One year ago, a rally for the Rockhampton Ring Road was organised by some local businesses. They were upset about the Federal Labor Government’s decision to put on hold the construction of the much needed road.
At the time, construction for the road had been out to tender. The State Government had been encouraging businesses to gear up so that they could get construction going as soon as possible. Some local businesses had already spent thousands of dollars preparing for construction to begin. Local jobs were on the line.
Hence the anger which led to a rally attended by around 500 locals. People felt dudded that the Labor Government had dumped a promise to build the road that it had made at the election just months earlier. After the rally a convoy drove all the way to Canberra to make our case there.
By Christmas we had won. The State Labor Government brought some funding forward to get the project going and the Federal Government recommitted to build the road.
Since then there has been lots of talk but little action. Some power poles have been shifted and a couple of tenders have been awarded but work on those haven’t started. In the Senate this week it was finally confirmed that we should see some actual works on the road before the end of the year.
Problems remain unresolved, however. The ostensible reason for the Federal Government’s hold on the project last year was that the costs had blown out by $600 million. Such cost increases are not unusual for large projects. It was also never clear why this cost blowout stopped the building of a road in regional Queensland, yet the $6 billion blowout of the Cross River Rail, or the $10 billion blowout of Snowy 2.0, did not stop those projects.
While works on the road start, the Government still does not have an answer about what its final design will be or what it will cost. The Rockhampton Ring Road has received no additional funding despite inflation pushing up the cost.
The delays seem to all be wrapped up in the Federal Labor Government’s general go slow on infrastructure. The Minister for Infrastructure announced a “90-day” review of infrastructure projects 179 days ago. Despite it so far taking two times as long as expected, we still have no answers on the (now not so new) government’s infrastructure plans.
Meanwhile local businesses are forced to sit and wait. They have to absorb the higher net costs of a workforce without as much work. Already some jobs have been lost on the Inland Rail projects because of the delays.
Meanwhile, the new Government is allowing migrants at the rate of the size of Canberra every year. That is double our normal migration intake.
If we take in more people we need more infrastructure to make room for everyone. Yet this Labor Government is opening our border while standing down our road crews. This just makes it harder for everyone.
Before the last election Anthony Albanese said that the Rockhampton Ring Road was “a certainty under Labor”. Last week the PM made a big deal that the Voice referendum was worth it (even though he lost) because he had to fulfil an election commitment. Fair enough. But it is about time Anthony Albanese deliver on his promises to Central Queensland too, and give us a real plan on how he will fund and build the Rockhampton Ring Road.
The Rockhampton Ring Road is the Christmas present CQ deserves.
