Opinion: South East Qld will grind to a halt for Brisbane 2032
It will take a miracle for South East Queensland not to grind to a standstill during the 2032 Games, writes Peter Gleeson.
Peter Gleeson
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With the Olympics a decade away, it is becoming increasingly clear we are going to need a miracle to avoid the South East Queensland coming to a traffic standstill during the two weeks of the Games.
In fact, unless this government pulls its finger out, we may just be witnessing the biggest traffic car crash in Olympic Games history.
Remember, we secured the Games off the back of a promise to expedite much-needed infrastructure.
Yet this Government is in a coma on new roads and rail.
And if you somehow avoid the traffic snarls, according to the latest data, there’s a fair chance you’ll be robbed and mugged by a young thug.
Worse, there’s a chance you may be living under a bridge, so bad is the housing and rental crisis.
The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are adding more than 150 people every week, and the Government’s under-investment in infrastructure and getting the youth crime rate under control is a scandal.
Victorians escaping Stalag Melbourne under “Dictator Dan” Andrews are leading the exodus. Now, we all know surging youth crime rates do not stop people voting for Labor – unless, of course, you’re mugged or somebody steals your car, and then it gets your attention.
But here’s what we’re dealing with in the southeast right now.
According to statistics crunched by our data guru Dan Petrie, joy-riding teens and unlawful use of a motor vehicle from 2015-21 resulted in a three-fold surge in stolen cars.
The Government will point to headline crime, down 22 per cent, but that is because traffic notices and vice crimes (drug use, drunkenness) are all down due to Covid-19.
Soft crime is down, hard crime is up.
On the Gold Coast, unlawful use of a motor vehicle has gone from 662 cases in 2015 to 1631 in 2021.
The Gold Coast has the highest net population increase of any city in Australia over the past 12 months, up 8403 people.
The unemployment rate on the Gold Coast (labour market region) in February 2022 was 5 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in February 2021 and 5.3 per cent in February 2020, pre-Covid-19.
It compares with a national unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent.
Across the Gold Coast, 67.2 per cent of the population was in the workforce, up from 64.8 per cent a year earlier and 62.9 per cent two years earlier, pre-Covid-19.
It compares with 64.1 per cent of the population nationally.
What this shows is that the Gold and Sunshine coasts are hot spots, growing faster than any other part of the country.
The Government talks a big game on pre-Olympics infrastructure, but a second M1 and a heavy rail line between the Gold and Sunshine coasts are phantom projects.
The Government just doesn’t have the money or the ability to pull them off.
And youth crime is simply a bad joke. The State Government’s attempts to tackle the crisis in Queensland has dismally failed.
One year after Labor passed its “flagship” policy to crack down on thugs, crime in South East Queensland has significantly worsened.
Just three juvenile offenders have been fitted with an electronic monitoring device since the government promised courts would target hardcore youth offenders.
Opposition police spokesman Dale Last said the LNP had repeatedly called on the State Government to introduce breach of bail as an offence for young offenders.
That demand is constantly ignored because the Left faction of the ALP won’t allow it. It runs the show.
Queensland: beautiful one day, stuck in traffic and robbed the next.
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