Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has called on the federal Labor government to prioritise funding to support the LNP’s pledge to extend rail services to Maroochydore.
The Miles government only planned to extend rail to Caloundra, and Infrastructure Australia has now left the remainder of the project off its draft priority list.
In a press conference with Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli on Monday, Bleijie said Queenslanders had voted for change and wanted “generational and transformational infrastructure”.
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Bleijie, the member for Kawana, said federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King had previously cut funding to Queensland, and the latest draft cut the number of priority projects in the state from 29 to seven – with none on the Sunshine Coast.
“The federal Labor government appear not to have Queensland as a priority,” he said.
King said the list was a draft, Commonwealth infrastructure funding to the state had increased, and if the Queensland government wanted projects on the final list “it needs to have done the work”.
“I seek advice from Infrastructure Australia as to whether something is investment ready, has the cost benefit work … done,” King said.
“Because what we had inherited was, frankly, a lot of press releases, a lot of press releases telling me that there was money set aside for projects – chronically underfunded – and what we’ve had to do is really make sure we’ve got a disciplined process.”
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