Media Release: Yet another hopeless Queensland Labor Minister passing the buck
When Jeff Kennett bags the M1 – given his record as a former state Premier with a serious track record of building infrastructure – you have to ask what the Queensland Labor Government has been doing.
The pass-the-buck response to Mr Kennett’s comments from Queensland Labor Minister Kate Jones yesterday was telling: “I don’t see why Malcolm Turnbull feels he should kick in only 50 per cent for the M1 (fix)…”
But Kate Jones has either got her facts seriously wrong or is being deliberately misleading. There are two upgrade projects announced or underway on the M1 right now: the Turnbull Government is contributing $115 million on the M1 Pacific Motorway – Gateway Motorway Merge and $110 million to the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes project.
These projects are happening because the Turnbull Government committed $215m in funding to the M1 during the 2016 federal election campaign. It wasn’t until March 2017 – nine months later, that the Queensland Labor Government finally put money on the table. Work could have been underway much earlier if it weren’t for the dithering of the Queensland Labor Government.
Ms Jones complains that the Commonwealth provided funding on a 50:50 basis, but she seems oblivious to the facts:
- Projects on the M1 have consistently been funded on a 50:50 basis by Federal Labor and Liberal Governments including Gateway Motorway to Springwood South ($38.5m each), Springwood South to Daisy Hill ($177.5m each), Daisy Hill to Logan Motorway ($29m each), Nerang South Interchange ($19m each), Mudgeeraba Interchange ($21.25m each), Coomera Interchange ($15m each), Varsity Lakes and Robina Interchanges ($43m each), Widening Between Nerang and Robina Interchanges ($111.75m each); and
- Numerous projects in urban areas in other states are funded on a 50:50 basis including M80 in Victoria, NorthConnex in Sydney and Torrens to Torrens in Adelaide.
Around the country, state governments are delivering infrastructure projects – many completely funded by the state, or with Commonwealth funding at 50 per cent or less.
But as Ms Jones’ comments made clear, the default response of this hopeless Queensland Labor Government is to try and find someone else to blame – rather than getting on with the job of delivering desperately needed infrastructure.
Queenslanders are entitled to ask: if this state Labor Government can’t do the job that other state governments seem perfectly able to do, isn’t it time to find another team that can do the job?
Media Contact – Belinda Merhab 0428 458 745
