THE PM has been challenged to take a Bruce Highway road trip as Queensland anger grows over Julia Gillard's $1bn pledge to fix western Sydney's roads.
The Newman Government yesterday accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of ignoring the Bruce Highway after she offered $1 billion for a roads network in western Sydney.
Amid ongoing anger over the state of the Bruce highway, a Newman Government minister has even offered to take Ms Gillard on a 5-day road trip to prove the Bruce Highway is in desperate need of funding.
Local Government Minister David Crisafulli, who also has responsibility for flood recovery, said he would personally drive Ms Gillard, if she wanted.
"I would even like to choose the vehicle," Mr Crisafulli told The Courier-Mail.
"I think I could choose a suitable vehicle that would ensure enough bouncing around to provide the desired effect."
The Townsville-based MP said if the Prime Minister could spend five days in western Sydney then she should do the same for Queensland.
"In five days she could drive the entire Bruce Highway and see first hand its pathetic state," he said.
Mr Crisafulli said the pair could talk to councils and businesses along the way about how flooding and the poor state of the highway impacts their local economies.
"If you are looking for an area that can bring you huge economic returns on a value for money basis then you can't look any further than the Bruce Highway," he said.
The Newman Government has accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of ignoring much-needed work to Queensland's major highway.
"In the last week I have seen a lot of announcements for areas based on political importance rather than economic importance."
Readers on The Courier-Mail's Facebook page today told of their frustration with the highway after we asked them to rate it out of 10 .
Kylie Sykes said that "outside of SEQ ... there is no rating to sum up the highway!!! Especially around the Gladstone/Rocky areas, they get left behind."
"The roads had only just started to be repaired after having over 3 weeks worth of water over it after the 2010/11 floods 2 years ago, and then slammed again; they might as well be traveling a dirt road again!!!"
Cherie Patrick said that from Gympie north "it just gets progressively worse. I want to know where exactly all the flood donations and tax levies from 2 years ago went. It did not all go to victims that lost it all and it sure did not go back into fixing infrastructure like roads."
Erin Corlis rated the highway a three, "especially up north".
"We have the best state in Australia but with the worst roads".
On couriermail.com.au, reader Sue smith of Gladstone commented:
"I often travel the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Gladstone."
"It's appalling. It is 511 kms of difficult driving, roadworks are slow and they rebuild sections only to return in the next downpour to repair again."
"Truck traffic is very heavy and dangerous, it is the major route north that slows down from 100 kms to 40 kms.
"Pull your act together and fix it; trucks are ripping up the substandard road surface and leading to risky driving on the one lane sections."
Ms Gillard's offer to western Sydney - part of the next major round of federal infrastructure funding known as Nation Building 2 - has been rebuffed by the NSW Government because it comes with too many conditions.
But the offer yesterday sparked an outcry from Queensland Transport Minister Scott Emerson, who said he had been waiting for months on an answer from Canberra for a joint $5 billion upgrade to the Bruce Highway in the next decade.
The state in October offered a $1 billion investment to be matched with $4 billion from the Federal Government under a typical 80/20 funding split.
"We presented our Bruce Highway Action Plan to the Federal Government in October but have yet to hear of any funding commitment from the Commonwealth," Mr Emerson said.
"The plan was undertaken by engineers, not politicians, and will provide a safer, more reliable Bruce Highway reducing the impact of flooding."
"Ms Gillard needs to commit to the safety of Queensland motorists, not just look after her own political fortunes."
The Federal Government is still negotiating the projects to be funded in the Nation Building 2 program, which would begin in mid 2014.
Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese's spokesman said the Bruce Highway would be included in the program, but the funding model had not been agreed.
The Federal Government has allocated $2.7 billion to the highway in the six years to mid 2014, compared with $1.3 billion spent over 12 years by the Howard government, he said.
Queensland councils have also complained they are missing out on funds as Ms Gillard concentrates on western Sydney.
Chairman of the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors Graham Quirk said there were at least three infrastructure projects in this region with business cases.
"The Toowoomba second Range crossing, the Pacific Highway upgrade from Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and the Cunningham Highway from Yamanto to Willowbank all have completed business cases and are key national highways projects," Cr Quirk said.
With Andrew MacDonald
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