Labor’s Budget cuts funding for Cooroy to Curra
11th May, 2011
The Gillard Labor Government’s 2011 Budget not only failed to allocate desperately needed additional funds to upgrade the notorious Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway, but actually cuts funding from the existing construction project, Federal Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today.“In a move that will shock motorists who use the Bruce Highway, The Federal Labor Government’s Budget stripped funding from the Section B Sankey’s Road to Traveston Road project and robs Peter to pay Paul by applying it to other projects on the Bruce Highway,” Mr Truss said.
“Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese is well aware of the urgent and vital need to four lane the entire Cooroy to Curra stretch of the Bruce Highway as soon as possible.
“He has met with community representatives and ambulance officers, he has heard from family members who have suffered loss on the road, and he has seen countless reports detailing the statistics of fatalities and hospitalisations as a result of tragic accidents that have occurred on that section of Highway.
“Yet he not only stubbornly refuses to allocate funds to upgrade this deadly section of Highway, he has now disgracefully and hypocritically transferred funds away from it.
“This decision could jeopardise the safety of motorists on what Mr Albanese himself calls the worst section of Highway in Queensland,” Mr Truss said.
Budget paper 2, Page 270, reports that $325.4 million will be stripped from the Ipswich Motorway and the Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra Section B because the “the funding will not be required.”
Mr Truss said that it was common knowledge that the Section B project was running under budget but if spare money was available it should have been used to immediately start construction of Section A.
“It is unthinkable that Mr Albanese could again pass up the opportunity to speed up the Highway reconstruction and establish a timetable to upgrade the entire Cooroy to Curra section to four lanes.
“When the Coalition was in Government we allocated funds and committed to completing the section by 2020. Labor is either incompetent or negligent or both for again failing to do the same.”
