Goodna Bypass - Speech to Parliament
Monday, 15 September 2008 14:01
I have continued to keep pressure on the Government about their support for the Goodna Byass. I made the following speech to Parliament last week:
There has been no more reviled project by the government in this House than the Goodna bypass. The Deputy Premier has referred to it here as ‘ridiculous’, ‘the most expensive political fix in the nation’s history’, ‘the option no-one wants’, ‘ill fated’ and ‘discredited’ and said that the only way to stop it was to vote Labor at the federal election.
On 31 October last year he told this House that the election of a Rudd government would guarantee it would not happen. Now this government has backflipped, has put it back on the agenda and is acquiring the properties to complete a road corridor with a view to possibly building this $3.3 billion road into the future.
Not only was the local community not consulted—not a single word to the local community; theydid not even have the courtesy to publicly announce it. Instead, they slipped it in a little letter which they sent into my office.
This is deception of the people of Queensland. If the government cannot tell the truth over something of this nature and something that has been treated in such a black-and-white manner, how can anybody in this state believe any assurance that they receive from this government?
The government sent the parliamentary secretary for roads to tell 600 or 800 people at a public meeting at Moggill State School that the government would not be part of the Goodna bypass. Now it is completing the road corridor. People’s properties have devalued. People have bought homes and built homes based on this government’s assurances.
If a real estate agent had lied and deceived in this way these people would have some recourse. But because these people have been deceived by the government they have no recourse whatsoever. I call on the government to reverse this decision.