A Shorten Labor Government would invest $2.1 million to commence planning to dual lane the Bruce Highway between Gladstone and Rockhampton to boost productivity and improve road safety.
 
This ambitious project would identify future priorities for capacity upgrades including increasing the road from two to four lanes and creating additional overtaking opportunities.
 
The commitment comes in addition to Federal Labor’s existing plan to invest in projects such as Rockhampton and Mackay ring roads to boost productivity, improve safety and reduce congestion, building on our strong record of investment on the Bruce Highway.
 
Indeed, the former Labor Government invested $5.7 billion over six years on Bruce Highway projects – four times as much as the previous Howard Government in half the time.
 
We provided real money for real projects which made a real difference – and we will do it again.
 
By contrast, the Morrison Government will cut $725 million in Federal investment in the Bruce Highway if it wins the upcoming Federal election.
 
In the 2017-18 Budget, it promised to invest $3.5 billion upgrading key sections
of the Highway between 2018-19 and 2020-21.  However, according to their own Infrastructure Department, the allocation was cut to $2.8 billion in the 2018-19 Budget.
 
The LNP has proven time and again that they only care about the Bruce Highway when they’re in opposition and then quickly ignore it once they get elected.
 
Federal Labor has long recognised the Bruce Highway’s importance to the communities living up and down the Queensland coast, and will invest in it so that it supports rather than hinders Queensland’s rapid growth.