Yesterday I called for the 80/20 funding of Federal Highways to be abolished in favour of full funding by the Federal Government.
As another accident on the Bruce Highway shows, the deadly point scoring over funding between the Federal and State Governments need to end.
Too many lives are being lost or injured on our roads because of delays and underfunding.
Furthermore I believe it’s time we got our military to take responsibility for building Federal Highways. (And eventually other sovereign infrastructure.)
This would give our children a pathway back into gaining apprenticeships and re-skilling our workforce.
We cannot continue to rely on foreign corporations to build our Infrastructure.
And we cannot continue to allow people to die on our roads.
Senate on 9/09/2024
Item: STATEMENTS BY SENATORS – Road Infrastructure: Highways
Senator RENNICK (Queensland) (13:42):
Of all the issues faced by Australia, few are more damaging to our country than the fiscal imbalance and ambiguous responsibilities between state and federal governments. There is no better example of this than the state of our highways, especially our federal highways. It is a national disgrace that our federal highways are a death trap that are of a standard that wouldn’t pass muster in a Third World country. The accident a few weeks ago on the Bruce Highway near Gladstone is just one of the many tragic accidents and disruptions to people in regional Queensland. Not that it is confined to the Bruce Highway; the Newell Highway in western New South Wales is also in dire need of improvement.
I call on the federal government to abolish the current 80-20 funding of national highways and assume full responsibility for funding them. They should also empower the royal military engineers to be responsible for the construction and maintenance of federal highways. What better way to train apprentices, cut bureaucratic waste and start delivering real outcomes for the Australian people.
