stretch of the national Highway in Queensland, and labelled it a ‘killer highway’.
“The RACQ was wrong to excuse the lack of funding from last week’s package on the grounds that the money was a ‘bring forward’ of Auslink II funding and there is no Auslink II money for this section of the Highway. The former Coalition Government provided a $700 million commitment to the bypass project from Auslink II and the Rudd Government allocated $200 million. That funding could have been brought forward to allow work to start much sooner,” Mr Truss said.
The RACQ has made a submission to the federal Government’s Infrastructure Australia committee, seeking $4 billion for the Gympie bypass from the $20 billion Building Australia Fund.
“The RACQ is being very optimistic in its comments that additional funding for the Bruce Highway can wait until Building Australia Fund projects have been assessed,” Mr Truss said.
“However, the RACQ’s optimism is likely to be misplaced, especially since the Queensland
Labor Government did not seek any funding for the Bruce Highway from Cooroy to Curra in its submission to the COAG National Infrastructure Audit.”
The Highway has been identified as Project 18 in Queensland’s submission for funding from the Building Australia Fund but the submission says the Highway is ‘Funded Substantially (All or Most Stages) Already, No Additional Funding Sought’.
“I hope that the Rudd Labor Government will ignore this bizarre advice from its Labor colleagues — but it is hard to be optimistic. That is why everyone with an interest in a safer Highway must apply pressure at every opportunity to make the federal Government lock in the necessary funding,” Mr Truss said.
