BRUCE HIGHWAY FROM GYMPIE TO MARYBOROUGH MUST BE A PRIORITY
Federal Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien has called on the Federal and Queensland Governments to prioritise the construction of the Bruce Highway four lane Tiaro bypass and bring forward plans to extend the upgrades from Curra to Maryborough.
“With two lives tragically taken on our section of the Bruce Highway already this year, the beginning of 2025 was not the way Maryborough and Wide Bay wanted to start the year, and it’s not acceptable for any day of the year that lives are lost and put at risk from crashes on a sub-standard highway that is woefully inadequate in terms of its design, safety treatments, and carrying capacity,” Mr O’Brien said.
The appalling condition of the Bruce Highway was exposed following a Right to Information request made by Mr O’Brien to the former Queensland Labor Government in November 2023 which revealed the shocking state of the Bruce Highway and much of the Highway through Wide Bay rated just two stars out of five for safety.
“The Albanese Labor Government has not made any significant commitments to upgrade the section of the Bruce Highway through Wide Bay since it was elected almost three years ago, and it’s done nothing but dither and delay by subjecting the Tiaro bypass to a bureaucratic 90 day review that ended up blowing out to 200 days.
“With 11,000 vehicle movements between Gympie and Maryborough each day there is no excuse for any section of our stretch of the Bruce Highway to be rated just one star for safety. Anyone who travelled between Gympie and Maryborough over the Christmas and New Year season or looked at social media would have experienced or seen reports of long traffic queues and congestion on the Highway.
“It’s unacceptable for the Government to have ignored our stretch of the Highway for so long,” Mr O’Brien said.
On September 9, 2024, Mr O’Brien moved a motion in the Parliament calling on the Albanese Labor Government to reverse its 30 per cent funding cut to projects to upgrade the Bruce Highway and restore the Coalition’s 80:20 Federal / State funding formula.
“I welcome the Prime Minister’s backdown for this announcement today that restores the 80:20 funding formula for particular projects, but in typically tricky Labor style it seems that formula only applies to the funding announced today, and not to funding for future projects.
“As I warned in my speech, this is infrastructure that is killing the people of Queensland, and we need to do better. No-one can afford the years of procrastination and delay that this Government will cause with its funding cuts, which not only increases risk but guarantees tragedy. Labor should reverse its funding cuts to the Bruce Highway and commit to 80-20 for future Bruce Highway projects, just as Peter Dutton has said we will do if the Coalition is elected to Government.”
Mr O’Brien said it was the community, local media, Local Government, the Wide Bay Burnett RDA, and State Members of Parliament working together that helped secure funding from the former Coalition Government for the Gympie bypass, and it was a concerted local campaign that pushed back against opposition from the then State Labor Government to secure funding for the Tiaro bypass.
“The Gympie bypass is now a reality, but the former State Labor Government never wanted a four lane Tiaro bypass and as a consequence of their inaction and the Albanese Government’s 200 day review, we are still yet to see major construction start on it,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Mr Albanese has no credibility when it comes to the Bruce Highway in our region. When he was Kevin Rudd’s Transport Minister, Mr Albanese bungled the Cooroy to Curra upgrade in support of the then Bligh Government’s plan to flood the Mary Valley with the Traveston Crossing Dam project, that was cancelled.”
Due to Mr Albanese’s and Ms Bligh’s folly, Section B from Sankeys Road to Traveston Road follows a route that is longer, more expensive, more environmentally and socially intrusive than the community’s preferred option.
“Then, in 2012, it was the LNP State Government which fast tracked and prioritised the construction of Section A, which connected the existing four lanes highway at Cooroy to Section B. The project was only agreed to by the Rudd Labor Government because the LNP State Government increased its share of the funding from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, instead of the usual 80 per cent Federal, 20 per cent State funding split,” Mr O’Brien said.
“While I welcome any new funding that is announced today, the fact is it is long overdue, and unless it sets an open date for the four lane Tiaro bypass and outlines a timeline for the full upgrade from Curra to Maryborough, I fear lives will continue to be lost on our deadly section of the Bruce Highway.”