Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I begin, I acknowledge the statement by the member for Robertson and her absolute passion and commitment to education, one that I share deeply. I thank her for her words this evening. But education is not the issue that I am speaking about tonight. The issue I am speaking about tonight came about 114 years ago in the electorate of Petrie, when the people of Petrie, particularly the Redcliffe Peninsula, wanted improved public transport for their area. They knew that the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane needed a connection to broader south-east Queensland. They wanted a rail line, and for 114 years they lobbied for a rail line.

Many governments, particularly at a state level, have promised a rail line and led people in my electorate to believe that it would eventually be built. However, money was never put on the table. In 1978 the then Nationals Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen actually set aside a corridor from the current rail line to Petrie through to the suburb of Kippa-Ring. This corridor has been set aside ever since then. Despite this corridor being set aside, not one dollar has been committed to this important infrastructure. This electorate is some 40 kilometres outside the CBD. It is very important for these people to get access to Brisbane Airport, the Sunshine Coast and Caboolture for work opportunities and also, importantly, access to the city. People who want a sea change, and people who grew up on the Redcliffe peninsula and wanted to stay there and grow up around their parents and their schoolfriends, have limited opportunities as far as public transport is concerned. Yes, we have a bus system that takes people to Sandgate train station, but by 6 pm each night the bus has stopped running. People who work in the city have to get off the bus at an earlier station and spend another one to 1½ hours travelling the long way, the scenic route, up the Bruce Highway to the Redcliffe peninsula to get home from work.

Considering the improvements to the Gateway Motorway and the fact that it now takes 15 minutes to get from the Redcliffe peninsula to the airport, which is a fantastic achievement and a wonderful improvement to our infrastructure, the fact that people still cannot get public transport to work is a real shame for all levels of government. My predecessor spoke many times in this parliament about the need for this rail line, and I support that view. The disappointing fact is that calls were always made for the state government to fund it and there was never a commitment at a federal level for rail infrastructure. I am very proud of the fact that, when Labor came to government in 2007, we stood up and said we were about national infrastructure. But that also includes domestic rail across the country because it improves our local economies, it improves the opportunity for employment, it improves local businesses and it brings people to the area.

It was a great honour for me on 26 July 2010 to stand beside the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Julia Gillard; the Premier of Queensland, the Hon. Anna Bligh; and the Mayor of the Moreton Bay Regional Council, Allan Sutherland, to announce the Moreton Bay rail link, a 12.6 kilometre rail line from Petrie to Kippa-Ring that will deliver six stations—at Kallangur, Murrumba Downs, Mango Hill, Kinsellas Road, Rothwell and Kippa-Ring. These are much-needed stations. The line will run along not only communities and suburbs but also schools and businesses. It will create great economic opportunities for our local area. In 2009 I personally put in a submission to Infrastructure Australia for this rail line, but it was an isolated submission and it did not have the background material that is needed to support this sort of infrastructure. But in 2010 the Moreton Bay Regional Council and the Queensland government for the first time ever put money on the table and developed a business plan. It was the first time this had ever been done.

This business plan allowed for a detailed application to go to Infrastructure Australia, which saw us go on the list of the top five priorities for projects across this country. It was this priority list that led the Gillard Labor government to say, ‘This is an important project for the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane.’ I thank the Hon. Julia Gillard and particularly the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Anthony Albanese, for committing to this project and understanding the importance of infrastructure in our local community.

As we have talked about for 114 years on the Redcliffe Peninsula, this will not just take people off the peninsula into other areas. It will not just take people into the city. We have growing areas like Murrumba Downs in the electorate of Dickson, in which two of the stations will be. The starting point, the station of Petrie, is also in the electorate of Dickson. It will bring people from the electorate of Dickson into the electorate of Petrie. There are more families moving into Murrumba Downs. They are working and they are shopping in North Lakes. Importantly, their kids are going to schools in North Lakes—Bounty Boulevard, Lakes College, North Lakes State College and St Benedict’s. They are going to Mueller College, Southern Cross Catholic College, Grace Lutheran College, Hercules Road State School and many of the other great state schools that we have on the Redcliffe Peninsula. So it will bring people into our local area and that will help local businesses. It will help with sales of real estate. It will help with the property values of the local area. This is a fantastic initiative.

I would like to end with this. This dream has become a reality. Not only did we announce this in July 2010 as part of an election commitment, but we have started work. In 2016 we will see six stations up and operational in the electorate of Petrie. But we do not have to wait six years to see the work happening. The survey work has started. Consultation across my electorate is happening. There are Saturday forums. The Department of Transport and Main Roads have been fantastic in getting out there and holding public transport consultations with households in our libraries and in our shopping centres. Knowing that many people have commitments on Saturdays—they work, their children play sport—we asked for evening consultations, so they have gone into the shopping centres on Thursday nights and they are holding more consultations. The department came just last week with me to the Mango Hill Progress Association and talked about the new stations at Mango Hill and Kinsellas Road.

This is important consultation. It needs to happen. We understand there are environmental issues. We know we have Moreton Bay and Hays Inlet—a Ramsar site which runs along the corridor. This is extremely important. But our local environmental groups put forward a proposal to hold a full-day workshop to put together a joint submission, a consistent submission from the relevant interest groups across the area. The department has supported that and is helping to fund that workshop. That is happening in a couple of weeks time. We are bringing everyone on board. We are interested in the environmental issues. We are interested in concerned households but, importantly, this is necessary for my community. We have waited 114 years. We are not going to wait any longer. Work has started. Construction will start in 2012, and in 2016 I look forward to standing up here as the federal member for Petrie and saying how proud I am that these six stations are now up and operational.

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