CATHERINE KING: Well, good morning everyone. It’s fantastic to be here on Stage 1 North of the Coomera Connector. You get a sneak preview of it opening early in the morning tomorrow on 2 December. And I'm here with my colleague, the State Minister for Transport, Brent Mickelberg. It's terrific to be here with you. Also to my parliamentary colleague, Rowan Holzberger, as well as two of the state MPs that Brent will introduce.

Well, this is a terrific project, and I know that if anyone has been- for a decade now, been stuck in the traffic jam next to Movie World, you'll know that this will be a game changer. Taking, this section alone, some 60,000 cars off the road to really make sure that those connections are occurring, getting rid of that traffic jam that's been here for a while. This new four lane fix, the Coomera Connector, has been a terrific partnership between the Queensland State Government and the Albanese Labor Government. We're putting some $1.5 billion into this project overall. We'll see a significant change to the way in which traffic flows around this region, really fixing what has on the M1 been a really significant bottleneck, a traffic jam, but also giving people back some of their suburban roads, as people have been trying to avoid the traffic really driving through those suburbs, making it much safer for people. We know that already over 200,000 cars use these roads in this region already, and the Coomera Connector Stage 1 North really being delivered on time, in fact, I think before time, is a great tribute to the many construction workers who've worked on this project.

I want to say thank you to Brent and his team at Queensland Department for Transport and Main Roads for the delivery of this project. We've got a little way to go with both the Central and the South packages well underway, a 16 kilometre project overall. Stage 1 Coomera Connector, really pleased to be here today. And I know tomorrow there’ll be cars queued up wanting to be some of the first cars driving on it. The media's had an opportunity to do that today. But again, really providing those connections to community.

As we're building infrastructure, it isn't obviously just about the roads. It's also about getting people home faster, getting people home more safely, but also connecting communities in a way that you can make sure that people can get home to their loved ones and make sure that you're not spending all of that time stuck in a traffic jam. I'm going to hand over to Brent, and he's going to have some of the state MPs also talk for a bit. Thanks.

BRENT MICKELBERG: Thanks, Minister King. Brent Mickelberg, Minister for Transport and Main Roads. Well, it's tremendous to be here today in Coomera, on Coomera Connector North Package. It's a tremendous day to be able to move on and finish this important milestone. I'm here with my state colleagues, the Member for Theodore, Mark Boothman, and the Member for Coomera, Michael Crandon, both of whom will speak about what this means for this part of the Gold Coast and for their communities. But my job as the Minister for Transport, Main Roads is to finish these projects so that people can use them and we can get the infrastructure built that Queenslanders need so desperately to support our growing population.

I want to acknowledge the Federal Government's partnership with the Queensland Government in co-funding and working with us to deliver projects like the Coomera Connector. This project here has been delivered on time and on budget, and it's part of a broader package of work for Stage 1, with the Central and South packages of Stage 1 continuing at the moment. We're really pleased that the first traffic will travel on this road tomorrow. But importantly, Shipper Drive, which many of you probably drove on to come to this press conference, was actually opened in June, and it was constructed as a part of this project as well. So it was delivered more than 10 months earlier than scheduled, as a consequence of decisions we made to sequence this project differently so we could drive better productivity. And driving productivity is a key priority for the Crisafulli Government. It's why we have been relentless in ensuring that these projects are delivered on time and on budget. It's why we've fought so hard to ensure that the actions of the CFMEU no longer continue here in Queensland, where one particular union chose to deliberately try to destroy productivity on Queensland job sites. And yesterday I was at the Centenary Bridge upgrade, another project that we're delivering in partnership with the Federal Government, and suffice to say, our strong action has allowed us to be able to restore productivity to Queensland job sites like the Coomera Connector here, and we will continue with that focus to ensure that we deliver for all Queenslanders.

We know how important it is that Queensland gets the infrastructure that it needs to support our rapidly growing population, and nowhere in Queensland is growing faster than here in Coomera. And Michael can talk about some of the challenges that his community experiences with that growth, but anyone who has used the M1 knows that it is congested and much of that is local traffic in particular getting on and off the M1. When this Stage 1 is finished, 60,000 vehicles are expected to use this particular road. That's a considerable amount of traffic that will come off the M1 and importantly, it will get Gold Coast residents home to their families sooner at the end of a long work day. So this is a really important milestone, delivering Stage 1 North package, and work continues on the Stage 1 Central and Southern packages at the moment.

Importantly, we've also started planning work on the next stage, which is from Shipper Drive to Yawalpah Road, and that was funded in our budget in June. That detailed design work will be able to refine what that particular section of road looks like, and that's the next logical stage on the Coomera Connector. So we're really pleased to be able to get on with the job of delivering this important infrastructure for the Gold Coast. I'll hand over now to Michael, and I'm happy to come back and take any questions at the end. Michael?

MICHAEL CRANDON: Thanks Brent, and thanks Minister King for making the time to come down here. This really is a very important day for the people of the Northern Gold Coast and the Coomera area in particular. Over the last 17 years that I've been in this role, I've seen this electorate grow. We had nine schools back in 2009 to 23 schools, and number 24 coming online. That just gives you an indication of just how many people are moving to the Northern Gold Coast – the best place in the world, as far as I'm concerned, to live. But this is really, as Minister King said, a game changer for the local community. No more are they going to have to fight their way through exit 54 just to get home in the afternoons, increasing the amount of time they can spend at home. And no more are they going to be fighting to get on the M1 to go south if they can use this road to go to Helensvale or further areas south of that.

It really is, as I said, a game changer. It's been a long time coming, and the exciting thing is that Stage 2 is in planning right now, right around to Yawalpah Road. And once again, that is going to be a big boon once we get that federal funding, Minister King, to come on board with us to do Stage 2, and let's see that happen in the next few years. Thank you.

MARK BOOTHMAN: Well, I'm Mark Boothman. I’m the Member for Theodore, and as the Member for Coomera said, this is a game changer for our region. But this is a vision long time coming. I remember standing up with the former opposition leader Tim Nicholls back in 2017 when we actually pushed this matter to actually make an election commitment back in that election. And it's come so far since then, but I want to say this morning I'm sure all the media personalities here today, all the cameramen, went through that diabolical trail of traffic coming here. My electorate, the electorate of Theodore, if there's an accident on the M1 motorway near Coomera, it goes into absolute traffic meltdown, and therefore this is a real game changer for my electorate to actually take that congestion away. So I appreciate everything when we come to building these roads – we need these roads for these areas. So thank you, Minister, and thank the Federal Government for the funding.

BRENT MICKELBERG: Any questions?

CATHERINE KING: Happy to take questions – who do you want to go to first?

JOURNALIST: Brent, can we ask you a couple of questions?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Yep, fire away.

JOURNALIST: There were some concerns about cracking in one of the bridges. Has that been addressed, and did that delay the project?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Yeah, look, I've previously disclosed both to the parliament, I think on 14 October, and subsequently in media as well, which I think you guys were in attendance, there were some issues with some small cracks identified on particular headstocks on some of the bridges here. So out on abundance of caution, my department's done a whole lot of work to ensure that those cracks are able to be investigated, and also importantly that this road is safe and going to be able to have its designed life as well that it was designed for. So we worked through that.

To give you a bit of an idea of the context, those cracks ranged from 0.1 of a millimetre to 0.3 of a millimetre The core issue was there was more cracks than ordinarily would be the case. I'm advised by my Transport Main Roads engineers that some cracking on concrete structures like this is quite normal. But because there was more than would ordinarily be the case, further investigations were required. Those investigations have now occurred. We've also got remote sensing and monitoring equipment in place to be able to assess the road going forward. But I just want to reassure all road users that this road is safe and we're really looking forward to the first traffic travelling on this road in coming days.

JOURNALIST: Did you have to do any repairs at all on that bridge?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Look, it was mostly in relation to trying to ensure that the bridge, that the cracks were not going to impede the design life of the bridge and obviously ensuring that it was safe. So it was largely investigations and also installing that monitoring equipment to ensure that we're able to assess it as it is monitored under load, so as traffic travels on this road in an ongoing basis. But I just want to emphasise the fact I want to reassure the public that this road is safe, that this road is going to be a really, important part of the Gold Coast Road Network and we're really pleased to be here today to be able to open this road on an important milestone.

And as I said earlier, despite some of those investigations we needed to do over the last month or so, this project is still being delivered on time and on budget. So that's a really important achievement. For far too long, projects have not been delivered on time or on budget here in Queensland. And my job as the Minister of Transport and Main Roads, the Premier has made it very clear, my job is to deliver these roads on time and on budget. And I'm really pleased that we're here today. And I want to acknowledge the hard work of the contractors on this job here in particular and also my Transport and Main Road staff who have worked with the contractors to address some of these complex issues and importantly to get this road finished so that people can get on it as soon as possible.

JOURNALIST: How many cars is this going to take off the M1 a day?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Yeah, when Stage 1 is finished we expect 60,000 vehicles to use this particular section of road.

JOURNALIST: Is that per day or over the course of what time?

BRENT MICKELBERG: 60,000 vehicles a day, correct. And that'll take significant pressure off the M1. But importantly as Michael spoke about, the main beneficiaries will be those who live in and around this part of the northern Gold Coast. They'll be able to get to and from school and to and from work more readily and more reliably. And that's a really important thing for our government. We want to make sure that people are able to spend time with their family at the end of a long work day, and investments in infrastructure like this are a really important part of ensuring that people are able to have the way of life that we all move to Queensland for.

People move to beautiful places like the Gold Coast- I’m a bit biased, I think the Sunshine Coast is the best place to live, but I acknowledge Michael's position. And people move to this part of the world though because it's a great place to live and we need to protect that way of life. An investment in infrastructure like the Coomera Connector delivers that way of life that people really deserve.

JOURNALIST: For your everyday M1 user who doesn't live in the north Gold Coast, when can they see- will they see a significant reduction in congestion?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, I think in particular what we see is the M1 is already dealing with capacity constraints, so the volume of traffic on the M1 already is at the point where it's causing issues, particularly in peak hour, and anyone who used the M1 this morning experienced that, including myself. What this will do is it will ease pressure off the M1 by taking local traffic off the M1, but particularly where we have an incident on the M1 as well, this will reduce pressure on the M1. Anyone who's driven the M1 knows that it slows in and around Dreamworld, which is exactly where we're standing right now. This is an important investment that will reduce congestion in the M1.

It will take time to deliver the entirety of this Stage 1, so work's continuing on Stage 1 Central and South. And we look forward to further press conferences announcing those completions in coming years. And importantly, we're also doing the work to deliver future stages. As I said, the next logical stage to the north of here is Shipper Drive to Yawalpah Road, and that will also ensure that this road is better able to reduce pressure on the M1.

JOURNALIST: What about public transport, this week- last week rather, Council did a report. They found that public transport rates in the Gold Coast is 3 per cent and that hasn't changed in 15 years. Car dependence is a big problem, especially in northern suburbs with less bus routes available. Is the state government planning anything around improving bus services connections up here?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Yeah, we're working really closely with Gold Coast City Council in particular to ensure that we deliver a transport network, whether that's roads or public transport infrastructure that best supports this growing part of our state. Recently I stood with Michael when we opened the new Coomera station, an important investment that will make it easier for people to be able to move- sorry, people from my station in Coomera and it'll make it easier for people to get to and from Brisbane and also to utilise the train network here on the Gold Coast as well.

We're also, since we've come to government, got on with the job of delivering Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail, a significant project, the principal beneficiaries of which will be the people of the Gold Coast. It will mean you're able to have more reliable trains more frequently and quicker trains, particularly to and from Brisbane. And hopefully that will ease pressure on the M1. We know that there is a considerable number of people who both commute to and from the Gold Coast each day from Brisbane. But look, I acknowledge there's more work to be done. We'll continue to work with the Gold Coast City Council to deliver better transport solutions for the Gold Coast, whether that’s public transport or an investment in roads like the Coomera Connector.

JOURNALIST: When does Stage 1, in its various stages, when will that actually be completed?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, that work, as I said, is continuing and that work will take a number of years. We'll continue to work with the contractors to finish the central and southern packages of Stage 1. And we also want to ensure that we're able to move on to the next logical stage, which is that section from Shipper Drive to Yawalpah Road as well. And I really want to emphasise that this needs to be an ongoing package of work. It's a big project, and I really want to thank the federal government for their investment in the Coomera Connector and the manner in which they've worked with us as well to ensure that we're able to deliver this in a timely manner.

JOURNALIST: Will the future stages be completed by the 2032 Olympics?

BRENT MICKELBERG: So, Stage 1 will certainly be finished by 2032 and we're going to- through the process of detailed design for that second package of works, which is Shipper Drive to Yawalpah Road. And as we work through that detailed design package, or the process rather, then those timeframes will be determined. Certainly we understand the need to get these projects delivered by 2032. My very clear task is to ensure that these projects are delivered as quickly as possible within budget, and I'll continue with a single-minded focus to ensure that’s the case and that's why we've been so relentless with respect to and trying to ensure that productivity returns to Queensland job sites. It's why we took quick action in relation to the BPIC provisions, it's why we've established the Commission of Inquiry in relation to the CFMEU.

We understand that the CFMEU in particular were destroying productivity on Queensland job sites. And whether that's Cross River Rail, projects like the project I was at yesterday at the Centenary Bridge upgrade, but right across the construction industry, productivity was destroyed because of the actions of a small number of people within the CFMEU. We're not going to tolerate that behaviour and we will do whatever we can to ensure that productivity returns to Queensland job sites. And we're working really productively with the Federal Government in that regard, whether it's challenges like the environmental approvals process or trying to drive productivity outcomes from the construction workforce in particular, we'll continue to work with whoever we need to get these projects delivered on time and on budget.

JOURNALIST: When Stage 1 and 2 is done, what do you envision daily travel between Brisbane and the Gold Coast to look like?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, look, the simple fact of the matter is right now people have one option if they want to drive on road, and that is the M1. What we need to ensure is that the significant growth that we're seeing here in the northern Gold Coast is able to traverse a road network that supports that capacity, and that's what this Coomera Connect is all about. It's about taking traffic off the M1 that would otherwise end up on the M1. And where we have significant fast growing populations, as Michael spoke about here in Coomera, we need to ensure that we have the infrastructure to support that. So 60,000 vehicles will use this stage one once it's finished, and that will take a meaningful amount of vehicles off the M1. But importantly, we know we need to continue to chip away at those future stages as well in order to fully unlock the capacity that will exist here on the Coomera Connector.

JOURNALIST: What's the main focus at the moment? Is it Stage 1 Central or Stage 1 South?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, work's continuing on both those packages at the moment. And they're really important packages that will, as I said, deliver the full capability of this Stage 1 Coomera Connector. And my job, just as we have here on this Stage 1 North, is to ensure that those projects are delivered on time and on budget. We'll continue to work really constructively with the contractors to ensure that is delivered. And wherever we can, we will seek to deliver these projects early. That's exactly what we did here with elements of this Stage 1 North package. That Shipper Drive section opened more than 10 months before it was planned to.

And I want to acknowledge some of the reason we were able to do that is because of local members like Michael who consulted with his community, and we were able to make some decisions which meant we could deliver this quicker. A little bit of short-term pain for a significant long-term gain, they've now got a far better road. And I want to acknowledge the local community here in Coomera who've worked with us to be able to deliver this project early.

JOURNALIST: Does that mean both those roads will be opened at the same time?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, that work's continuing. There's still a significant amount of construction work on both those packages. We'll certainly look to unlock projects and finish them wherever possible. So if there's an opportunity to open projects early we will certainly pursue that. But there's a considerable amount of work to do over the coming years on both those packages, and it's probably too early to make those determinations.

JOURNALIST: Are there congestion issues that come up with opening such a small section of a much larger project? Are you just moving congestion around?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Look, our transport main roads engineers do a significant amount of work to ensure that the sequencing of these sorts of projects best delivers the community needs. And I think a really good example of that was what we did exactly to the north of here on Shipper Drive. The opportunity to open that 10 months earlier meant it did take pressure off roads that would otherwise be congested. And we took that opportunity. I think it was 14 June that opened, off the top of my head, but certainly in June this year it was open, ten months early. That meant that the community were able to access a road that they would not otherwise be able to access, and it did take pressure off our road network. But with any new road, certainly, we see changes in driver patterns and driver- different routes and the pressure on different roads, but this is a significant road. It's a dual carriageway road, which will take a massive amount of pressure off the M1, particularly for local road users here in Coomera. We know just to my right here, we've got the Marine Precinct, a huge employer here on the Gold Coast, businesses that are growing rapidly and a considerable workforce, and they will now have an alternate route to be able to get to and from work, as will local residents here in Coomera.

JOURNALIST: Are you aware of any plans to turn this into a toll road?

BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, this project has not been constructed as a toll road in any way whatsoever. So we have delivered this project as a publicly funded project, and we'll continue down that process.

JOURNALIST: Just a bit of a sticking point there about the federal funding for Stage 2. Can you elaborate on that?

CATHERINE KING: So we're jointly funding both the business case for Stage 2, and so one of the things that we've been at great pains to do, and I think Brent's really alluded to that, is too often, we announce projects because it's politically expedient for us to do so without having done the proper planning work. That really is something that I've been really firm on, that we work closely with state governments, we do that planning work, and we do the design work, and then we make investment decisions for construction. And that's really what's happening here. You're able to see a project developed on time or earlier, and in fact on budget because that work is being done. I'm really determined in terms of the Commonwealth that we get good value for taxpayer dollars and that we really do try and take some of the pressure off the cost overruns that are happening in a number of projects. So we'll continue to work with the State Government on the next parts of the Coomera Connector. Stage 2 is a very, very big project. I think overall, it's some 29 kilometres – someone can correct me if that's wrong – overall, and it's a lot of work.

So really, we'll do the business case. We'll do the design work. When the Queensland Government's request an investment decision from the Commonwealth at budget for the next stages, we'll put that under proper consideration because we will have the work being done for the planning, and also getting an understanding of how much it will cost.

JOURNALIST: Being at the opening today though, do you think Stage 2 would be good value for money?

CATHERINE KING: Again, the business case I think has only just been received by my department. We'll have a look at that. It's a big project. Infrastructure Australia will have a look at that as well. But really, it's important that we have the planning work done, we understand what that is, and then the Queensland Government, as it always does, will come to us when it's got a request for investment.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you met with your state counterparts last month. You asked them to develop plans for how they could keep learner drivers safe from sexual harassment and assault. What kind of ideas did they look for?

CATHERINE KING: Yes, so quite a few. So the South Australian Government, for example, is putting cameras in cars. There was some concern expressed about how do we keep the data that's derived from that, how do you keep that safe, and how do you make sure that's not exploited in a way that exploits young people as well. So South Australia, I think, will be a bit of a test case for that. There's a lot of sharing of information around the current certification systems. Pretty much every state and territory requires Working with Children’s Check on learner driver instructors as well. And so, some of the tightening that is happening across the country on Working with Children Checks was also discussed as well. So, South Australia is really leading some of that work, but every state and territory has got initiatives in place to ensure that the certification of learner drivers is done well, as well as ensuring that there is education for the peak bodies as well to make sure they are keeping young people safe as they're in vulnerable circumstances in a car on their own.

JOURNALIST: There is an issue then with sexual harassment and assault in these learner driver cars. How concerning is it that there's so many cases slipping through the Working with Children Checks? Because that, as a parent, you would think that would be a safe start.

CATHERINE KING: I think if you look across all sorts of settings. Sexual assault and sexual harassment of young people or children is something that is terrible in any setting. And I think as a government, we have worked really hard to invest in making sure that there are services for people to access, that there are pathways, but also that there is education – and I'm sorry to say – that of largely young men to actually think about what is happening in a range of settings, whether it's in schools, whether it's in workplaces. And unfortunately, what we see in terms of driving instructors and the reports that we saw come out from the ABC around driving instructors is one in a litany of places where this is occurring. We shouldn't be letting the behaviour off the hook here. This is illegal behaviour. It is behaviour that is inappropriate. It is behaviour that is predatory. It is behaviour that is damaging wherever it occurs.

In terms of driving instructors, states and territories have stepped up. States and territories are ensuring that their systems are in place to ensure that driving instructors obey the law and make sure they know their obligations. We'll see South Australia's obviously putting cameras in cars. Some states are looking at that as well, and we'll continue as a Commonwealth to provide that opportunity for states and territories to learn off one another as to how they can improve keeping young people safe in all sorts of settings, not just in learner cars.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you will be considering the business case for Stage 2, as we've been discussing, of the Cooma Connector. But do you think public transport on this section of the Gold Coast, particularly leading up to Brisbane, is up to scratch?

CATHERINE KING: Well, it's surprising. I was in Ballarat. Ballarat's my hometown. It was a little colder yesterday than it is here today. And I had some residents who had moved from the Gold Coast to my hometown of Ballarat. We often see people going the other way. And they were telling me how fantastic your train service was and comparing that to the Ballarat to Melbourne train service. They were telling me how fantastic your Gold Coast train service was, and we've seen quite a few come past here today. Obviously, in terms of public transport, the State Government is working really hard to ensure that connectivity happens, but it's always difficult when you've got growing suburbs, growing areas, to really keep ahead of that, and I commend Brent for doing the particularly when it comes to bus services. But the fact that I had some ex-residents of the Gold Coast telling me how good your train service was in Ballarat yesterday and saying that we need to lift our game in Victoria was pretty timely.

JOURNALIST: I used to live in Ballarat. I can confirm that.

CATHERINE KING: There you go. I thought I knew your face. Hello.

JOURNALIST: The State Government axed plans for light rail, the final stage, earlier this year. That's received support from both sides of federal politics over the best part of 15 years. Was that the right decision they made?

CATHERINE KING: Well, really what we do as a Commonwealth is we co-invest with state governments. We are an interested investor. And what I've learnt over the time I've been in office is that working closely with state governments is how you get the delivery of projects. Now, Brent will have the same experience as I have, is that everybody wants everything all at once immediately. And infrastructure is long, it's got long lead times, and you have to plan it out. We have capacity constraints. We have a lot of- we have financial constraints that we've got to work in. So we work really closely with state governments to make those investment decisions.

What is new under the Albanese Labor Government, we are now requiring states and territories to give us 10-year infrastructure plans so we can make those investment decisions with that long lead time, understanding what the impacts are on budgets. And so, the Queensland Government has made that decision. That's the right decision for Queensland. We respect that decision. But we are an interested co-investor, and we'll continue to do that with Queensland, with Victoria, with New South Wales, with WA, and all of the other states and territories we work with.

JOURNALIST: Will the feds be putting money into whatever service replaces the plans for light rail?

CATHERINE KING: Again, these are investment decisions that come to us in budget. We obviously fund land transport. We don't fund the rolling stock or the buses that are connected. We are looking pretty closely at trying to assist states with electrification of things like the bus systems and working as to how we can do that, because we know everybody’s trying to do that at the moment, trying to bring forward plans to do those sorts of things. But again, when we get requests from the Queensland Government. We’ll consider those in our budget.

Is that it? Lovely. Thanks, everybody.