DAWSON’S ROADS RANKED THE WORST IN THE STATE
Following a “right to information” search by Nationals Member for Wide Bay, Llew O’Brien it was revealed that the State Labor Government have undertaken a secret audit of the state’s roads, revealing almost half of Queensland’s Bruce Highway has a two-star safety rating or less.
The Federal Member for Dawson, Andrew Willcox is disappointed but not surprised the electorate of Dawson had the lowest overall star rating, with 63.4 per cent rated two stars or lower.
The hardworking Member for Dawson has been a loud voice for his region and has called on Prime Minister Albanese many times to put pressure on the Palaszczuk Labor Government to get projects with federal funding committed started.
“The previous Coalition Government committed $10 billion towards much needed safety upgrades on the Bruce, and instead of the new government grabbing the horse by the reins and just getting on with it, they have held these projects up further in a 90-day review which has blown out to over 200 days. This is unacceptable to have these projects with committed funding just sitting dormant,” Mr Willcox said.
“Projects like the Mackay Ring Road Stage 2 and the Goorganga Plains Flood Immunity project are much needed infrastructure projects for us in Dawson, but while Prime Minister Albanese holds his review and he argues with Premier Palaszczuk over funding splits, people are not getting home safely to their families.
“Earlier this year during our wet season and following flooding, QLD Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey visited Mackay to inspect flood damage and announced alongside State Member for Mackay that “it’s good to see that our roads have held up as well as they have.
“It was extremely disappointing to hear this from the State Local Member and her Minister when I had constituents contacting my office with safety concerns and pothole complaints. These comments go to show how out of touch the Labor Federal and State governments are when it comes to regional roads. Our state representatives know Dawson’s economic contributions and they should have us travelling on gold plated roads, but instead we have the worst roads in the state,” Mr Willcox said.
Today, the Albanese Government have finally revealed what projects they will be scrapping from their blown-out review.
“I am pleased to see our Dawson projects have passed through Labor’s gruelling scrutiny, which proves that the previous Coalition Government were spot on with recognising the need to fund these projects and their support to road safety in Dawson.
“Now that we are over this ridiculous and unnecessary review, I am calling for no more delays. Both the Albanese and Palaszczuk governments need to stop dragging the chain, stop playing the blame game, stop arguing, and just get on with your jobs,” Mr Willcox said.