A road project that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited to spruik his $7.2 billion outlay for a Queensland highway failed a cost-benefit assessment by the government’s independent infrastructure adviser that Labor had vowed to follow.

Mr Albanese visited the Rockhampton ring road on Tuesday, where he was surrounded by workers in orange high-vis gear and journalists, as he talked up his government’s $1.2 billion investment in a project that is already under construction.