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Thursday, 7 July 2011
Page: 8123

Queensland: Roads

(Question No. 405)

Mr Truss asked the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, in writing, on 31 May 2011:

In respect of Budget Paper No. 2 2011- 12 (page 270) which states that $325.4 million of savings have been identified within the National Partnership Agreement on implementation of the Nation Building Program in Queensland, (a) what sum of savings has been identified for the: (i) Ipswich Motorway Upgrade—Dinmore to Goodna project, and (ii) Bruce Highway—Cooroy to Curra Section B project, (b) what factors led to the reduced funding requirement for each project, (c) can he indicate whether the Queensland Government concurred with the announcement in the Budget to reduce the funding for each project, (d) what is the total revised cost of each project, and (e) will these surplus funds now be allocated to the commencement of work on Section A of the Bruce Highway—Cooroy to Curra project; if not, why not.

Mr Albanese: The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

In the 2010 Budget the Federal Labor Government introduced a system of milestone payments according to actual delivery and construction of projects. I am pleased to inform you that we are getting budget efficiencies by applying these measures. The Queensland Government concurred with the reallocation of cost savings that has been achieved through this measure, in order to reinstate five projects that had to be deferred on the Bruce Highway following last summer's flooding events.

The planning on the deferred projects in Queensland was never halted and we always said we would bring them back to the original schedule if possible. That is exactly what we have done.