Just three days into his tour of the Bruce Highway and the wheels have already fallen off Nationals Leader Warren Truss’s promises of “drastically increased funding” and “five billion dollars extra” to improve this vital road.
On local Rockhampton radio Mr Truss admitted he hasn’t been able to convince his Coalition partners in the Liberal Party, including Shadow Treasurer Joe Jockey, to commit even one new dollar, which is not surprising given they already have a $70 billion plus black hole in their costings.
But wait there’s more.  In a separate radio interview Mr Truss made a further confession, this time admitting that any new money the Federal Coalition does end up promising will in fact come from cancelling much needed projects elsewhere in Queensland.
When asked directly what the Federal Coalition’s financial commitment to the Bruce would be, Mr Truss replied:

“Now as to how much that will be will obviously depend on … what we’re able to do by way of deferring other priorities…”

 

ABC CAPRICORNIA – 17 JULY 2012

 
This statement begs an obvious question: which local communities will have their new piece of infrastructure ripped away from them to pay for the promises Mr Truss couldn’t afford to make in the first place.
Mr Truss’s convoy of deception cannot erase the fact that when he was the Transport Minister in the former Howard Government he failed to properly fund the Highway.  He and his LNP driving companions are all spin and no delivery – and Queenslanders deserve better.
For our part, Labor is getting on with the job having already significantly increased Federal investment in the Bruce Highway.  Compared to the Howard Government we are investing more than twice as much in half the time.  Right now, hundreds of workers are onsite upgrading 158 kilometres of road.
Unlike Mr Truss and the LNP who are only interested in the Bruce Highway when an election is looming and then just as quickly forget it, Federal Labor will continue rebuild it into a road which supports rather than hinders Queensland’s rapid growth.