Upgrade for Mackay to Galilee road link
24 OCTOBER 2016: A vital road link between Mackay and the Galilee Basin will be upgraded under the Liberal National Government’s road funding program announced today. The Clermont to Alpha road has been talked about for years as the missing link in an all-weather transport route from the Galilee Basin to the service centre on the coast.
Name needed for Yellow Gin Creek bridge
18 OCTOBER 2016: I put a call out this morning for North Queenslanders to help name a new bridge over Yellow Gin Creek on the Bruce Highway, south of Ayr. The yet to be named two-lane, 120m bridge opened to traffic in June, replacing an old crossing that regularly flooded and caused road closures.
Mackay's One Billion Dollar Man
28 JULY 2016: With the support of the Liberal National Government, I am driving a one billion dollar investment to create more than a thousand jobs for Mackay over the next three to four years.
$75 Million to support development of Walkerston Bypass
A $75 million investment by a re-elected Coalition Government will support the development of the Walkerston Bypass, following construction of the $565 million Mackay Ring Road (Stage One) project.I joined the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester and LNP Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry for the announcement today in Walkerston.This is a fantastic outcome for our region because it will provide the thing we need most and that’s jobs.There will be jobs during construction, but the project will also boost freight productivity, which provides flow-on efficiency benefits and secures jobs in the local resource industry for the future.
Tenders called for flood-proofing project on the Bruce
WORK is now at the tender stage for the $57 million Bruce Highway – Sandy Gully Bridge Upgrade north of Bowen, as we deliver a road able to withstand a once-in-50-year flood event.This particular section of the Bruce Highway is regularly closed during bad weather, with wide-ranging effects on surrounding residents and motorists passing through the region.Making this section of highway more flood resistant will have significant benefits for the safety of motorists and the wellbeing of communities at risk of being isolated by flood waters.It’s also a project which will provide 107 direct jobs over the life of the project, so we can look forward to these jobs coming on line in the very near future.
Investing in Dawson
THE Dawson electorate will benefit from a significant infrastructure boost in the 2016-17 financial year, with $43.6 million allocated for specific projects in the region, and that's in addition to any Federal funding which will flow for the $448 million we will invest into the Mackay Ring Road.The electorate will also receive its fair share of a further $6.4 billion across a range of infrastructure initiatives, including the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.This demonstrates the Liberal National Government’s commitment to regional communities, outlined in last night’s Federal Budget.The funding is about boosting connectivity, building critical infrastructure, supporting innovation and fostering local leadership to support regional communities in Dawson.
Bill should tell Labor buddies to get moving on the Haughton
THE ability to progress work on some Bruce Highway projects rests entirely in Labor’s hands, and the best thing Bill Shorten could do for the Bruce Highway is to tell his counterparts in the State Labor Government to pull their finger out.I believe Mr Shorten has been making announcements regarding Labor's plans for the Bruce Highway in Townsville today, and he should ask his counterparts in the Palaszczuk government ‘why is Labor holding up the Haughton River Bridge Replacement?’The replacement of this bridge has been voted the most urgent problem to be fixed on that stretch of the Bruce Highway between Mackay and Townsville.
Funding to fix black spots
THE main street of Ayr is a beneficiary under the latest round of Black Spot Program funding, as is the notorious Horse & Jockey Road and Landsdowne Road intersection at Racecourse near Mackay.The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester’s has announced that $70,000 would be provided by the Liberal National Government to fix the black spot at the intersection of Queen and Soper streets in Ayr.This black spot funding will be used to modify the approaches and centre island geometry, for resurfacing and upgrading line marking.In the Mackay region, though it actually falls in the Capricornia electorate, I welcome the announcement of $1.19 million for the intersection of Horse Jockey Road and Landsdowne Road.
Fight is on to keep owner driver truckies on the road
A DECISION today by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) will see scores of truck drivers across the region lose their livelihoods and small trucking businesses close down according to Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen, who said he would seek legislation to abolish the RSRT.The RSRT have announced today that they will ignore the calls from owner driver truckies all over the country and push ahead with their totally unfair minimum payment rate which will take effect from Monday.What this means is that the Labor-established and Labor-stacked tribunal has set a minimum payment rate for owner drivers which will effectively price them out of business.They are being told they must charge a rate for their services which is above that of drivers who are employees signed up to unions.I’ve met with dozens of owner driver truckies since this information of payment rates hit them out of the blue and knocked them for six.
Need to fast-track Haughton bridge replacement
THE BURDEKIN has been left out in the cold yet again by the State Labor Government due to their failure to bring forward work on the Haughton River Bridge replacement.We have had a fanfare about a State Infrastructure Plan from the Palaszczuk Government and there’s even $20,000 million for fast-tracked planning, but the Haughton River bridge replacement is not going to get a look in before 2019.The replacement of this bridge has been voted the most urgent problem to be fixed on that stretch of the Bruce Highway between Mackay and Townsville.But does that mean the State Labor Government will fast-track the long and drawn-out planning and design process to replace this unsafe bridge?
Campaign points to need for ring road jobs Now
DUE to the positive response to my pointed campaign for action on the Mackay Ring Road, I'm extending the cut-off date to return signed petitions.This petition urges the State Labor Government to throw more resources into the design phase of the Mackay Ring Road, so that work on the massive job-creating project can get under way.We desperately need jobs in the Mackay region right now, and the construction of the Mackay Ring Road will create 600 jobs.
Roads contract means jobs for Mackay
Mackay company Vassallo Constructions has won the $3 million contract to construct an overtaking lane near Thomsetts Road, south of Proserpine, and this means jobs for Mackay workers.I want to congratulate this Mackay business run by Vic Vassallo, on winning the tender on this project which has been brought forward by a year by the Liberal National Coalition Government to provide work when it is desperately needed.Despite false claims by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that the project was part of Labor’s so-called ‘accelerated works program’ this project is not only fully funded by the Federal Coalition Government; we brought it forward by a year to support jobs in the region.
Minister’s Mackay visit to canvass ideas
29 JANUARY 2016: Mackay residents will provide direct input into a regional policy process when the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister visits Mackay. The Liberal National Government is formulating a policy that will set out a long-term vision for regional Australia and North Queensland will play a vital role in the process.
Time for Premier to walk the walk
THE Queensland Premier’s talk of fast-tracking infrastructure projects in North Queensland is an absolute joke when two of the biggest job-creating projects, namely the Mackay Ring Road and the Haughton River Bridge replacement, are lost in a bureaucratic bog.We need more than rubbish talk from Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on fast-tracking these big projects, because the blame for holding up hundreds of jobs lies squarely with the State Labor Government.The Federal Government had already committed to fast-tracking funding for these infrastructure projects at my insistence; that promise was secured back in September 2014 from then Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
A call to action on jobs in resource industry
AS the Member for Dawson, and Chairman of the Coalition’s Backbench Policy Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, I wish to state in the strongest of terms that it’s not just Townsville and the 237 Queensland Nickel workers who are in need of assistance right now; it’s just about every resource community around the nation, and particularly the Bowen Basin.While I am as angry as the next person about the fate of the workers at Yabulu, and they are deserving of every bit of assistance offered, it’s a crying shame that State and Federal Governments of all political persuasions have not done enough to stabilise, stimulate and transition economies in resource communities.In the Bowen Basin we have seen job losses in the thousands at mine sites, at mining service companies and in mining town businesses whose trade has dried up in the downturn.
Roadworks bring jobs to region
WORK started today on construction of two new overtaking lanes on the Bruce Highway between Proserpine and Mackay, bringing more jobs to the region and boosting the local economy.The project will result in a southbound overtaking lane at Kitty Creek, 10km north of Kuttabul, and a northbound overtaking lane at Carey’s Creek, 7km south of Calen.The Liberal National Government’s commitment to fully fund these works will improve safety and efficiency on this stretch of the Bruce Highway – all part of the Government’s 10 year commitment to the Bruce Highway.