Transcript of Doorstop – Lindum Train Station, Brisbane – Thursday, 18 April 2019

Subjects: Lindum level crossing, Labor’s commitment to public transport investment

JO BRISKEY, LABOR’S CANDIDATE FOR BONNER: I’m welcoming the wonderful Anthony Albanese and obviously Joan Pease our State Member, down to the Lindum level crossing, where today we are talking about how a Labor Government is committed to making sure we see this crossing intersection fixed.

I know from speaking to many local residents that I’ve doorknocked, having spoken to the school up the road here, including the Principal, and to local small businesses across this area that this is a significant issue for this community and it’s been going on for too long.

I just want to make sure that we focus on getting this fixed and getting it fixed as quickly as we possibly can. So I’ll leave it to Anthony here to talk through some of the details.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, CITIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT : Well thanks very much Jo and it’s great to be here in Brisbane once again for what is a very important announcement that Federal Labor will deliver $85 million to make sure that this job can be done.
This is on top of the $40 million that has been committed by the Brisbane City Council and on top of the $400,000 that the Queensland Labor Government are delivering to design the solution to this congestion issue.

I’ve seen here this morning first-hand what happens when trains are passing this intersection and the holdup that occurs. Because of the Cross River Rail investment there’s going to be even more trains, they’ll be more frequent and they’ll be passing this intersection.

Only Federal Labor is delivering an investment in the Cross River Rail project which is the most important project for South East Queensland. But we’re also delivering for important intersections and crossings such as this one right here. Jo Briskey has campaigned very strongly to deliver this commitment.

One of the things about Labor is that our commitments aren’t off into the never-never. We’ll get this done as soon as practicable, because that is what the local community here want.
We understand that urban congestion is a real issue, but we also understand that safety is a real issue at this crossing as well and that’s why we’ve got to make sure that this project is delivered.

It’s part of our commitment to public transport to making sure that we increase accessibility and we increase safety on our roads by removing level crossings.
Any questions?

JOURNALIST: I just got one through ABC, there was Adani, they were talking about Adani…

ALBANESE: Look I think one of the issues for this campaign that has come out in the last couple of days with the pre-election fiscal outlook is where the cuts will be made. Forty billion dollars will be required of cuts every year to deliver the Government’s tax cuts for the top end of town.

The Government’s got to tell us which schools will receive less money, which hospitals will receive less money, which railway lines and public transport projects will receive less money, because it’s very clear that the Government’s priority is delivering tax cuts for those at the very high end.

Labor’s priority is making sure that we close tax loopholes so that we can deliver on our commitments for education, for health and for public transport.

ENDS