The LNP Government has elevated its rhetoric to new heights, with its latest stunt of a press conference masquerading as a commitment to South East Queensland’s City Deal.
This is despite the fact that the LNP Government has not committed a single dollar to a City Deal for South East Queensland.
In reality, the rabble of a performance witnessed today is nothing more than cover for a systematic scaling back of Federal investment in South East Queensland’s road and public transport infrastructure.
The facts speak for themselves.
Recent analysis of funding data produced by the Government’s own Infrastructure Department reveals that the LNP has committed $5.5 billion towards the delivery of major new road and rail projects during its first six years in office.
This compares to the $7.5 billion invested by the former Federal Labor Government over a similar period of time.
Worse still, of the funding announced by the Government to date, 40 per cent won’t flow until the 2022-23 financial year at the earliest.
The LNP’s record has been one of broken promises, delays, and funding on the Never Never.
Indeed, one of the first acts of the incoming Abbott -Turnbull-Morrison Government was to cut all the funding allocated to Cross River Rail by the former Federal Labor Government and redirect that money to build new toll roads in Sydney and Melbourne.
If they had not done that, this project would today be nearing completion.
Without transformative projects like Cross River Rail, the economic cost of traffic congestion in Brisbane and across South East Queensland will increase almost five-fold to $9.2 billion a year by as early as 2031.
Labor’s record of collaboration and investment stands in contrast to the LNP.
In addition to investing in Cross River Rail, the former Federal Labor Government also upgraded the major road connecting Brisbane to Ipswich in the west with a $2.9 billion investment in the Ipswich Motorway.  We invested $455 million in the Pacific Motorway which connects Brisbane to the Gold Coast in the south, and upgraded key sections of the Bruce Highway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
We also cooperated with the Queensland Government to fix congested sections of the Gateway Motorway, and construct a new interchange at the intersection between Mains and Kessels Roads.
And we partnered with Brisbane City Council to deliver the $1.5 billion Legacy Way.
The truth is that the LNP’s City Deals program is in disarray at a time when communities across South East Queensland are crying out for real investment and real projects that will make a real difference to their lives.
A Shorten Labor Government will get on with the job and deliver real outcomes for South East Queensland.