Roads cutback decision smacks of payback

01/02/11

Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald said today the Prime Minister’s decision to defer $175 million in vital North Queensland road projects smacked of “payback”.

“Three of the four northern road projects the Prime Minister has targeted will affect residents living in the seats of Dawson and Herbert which Labor lost at last year’s Federal election; the fourth project is in Kennedy, held by Bob Katter who is no friend of Labor,” he said.

“It looks to me like the PM was playing politics when deciding which projects to shelve.

“How dare she have the hide to accuse the Coalition of playing politics on the flood reconstruction issue simply because we are opposed to the flood tax she has imposed.

“Is this the real Julia showing the nasty payback side of her character?” he asked.

The North Queensland projects that have been deferred are:

• Duplication of the Bruce Highway from Vantassel Street to the Flinders Highway on the southern outskirts of Townsville ($75 million);
• Herbert River floodplain study project at Ingham ($40 million);
• Realignment of the Bruce Highway from Sandy Corner to Collinsons Lagoon north of Brandon ($40 million); and
• Intersection upgrades along the Burdekin Road ($20 million).

“It almost seems the PM is personally targeting me as three of these projects cover roads I regularly use travelling from my home in Ayr to my office in Townsville and the other project covers a road I regularly use in discharging my duties to people living in Northern Australia,” said Sen. Macdonald.

The deferral of the North Queensland projects was part of a total of $450 million in savings on regional projects across Australia by cutting almost 50 per cent from the Priority Regional Infrastructure Fund and the Building Better Regional Cities Program.

The $800 million Priority Regional Infrastructure Fund was a key concession the Labor party made to the rural independents to try and win the support of Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott.

Ms Gillard said the decision was made to free up workers, machinery and materials from regional areas to help with flood reconstruction works in the south.

Sen. Macdonald said the flood relief funding package, which included a temporary levy on taxpayers, was typical of the “woolly and misguided thinking” of the Gillard Government.

 “It would have been far more sensible to cut some fat from the Government’s bloated spending programs than to impose yet another tax on Australians, most of whom have already generously donated to the many flood appeals or who volunteered to help clean up after the floods,” said Sen. Macdonald.

“For example, the $50 billion grandiose National Broadband Network (NBN) scheme should have been scrapped to free up flood relief money rather than once again penalising regional Australians by deferring vital infrastructure projects.

“The many thousands of tradesmen who are engaged in building school halls under Ms Gillard’s Building the Education Revolution program could also have been redirected to work on flood reconstruction works.

“Australians living in northern and remote parts of the country will see this as yet another slap in the face by Labor who have made an art form out of taxing Australians rather than tightening their own belts,” he said.