Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled the first part of his push to reduce road congestion in south-east Queensland, but the state’s premier says it is too little too late.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Morrison travelled to Brisbane on Monday to hold the first federal cabinet meeting of the year, before giving a speech to announce the first portion of a $243 million package to reduce congestion in the region.
The projects announced were an upgrade of the intersection of Commercial Road and Doggett Street in Newstead, as well as upgrades of the Gympie Arterial Road, Ipswich Motorway and Mt Lindesay Highway corridors.
Mr Morrison also announced upgrades to the park and ride facilities at the Mango Hill and Ferny Grove train stations.
The Prime Minister did not give exact dollar figures for the individual projects, but said it was all fresh funding on top of existing road upgrade projects.
“This is in addition to the $1.6 billion I have already announced for transport infrastructure projects in Queensland since I became Prime Minister,” he told the audience in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“These are Investments that will mean families can get around the table at night for their evening meal.
“There are Australians who don’t get to do that because they’re stuck in traffic jams.”
But earlier on Tuesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk hit out at Mr Morrison’s funding package, saying it was missing a major component
“Our number one infrastructure project for dealing with congestion in the southeast is the Cross River Rail,” the Premier said.
“Five billion dollars that my government is investing in this project, not one dollar from the federal government.
“I’m always happy to meet the Prime Minister to discuss Queensland’s priorities and as such he has not asked for a meeting.
“I look forward to hearing what plans Scott Morrison has for Queensland but frankly I think it’s a little too late.”
Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the Premier had previously claimed the state could go it alone on Cross River Rail funding.
“It’s come back to bite them hasn’t it? Because Annastacia Palaszczuk and (Deputy Premier) Jackie Trad said that they had fully funded Cross River Rail,” Mr Frecklington said.
“They’ve said they’re going to fund it, they need to get on and build it.”
Mr Morrison is due to make an announcement on south-east Queensland infrastructure funding every day this week until Friday.
The funding will target several key seats including Dickson, held by government frontbencher Peter Dutton with a razor-thin margin, Petrie and the Labor-held seat of Griffith.
The announcements form part of the prime minister’s larger “economic masterplan” to create 1.25 million new jobs over the next decade, while wiping $350 billion in debt off the books.
