Queensland has welcomed the Australian Labor Party’s announcement that a Federal Labor Government will provide $2.24 billion for Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the Coalition will not provide funding for Cross River Rail as it failed its most recent assessment by Infrastructure Australia, but Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was re-elected late last year using Cross River Rail as a key platform. With a federal election guaranteed within the next 13 months, Bill Shorten is looking to replicate that success.
“This is South East Queensland’s number one infrastructure project – that’s why Labor is making it a priority,” Labor transport spokesperson Anthony Albanese said.
“Labor will partner with the Queensland Government on the project, which will build a new 10.2 kilometre north-south passenger rail line from Bowen Hills to Dutton Park. Failure to build the Cross River Rail will severely limit the region’s ability to grow, and will put more pressure on already congested roads.
“Only an out-of-touch prime minister would ignore the critical need for investment in public transport infrastructure.”
Queensland treasurer and deputy premier Jackie Trad, who previously served as the state’s transport minister, said the state would prefer not to “go it alone” on the $5.4 billion project.
“This announcement by Bill Shorten and the Labor Opposition is very welcome and demonstrates Federal Labor’s commitment to busting congestion and delivering jobs in Queensland,” Trad said.
“Cross River Rail will fix the bottleneck over the Merivale Bridge, enabling us to run more trains, more often and get people home faster.
“It’s not good enough that the Prime Minister continues to ignore this critical project, instead choosing to fund pet projects in Melbourne and Sydney.”