Jim McDonald: Inland rail, roads top priority after election

Jim McDonald was re-elected as the member for Lockyer at the weekend and says inland rail concerns will be one of his top priorities. READ MORE:

WITH a 9.3 per cent swing towards him, Jim McDonald MP was returned to the seat of Lockyer at Saturday's state election.

Having secured more than 45 per cent of first preference votes, Mr McDonald told the Gatton Star he was "honoured to be re-elected" as the member for Lockyer once again.

Mr McDonald said that only four people discussed the issue of state borders with him during the campaign.

This was a surprise at the time to him but says he now believes many people in the Lockyer community "feel a little bit removed from the pandemic" and so the concern and fear was not as real here as it was a motivator in other places.

He said most of discussions he had with voters was centred around changing the government as well as local water issues and road safety problems.

One of the top priorities for the re-elected member will be prioritising upgrades to the Brisbane Valley and Warrego Highways, which he said would have been "far easier to deliver under an LNP government".

But Mr McDonald said he would continue to fight to see that it is a priority of the Palaszczuk labor government.

Discussing the results of the other candidates who stood for Lockyer, Mr McDonald said he was not concerned about any strong challenge to the seat.

"The community knows that independents and minor parties can't do anything" Mr McDonald said.

Mr McDonald said one of the other main priorities that he would pursue in the coming months was reviewing the terms of reference of the proposed Inland Rail project, saying there are 168 concerns he wishes to discuss when the environmental impact study was released in the coming weeks.

Mr McDonald told the Gatton Star he wants to "be on the front foot" to ensure the best possible outcome for Lockyer residents in regards to the inland rail's development.

He said he's also looking forward to getting to work on delivering the promises he made to the electorate.

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