ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Great to be south of Townsville with Minister Mickelberg and also the Member for Hinchinbrook, Wayde Chiesa. Really exciting today to be part of this next announcement in terms of the early works packages that we've been doing on the Bruce Highway. We obviously know the Bruce Highway is the beating artery of Queensland. There's no better example of the challenges that we face in Queensland and the importance of the Bruce Highway than over the last couple of months, with what we've seen with weather events and now what we're seeing across the country as we confront what the damage the Middle East conflict is doing and the ongoing impact that's having with petrol. We want to ensure the Bruce Highway is safe for families, for local business, for industry, but we know how important it is that when there's an accident, sometimes the road can be closed, and we can't accept that. And I think when you look at the impact that that has on safety, whether it be for a national emergency or indeed, at the moment, thinking about an oil tanker being able to get from where they are to service a regional town. We know how important the Bruce Highway is. The $9 billion investment, 7.2 from the federal government, 1.8 from the state, is all about building a better Bruce Highway. It's about improving the safety, and it's about projects like this that are going to make a difference for the local community. It's great to have the work from RMS Civil and they're a local company. They employ about 80 people, and they're the lead project managers on this site. So that shows you that the work that we're doing is delivering local jobs being done in a timely manner for the benefit of everyone in this community. So the next stage of this is the 22 projects that we're announcing today. Five going to construction, 17 going to design. That's part of the ongoing work that is going to make a difference for projects the length of the Bruce Highway. We're really pleased as part of the Federal Albanese Labor Government that we're playing our part to improving the Bruce Highway. We're working constructively with the state government. That's what the people of Queensland need and want, and that's what we're really proud to be delivering with the state government on today. Really pleased to be here representing the Albanese Government, and I'll hand over to Minister Mickelberg.

MINISTER MICKELBERG: Brent Mickelberg, Minister for Transport and Main Roads. Well, at the outset, I want to acknowledge the federal government's commitment to working with us to deliver a major package of works, the biggest package of works to upgrade safety on the Bruce Highway in Queensland's history, a $9 billion funding commitment, all of which will be spent north of Gympie in regional Queensland, because we know the Bruce Highway is not at the standard that it needs to be, and together, the state and federal government are committed to tackling that. We were very pleased to be able to secure an 80:20 funding commitment. And as Senator Chisholm said, $7.2 billion of funding from the federal government, $1.8 billion commitment from the state government. And we are here getting on with the job, very focused with ensuring that we get these upgrades built as quickly as possible to one, make the road safer and more resilient, to ensure that regional Queenslanders have a road that they can be proud of. And unfortunately, far too many lives are lost on the Bruce Highway. In 2024, 42 lives were lost on the Bruce Highway from crashes, and that's unacceptable, and we're committed to addressing that through better built infrastructure. This Bruce Highway Targeted Safety Program will see us roll out wide centre lines, upgrades to intersections, more overtaking lanes, improvements to the pavement up and down the Bruce Highway and the 22 projects that we are announcing today is the next tranche, as we get on with the job, and we'll see 100 kilometres of wide central line installed as a consequence of this tranche of work. We'll see additional overtaking lanes, upgrades to narrow bridges up and down the Bruce Highway, and, importantly, upgrades to dangerous intersections. And we're really focused with ensuring that as we roll out this package of work, local contractors like RMS are able to take advantage of this work. We've deliberately structured the program such that it is a panel approach, which enables us to access contractors which may have otherwise been cut out of the market in the past, and we know that locals working on the Bruce Highway will deliver great outcomes for their local communities, and that's why we're really pleased to be here today, south of Townsville, delivering on a project which was announced in November. Work started here now, and this here, we'll see a wide centre line and widening of the existing road alignment as well to ensure that it's safer and more able to deal with the volume of traffic. I'll hand over now to the member for Hinchinbrook, Wade Chiesa, to talk about what this package of work means to his community, and I'm happy to come back and take any questions in relation to the program at the end. Wade.

WAYDE CHIESA: Thanks very much Minister, Wayde Chiesa, Member for Hinchinbrook, well, I want to acknowledge Assistant Minister Chisholm and Minister Mickelberg, because any day we're in regional Queensland, talking about making the Bruce Highway stronger and safer, is a good day. 22 projects outside of Gympie to improve the safety, make it stronger, because it's the lifeblood of our community. Our community used the Bruce Highway to travel to work, to go to school, take the kids to medical appointments, kids involved in the agriculture through to the tourism industry. It is so important, and we know it hasn't been to the standard it has that it needs to be. And that's why, now that I'm the member for Hinchinbrook, I'll continue to fight for my community to ensure we continue to get these improvements delivered on time and on budget. So again, great to be here with this announcement today to make the Bruce Highway stronger and safer.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned five of these construction projects, can you tell me where those are?

MICKELBERG: Yeah, so there's a wide variety project right up and down the Bruce Highway, many here in the north and Far North Queensland there. We'll give you a detailed breakdown of all of those. But there's they've been prioritized on the basis of greater safety risks, and importantly, we've rolled these out right up and down the Bruce Highway. So upgrades to wide center line, where there has been a preponderance of accidents or crashes, I should say, but also ensuring that we roll out more overtaking lanes to provide people the opportunity to safely pass. Importantly, upgrades to narrow bridges, we re-established the Bruce Highway Advisory Council just shortly after coming to government, and the first meeting of that was actually here, or was in Townsville. And what was very clear from particularly the trucking industry, where narrow bridges were a concern trucks passing mirror to mirror in the middle of the night, particularly in those areas where there's adverse weather, particularly dangerous. So, through this program of work, we've got design packages to upgrade some of those narrow bridges as well, but we can provide you a detailed breakdown on all those locations.

JOURNALIST: Any bridges or dangerous sections? Do any come to mind?

MICKELBERG: Well, there's a number of locations that have been a considerable concern over many, many years, and in particular, one of the issues that we've seen, and we've seen a marked improvement with respect to safety with the addition of wide central line treatments. And this package of work will see additional 100 kilometres of wide central line treatment rolled out up and down the Bruce Highway. And I should have made the point as well that this work will deliver jobs for around 3000 Queenslanders, huge investment in regional Queensland, and our focus as a government has been getting on with the job of delivering these important upgrades in regional Queensland. We're doing just that. Any other questions?

JOURNALIST: Minister, just a quick one. I've just got the press up. So correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that 17 of the 22 stage two works are just for planning and design. Correct me if I'm wrong. Does that mean that there's a guarantee that they will lead to some sort of commercial work?

MICKELBERG: Yeah, absolutely, that is exactly the approach we've taken. So our initial, initial approach was to take those works which were already planned and designed to market as quickly as possible. And a number of those are already finished, including a number here, north of Townsville. And now this second tranche is about ensuring we get these projects out to market, and the design, the planning work is an essential step in ensuring that we're then able to roll out and progressively ramp up the construction of these projects right up and down the Bruce Highway. So really pleased to be able to announce today 22 projects going to market, and to your question, they will be built, and they've all been prioritized based on the greater safety need. And here we are. We announced this one in November, and here we are on site, and you can see the progress that is underway, getting on with the job quickly to ensure that we deliver the upgrade. Ultimately, that's what this program is about, making a safer more resilient Bruce Highway, and that's certainly my focus, and we're working very closely with the federal government to deliver this.

JOURNALIST: You can guarantee the funding is available for the construction of those 17 designs?

MICKELBERG: Yes, the funding for this, for this program, is in the federal budget and in the state budget, and together, we've seen this $9 billion program of work right up and down the Bruce Highway, as I said, a record investment in safety on the Bruce Highway. And these projects will be delivered.

JOURNALIST: 2032, Minister, in other words, the Olympics, will these works be finished for them so people can take advantage of our glorious state and Townsville?

MICKELBERG: The intention is that all of the works under the Bruce Highway Targeted Safety Program are finished by 2030 and it's an ambitious target, and we've deliberately set an ambitious target so we ensure that we drive these projects to market as quickly as possible. And I want to acknowledge the work, of my department, Department of Transport and Main Roads staff, who I think it's fair to say, have had to go above and beyond in order to be able to get these projects to the point we are here today. And the approach we've taken in having a panel, a panel approach to procurement is not something that is typically seen in government, in these sorts of procurement, we've done that deliberately. It's about ensuring that we get the best values money for the taxpayers. It's about ensuring that we get to market quickly and we get these projects built. So to answer your question, these projects will be finished by 2030.

JOURNALIST: And final one from the Minister on the topic, do you how many of these projects may potentially have union involvement in them? CFMEU adjacent [inaudible]?

MICKELBERG: Yeah, good question. I want to make the point that we welcome the involvement of responsible unions who want to protect worker safety and drive productivity on Queensland job sites, and I work closely with many, many unions to deliver just that for Queenslanders. What our government will not tolerate, is unions that take a deliberate approach, unions like the CFMEU who seek to destroy productivity on Queensland job sites, who seek to weaponize a culture of bullying and fear. And we're seeing that writ large through the commission of inquiry. But I think it's a very important point that most unions, many unions, many unions, conduct themselves in an appropriate way, protect their members rights, worker safety and deliver productivity on Queensland job sites, and we work with those unions regularly. In fact, I have a ministerial stakeholder reference group, unions represented on that stakeholder reference group. I meet with unions regularly, union representatives. They're an important stakeholder in delivering the infrastructure that we need here in Queensland, but we will not tolerate the behaviour that we've seen from the CFMEU, and there is no role for that sort of conduct on this program of work, or any other program of work that the government's funding across Queensland.

[inaudible]

MICKELBERG: We’ll be making some really exciting announcements on that very soon. And I want to acknowledge the impact on the local community in Paluma, of the considerable damage that we saw on the Mount Spec Road. And you they are aware, and as are most people in the community, that has been a considerable piece of work to try to rectify that damage on Mount Spec Road, we've made some great progress, and the community will have been aware that we've put in a wall to make that section safer, and being able to open up additional trips through that. Wayde do you want to talk about it from a local perspective? Yeah, I just want to acknowledge that the community has had to deal with the impact of that considerable damage after the flooding event last year. Wayde’s been a tireless advocate for the Paluma community, but more broadly, for the north, to ensure that we're able to get that work done as quickly as quickly as possible. It hasn't been a simple job. The damage was considerable. Been up there a couple of times myself, and you may have seen some of the videos of the boulders that needed to be removed through certain sections, the 300-ton boulders in order to be able to safely reopen. Wayde?

CHIESA: I’ll just add something quickly. Yep, I want to acknowledge the wonderful people of the Palooma community, was up there in February and met with local businesses and community, and it's been 12 months, and I'm looking forward to making an announcement soon, because we've got to get people back to Palooma. It's a wonderful part of the world. It's a beautiful part of the world. They've been patient, but just remember as well, between December and February, we know that we had another heavy, wet season as well. So it's a complex fix. I want to acknowledge their patience, but my message is, when the time is right, looking forward to making an announcement.

JOURNALIST: Can we expect something this year, or a permanent fix?

CHIESA: You’ll see an announcement very soon.

JOURNALIST: Of a permanent fix?

CHIESA: You’ll have to wait for an announcement.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] Wayde, while I've got you, you mentioned, you know, you're advocating for the region we know along the Bruce Highway, the [inaudible] River Bridge and, Gairloch seems to flood with even a trickle of rain. When can we see upgrades to that? Or are there even upgrades on the table?

CHIESA: I've been speaking to the Minister fairly extensively. Look growing up in Ingham, I know what Gairloch and Seymour is like, and it for me, it seems it floods more often and more frequently. And as the Mayor Ramon Jayo says, from a few 100 millimetres of now local rain instead of the flood waters, but I am working tirelessly, having meetings with the department, meetings with the Minister, to ensure we get the appropriate nets. And as the Mayor Ramon Jayo says, we can't flood proof it, but I think we can build it a hell of a lot better to improve the resilience of that section of the road, because that's the length we see in Ingham, that the trucks back up at Rotary Park and stay and have to wait. So I'm fighting hard for it. I'll continue to fight hard for it, and I don’t know if the Minister wants to add?

MICKELBERG: I’d just make the point that in relation to reaching that section of the Bruce Highway, and it is unacceptable that locals are cut off, and in particular the far north as well, and Wayde through his advocacy was able to secure a commitment to upgrade Gairloch, and we're working through that process right now, but I acknowledge the mayor's advocacy and Wayde’s advocacy to ensure that we do feel greater resilience in that particular stretch of road where there hasn't been the investment that has been needed.

[inaudible]

JOURNALIST: Obviously with the fuel crisis, people, you know, with the fuel prices, people are looking elsewhere for public transport. We've just heard that that's not really an option for many people in Townsville regions. What measures are being put in place? Are there any measures to make transport more accessible?

MICKELBERG: Yeah, it's a good question. I think it's fair to say that regional Queensland in particular, has been an afterthought of former states in relation to public transport, and it's something we're committed to tackling and directing to the advocacy of Adam Bailie, who's fighting for better bus services in and around his part of the world, in Townsville, we're very pleased to be able to deliver 50% fares, which has made access to public transport, bus services, in particular in regional Queensland, more attractive more affordable, and we've seen considerable uplift in patronage Since 50% fares were made permanent in February last year. In fact, Queensland has saved over $500 million and we've seen some of the greatest patronage uplift in regional Queensland. So we acknowledge that [inaudible] public transport regional Queensland as it is in South East Queensland, and will continue to invest and roll out new services right across Queensland. I want to commend the advocacy of the Townsville members of parliament, who make the case as to the needs of their community, whether it's links from the airport into the CBD or services that service the outer suburbs. There is a case for better services. It's not a simple process on delivering on new services on different routes, because it is an interconnected system, and it does take some time to plan, procure busses and additional drivers. But we're working through that process now, and I direct people to the advocacy of local members who are fighting really hard for their community.

JOURNALIST: So to confirm, there's no current plans to add new services?

MICKELBERG: So in relation to your specific question, which was, are we going to add additional routes as a consequence of…

JOURNALIST: Or more buses?

MICKELBERG: On existing routes, where capacity becomes constrained, we do run additional buses to support the capacity need on that route for them, sweeper services, effectively, additional services to pick up those who may not be able to be accessing the bus. And we are seeing that in Brisbane at the moment, we have seen increase on bus services on high frequency routes. We've seen considerable usage increase in recent weeks. As a consequence, we are boosting services as needed across Queensland to ensure that we are able to provide reliability of those services. But in terms of new routes, which is a separate issue, we'll work through that.

JOURNALIST: One for Wayde, as a proud North Queenslander you must be, are you fighting hard, or you're hoping that some locals get these contracts for the Bruce upgrades?

CHIESA: This is a prime example, RMS. They're a great local company. I think it was the second day after I was announced at the by elections. They're pretty much on the border of the Hinchinbrook electorate, and absolutely it's great news about local businesses being able to deliver on the local components of the Bruce Highway. And this is case in point here. How good is it, and when we need to do more, because they know the region. They get it, and they know how to deliver, and that's and that's what's exciting about this announcement today.

JOURNALIST: This is a wonderful example of cross legislative, legislature cooperation, this project. But do you feel, and it's a question for you both. There has been enough of that with regards to what's going on with fuel in the country at the moment?

CHISHOLM: We know that the fuel situation is very challenging. Australians are watching what's happening in the Middle East, but they're feeling the impacts of what's happening in their local communities as a result. We've had one meeting of the National Cabinet. The next one will be on Monday. We want to work constructively with the states to ensure that we're getting the supply into the right areas where there are shortages. So the Prime Minister's got a good relationship with Premier Crisafulli, I know and expect that the Premier will be constructive in his engagement, we want to coordinate as best as we can with the states. That's what the National Fuel Security Task Force, Anthea Harris will be doing, and we're confident that we'll continue to make progress and ensure that we're getting the supply where it's needed most.

JOURNALIST: Yesterday, there was an accusation from Mr. Miles and Mr. Dick that the state government voted down or didn't pass a five cent cap on daily fuel increases. That wasn't true. It was just a private member's bill courtesy of the committee meeting. What's your message to Mr. Miles and Mr. Dick about politicking at this stage where families are going but now we heard a lady this morning who wasn't able to take her kids to school on Sky and also attend carnivals, this sort of thing. So real people are hurting. What's your message to Mr. Miles and Mr. Dick?

CHISHOLM: My message to everyone in the community is that this isn't a time for politics. This is a time to put the national interest first. That's what the Prime Minister and our government is doing that's what we expect of state governments around the country, and we want to work constructively. We know that there's people out there, there's industry, there's families that are feeling the pinch and are concerned about this. That's why we need governments to act in the national interest, work constructively with states and give people the confidence that we can get through this.

JOURNALIST: Do you feel as a federal government, you are being adequately briefed by the United States and potentially even Israel on the Iranian conflict?

CHISHOLM: I'm happy to leave those matters to the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Defence Minister. But as I said, and at the start - Australians are feeling the impact of what is going on in the Middle East, and we know that it's having an impact in local communities.