This Queensland Road Safety Week, Michelle Landry MP and Senator Matthew Canavan have joined state LNP candidates Donna Kirkland, Glen Kelly and Nigel Hutton to demand immediate action to fix one of Australia’s deadliest roads, the Bruce Highway.
Federal Member for Capricornia said the Federal Labor Government’s decision to slash the federal government’s contribution to road upgrades from an 80 per cent contribution to just 50 per cent will place vital road projects at risk.
“Labor is showing contempt for regional Australia by making it even harder to secure road improvements, slashing the federal contribution from an 80:20 to a 50:50 funding model. With 15 of the deadliest stretches of the Bruce Highway located in Capricornia alone, this change will delay or even cancel essential road works that are urgently needed to save lives,” Ms Landry said.
Senator Matthew Canavan said Labor is allowing Queensland roads to crumble.
“We’re seeing big accidents on the Bruce far too often, and if you look at the condition of the road at any stretch north of Gympie it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
“The Labor Party is letting the Bruce Highway fall into disrepair and it’s unfortunately costing lives, it’s meant to be a national highway but there’s sections of it that aren’t much better than a goat track. We see all this money going to roads and rail in the city, but we’re left trying to dodge potholes just going between Rockhampton and Gladstone,” Senator Canavan said.
LNP candidate for Mirani, Glen Kelly said he will fight tooth and nail to ensure his constituents receive a fair deal when it comes to improving road infrastructure.
“The vast majority of my electorate is rural and every day, whether it’s the Mums and Dads dropping their kids off to school or the farmer getting his cattle to market, they are driving on subpar and dangerous roads.
“I travel from Rocky to Mackay at least once a week. It’s dangerous and we need more funding urgently to invest in safety upgrades and overtaking lanes. In my electorate of Mirani, between Etna Creek and Sarina, there are an astounding 233 road defects. It’s simply not good enough” Glen Kelly said.
Donna Kirkland, LNP candidate for the seat of Rockhampton said upgrading the Bruce Highway is suffering from a decade of underinvestment.
“Any road death is one too many. Under an LNP Government led by David Crisafulli, we will be making the investment into the Bruce Highway to restore the confidence of road user.
“Rockhampton is a stopping station for tourists traveling up and down the Bruce. It is commonplace for visitors to come up at my Shopping Centre pop ups to talk about the horrendous state of the Bruce. It’s not just tourists who use this road though, it’s members of our community who say goodbye each day to loved ones traveling these roads daily to earn a living. Couriers, bus drivers, sales reps, miners, freight drivers and first responders all risk their safety on roads that are substandard.
Nigel Hutton, LNP for Keppel candidate said it’s Queenslanders turn for a decent national highway that all road users can rely on and trust that the government will maintain.
“The state of our roads is in a state of chaos because we’ve had an ineffective leader for far too long. Under Labor, our region has been left out to dry while they fund the hundreds of millions of dollars in project blowouts.
“The Cross River Rail blow outs are up to $2.4B – that money could have delivered 240 kilometres of wide middle lane marking,” Nigel Hutton said.
The Bruce Highway has had 134 deaths from 2020 to 2023.
ENDS
Bruce Highway stats:
- 1679km from Brisbane to Cairns
- 1398km of Bruce Highway from Gympie to Cairns is single, undivided lanes
- Motorists are 5 times more likely to be injured or killed in a crash than those driving on other major roads
- 12% of road deaths in Queensland are on the Bruce Highway
- Overtaking Lanes per 100km
Etna Creek – Sarina: 2 overtaking lanes/100km - Narrow Bridges
Etna Creek – Sarina: 31 narrow bridges (11.1 narrow bridges/100km) - Road defects
Etna Creek – Sarina: 233 - Fatal and Serious Injury (FSI) per 100km (average)
Sarina – Mackay: 9.9
St Lawrence – Sarina: 7.6
Rockhampton – Marlborough: 7
Marlborough – St Lawrence: 6.6
