Llew O’Brien, Mark Bailey clash over Tiaro Bypass

A two-year clash between federal and state MPs over a 9km upgrade of the Bruce Hwy at Tiaro shows no signs of abating, with the pair going toe-to-toe over when the project will be finished.

The continuing verbal stoush between federal LNP MP Llew O’Brien and state Transport Minister Mark Bailey over the $336m Tiaro Bypass shows no signs of abating with the pair firing new volleys over the project’s timeline.

Mr O’Brien took aim Monday morning during a roadside stand-up press conference in the township of Tiaro, where the Bruce Highway will be rerouted for 9km to the east.

He claimed that recent funding figures released on the project showed it had been “kicked out … past 2027 or 2028, or even further”.

They showed more than half of the project’s funding would not be spent until at least the 2026-27 financial year, he said.

Mr O’Brien said Mr Bailey had “a shocking track record of delivering projects on time, as we saw with the Tinana overtaking lanes and Bells Bridge intersection, which were years overdue, and the intersection upgrades at Gootchie where funding was announced in January 2019 and construction is still underway – four years later”.

This, combined with the “chaos” of the Rockhampton Ring Road funding – a 2023 start date for the project was left in the lurch following a $700m blow out, with funding only confirmed in December – left it “anyone’s guess” as to the completion date.

Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien says an expected 2028 "or later" completion date for the $336m Tiaro Bypass does not cut it.

“It’s not good enough for the local economy, it’s not good enough for safety,” Mr O’Brien said.

“We need cars on a four lane, safe road sooner. Now.”

Mr Bailey, however, said the figures in question showed “nothing has changed”.

“There’s been no change from the budget last year … there’s a lot of work to do, detailed design, that’s always been well known,” he said.

“We don’t build a major highway based on a few drawings on the back of a cigarette packet.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the figures quoted by MP Llew O’Brien showed nothing had changed with the Tiaro Bypass’ timeline for completion. Picture David Clark

“For Llew O’Brien to suggest otherwise shows he’s been very ineffective and doesn’t really understand what a road upgrade entails.

“The money is there in the forward estimates, the completion date is estimated to be about four years’ time.”

The pair has exchanged verbal shots over the project since 2020 after the initial plans revealed it was to be a two-lane divided road.

Mr O’Brien pushed back, eventually claimed a win when final plans showed it would be four lanes.

State MP Mark Bailey and federal MP Llew O’Brien have been going head-to-head over the Tiaro Bypass since it was initially announced as a two-lane divided road.

On Monday, he said the problem had been clear as day for the road, already carrying 11,000 cars each day and situated in the centre of a rapidly growing region.

“By the time this two-lane proposal would have been built … we would have been cutting the ribbon on a new project that already needed to be upgraded,” Mr O’Brien said.

He said a completion date of 2028 or later for the bypass was unacceptable and painted a grim picture for hopes of four lanes between Gympie and Maryborough, which has been the site of numerous serious crashes and fatalities.

“We know that Tiaro is the four-lane bypass Minister Bailey never wanted and said wasn’t needed, and this funding report shows that motorists will continue to be put in danger for another four years or more,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Consequently the dangerous sections between Gympie and Maryborough may not be four-laned for a decade or more.”