Budget opportunity to fix transport
Friday, 04 June 2010 13:56
I call on the State Government to use next week’s budget to fix the roads and transport “black hole” that exists in Brisbane’s west.
Whilst the north, the south and the east areas of Brisbane have all been in receipt of major busways and road infrastructure Brisbane’s west has been left to languish with deteriorating traffic gridlock on a daily basis.
The local area has received no major transport or roads infrastructure in living memory. We clearly need a commitment by the Government to the funding of a bypass of Kenmore as well as the urgent need that exists to advance planning to upgrade the Western Freeway.
I am somewhat apprehensive overall for the State’s budget in an environment where, despite booming revenue and enormous tax grabs we have still seen debt spiral upward out of control. The graph below shows just how dramatically Queensland’s debt position has collapsed and the unbelievable extent to which our financial management has underperformed all the other States.
State Debt 
However the debt situation should not stop the Government from delivering the vital infrastructure that Brisbane’s west needs. Whilst it is glaringly apparent that the Government must do a better job in prudently managing their finances Brisbane’s west cannot wait any longer for the sort of basic transport infrastructure such as bus priority that the rest of Brisbane takes for granted