Member for Groom Garth Hamilton has taken aim at the Federal Labor Government over the budget allocation for the Warrego Highway between Toowoomba and Ipswich.

The Government’s Budget, unveiled by Treasurer Jim Chalmers last week, allocated $177 million to deliver bridge and intersection upgrades along the Warrego Highway.

“The budget has ignored the planned ‘Toowoomba to Ipswich’ priorities package that was previously designated for the Warrego Highway,” Mr Hamilton said.

“All of this $177 million commitment has been allocated to the 35 kilometre section in the government-held electoral division of Blair (which is in Ipswich).

“This has shamefully ignored that the Warrego Highway is a critical freight route in Southern Queensland that moves product from paddock to port.

“The Warrego Highway is 725 kilometres in length and this Labor Government is ignoring the 690 kilometres of it out of pure political interest.”

Mr Hamilton said it needs to be made clear where the Warrego Highway Corridor funding is, how it will be used and if this political funding in Blair is budgeted out of the corridor funding.

“The people of regional Queensland, the truck drivers, farmers, mums and dads who rely on the Warrego Highway deserve an answer,” he said.

“This budget was a big spending plan for an election, not a plan for our future.

“This budget delivered cash for the southern states and big cities, at the expense of the regions.”

A review of the Infrastructure Investment Pipeline established a ‘Warrego Highway corridor’ and derived funding allocated by the former Coalition Government.

According to the review papers, the new corridor would usurp:

• Warrego Highway Corridor (unallocated)
• Warrego Highway – Mt Crosby Road Interchange
• Warrego Highway – Toowoomba to Ipswich Future Priorities

The Warrego Highway Corridor investment package would be valued at $467.5 million.

Motorists who regularly travel to Ipswich and Brisbane, and even those who travel infrequently along the Warrego Highway will be well aware of the seemingly never-ending roadworks at the Bremer River crossing.

The budget committed $42.5 million to fixing the safety issues on the westbound side of the Bremer River Bridge, matching funding from the Queensland Government announced in April.

Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise CEO April Cavanagh said the funding is a certainly a step in the right direction but not a long-term solution.

The Warrego Highway is the second-highest trafficked rural national highway outside of South-East Queensland, moving almost 6,000 heavy vehicles per day, and represents the most critical freight route for heavy vehicles carrying agricultural, construction, defence, and resources cargo connecting the Port of Brisbane to Toowoomba and beyond.

“We can’t afford for there not to be a long-term plan for this vital piece of infrastructure,” Ms Cavanagh said.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding welcomed the news, describing the speed limit reductions and increased congestion around the Bremer River Bridge as “unbearable” for local residents, a sentiment shared by many living further west.

This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 23 May 2024.