Six hundred and seventy days have past since the Federal Government announced an injection of $20 million for vital upgrades of Bribie Island Road, part of the State Controlled Road Network.
Last month I put a question on notice forward to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey, asking him the date of when he submitted the Queensland Government's project proposal report to the Federal Government. This process is part of the administrative requirements to enable the Federal Government to release the funds to Queensland and thus onto Bribie Island Road upgrade construction.
I am disappointed to advise my electorate that the Minister's response to my question shows that the project proposal report has still not been submitted. Rather, the Minister informs me planning is still being undertaken and that planning will be used to determine projects to be progressed. This is code for "we've done nothing, but we'll eventually get around to it".
670 days and not a single step in the right direction to getting this funding onto Bribie Island Road. Now more than ever jobs are vital. With lower levels of traffic using the road during the pandemic, it would be an ideal time to create local jobs and commence the vital upgrade work.
It is not every day that the Federal Government gifts funding to the State to fix one of their State Controlled Roads. And what this has shown is that even when the Feds bail them out, the Palaszczuk Labor Government does not care enough about Pumicestone to get cracking.
Fixing Bribie Island Road is all about getting people home safer and sooner. It's a pity that the Premier and her Minister don't see it this way.
Simone Wilson MP
State Member for Pumicestone