Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to present a petition approved by the Standing Committee on Petitions. This petition calls on the Rudd government to stop bypassing the Toowoomba bypass. I acknowledge at this point the Mayor of Toowoomba and the council, who stepped in behind this project and organised this petition. The work that the council has done, reinforced by the work that I have done as their local member, has seen the Toowoomba bypass project come to this point where the frustration of the local population has brought them to sign 26,602 signatures on this petition. The Toowoomba bypass is an issue which I have worked on since I was first elected to this parliament. The people who have signed this petition have signed it on the basis that they and their families have a very strong desire—in fact, an imperative desire—to see this range crossing built. They see 4,000 heavy vehicles travel through the heart of their city every day, and transport operators who use that route also want to be excused from using the main street of Toowoomba as they traverse the city in the execution of their business.

This petition and these 26,000 signatures are a plea from the people in my electorate to have something done. The reason this petition is necessary is that this Rudd government has gone back on a commitment that was made by our government to build the range crossing. Our government committed $700 million to build this range crossing. It was in the 2007 budget. We had already spent $43 million ensuring the corridors and that the planning was done. But one of the first acts of the Rudd government was in fact to swipe away that $700 million—we do not know where to because we have seen nothing built since. One of the excuses they have used is that the state government does not see this as the first priority. Hopefully this Saturday we will see a change in government in that state and the Bligh government, which has again ignored this road and failed to make it a priority for the federal government, will be swept from power. Hopefully Trevor Watts, who is the candidate for the LNP for Toowoomba North, will replace a cabinet minister who has failed to make this a No. 1 priority—that is, Kerry Shine, the Attorney-General.

If our government, the Howard government, were still in power then this petition would not exist. What would exist would be the road—it would be being built. This petition represents the frustration of the people I represent—people who have stood behind my efforts; people who have stood behind the efforts of the mayor, Councillor Peter Taylor; and people who have stood behind Trevor Watts and Mike Horan, the member for Toowoomba South. They want to see trucks out of their city. It is ridiculous that the largest inland provincial city in Australia, Toowoomba, has trucks traversing its main street—trucks carrying freight and trucks which are all part of ensuring that this nation continues to grow economically. Every truck that goes to Darwin from Brisbane crosses through the main street of Toowoomba. Every truck that goes to Cunnamulla, to St George or to Goondiwindi goes through the main street of Toowoomba.

This petition has to be heeded. I call on the Rudd government to stop the politics, to stop reneging on commitments that have been made and to actually think about the people who live outside the cities of Sydney and Melbourne—to actually put politics to one side and to decide that these people, these 26,602 people, get what they have been asking for and get what they deserve. It is time that the politicking stopped; it is time that the range crossing was built.

The petition read as follows—

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEM-BERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE-SEN-TATIVES

This petition of citizens of Australia who travel in the Toowoomba region draws to the attention of the House the inadequate condition of the Warrego Highway, particularly where it crosses the Great Dividing Range and traverses Toowoomba. The existing range crossing is a significant barrier to efficient freight and passenger transport, having steep grades of up to 10% and tight curves that restrict maximum speeds to only 60 to 80 km/h. As a result, the existing crossing barely copes with continually increasing traffic volumes.

There is no effective way to upgrade the existing crossing, because of the constraints posed by the steep terrain and surrounding urban development.

Through Toowoomba, heavy and small vehicles are currently forced to negotiate 15 sets of traffic lights, with a further six sets expected to be installed shortly. Residents and business operators are concerned about safety, noise, air pollution and general disruption to local traffic.

We ask the House to: immediately commit to funding from the Building Australia Fund for construction of the “Toowoomba Bypass” to:

• improve safety for motorists and heavy vehicle drivers;
• provide an efficient route for the transportation of goods to Brisbane and overseas markets;
• provide a safer alternative to the steep gradient of the current range crossing for drivers of heavy and passenger vehicles;
• create a quicker route to Brisbane or to the west, for those not wanting to travel through Toowoomba;
• reduce traffic movements in Toowoomba city.

from 26,602 citizens

Petition received.