Scott Morrison reveals blueprint for Brisbane road, rail projects

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed a blueprint for new local road and rail projects to end traffic snarls crippling southeast Queensland.

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has revealed a blueprint for new local road and rail projects to end traffic snarls crippling southeast Queensland, in an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail.

Mr Morrison also revealed a highly personalised and confronting campaign ­detailing what a Shorten-led government would mean for Queenslanders.

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Ahead of the Government’s first Cabinet meeting of the year tomorrow, to be held in Brisbane, Mr Morrison will hit the hustings in the southeast to start rolling out plans that aim to smash congestion and connect satellite cities to Brisbane.

The PM is expected to ­arrive tomorrow, visiting electorates that represent some of the biggest concerns for the LNP in the southeast – Brisbane, Petrie, Dickson, Bowman, Bonner, Forde and Wright – before he leaves on Thursday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will hold his Government’s first Cabinet meeting of 2019 in Brisbane on Tuesday. Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

He is also planning to campaign in Griffith, the only seat held by Labor.

The politics will be local, and he will leverage off the investment inertia accused of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, plus warn of the serious financial risk of having Labor ruling at a state and federal level.

It is understood upgrading carparks at key railway stations is being discussed ahead of May’s Federal Budget. There will also be a specific focus on boosting jobs in Queensland, which is flailing behind NSW, Victoria and smaller states.

And he will seize on what was learned from the Victorian state election – that voters will brush aside controversial local issues, like Labor’s red shirt scandal, if they believe their government is delivering on projects they need.

In Victoria, removing rail level-crossings which caused congestion was believed to be a stroke of genius by Premier Daniel Andrews.

To energise local LNP members to door knock, raise funds – highlighting the ­importance of the state – highly placed sources revealed the Government’s election campaign headquarters will be in Brisbane.

Mr Morrison said cutting congestion had economic and social benefits and he had already announced $1.6 billion in Queensland since becoming Prime Minister five months ago, but more was to come.

He said long commutes home were putting pressure on families.

The Federal Government will take on lessons from the electoral performance of Victoria’s Labor premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Kelly Barnes/AAP

“You can’t make sure they (kids) are off their devices and doing their homework, doing their piano practice or off at training if you’re sitting in traffic,” Mr Morrison said.

“I think this is what all families strive for ... but don’t achieve as often as they like and that is to sit around the table together as a family to have a meal together and spend some time with each other,” he said.

“This is robbed by urban congestion. We want to give that time back. You want stronger families, they’ve got to spend more time together and less time separated from each other because of those challenges of growing cities.

“Queensland can expect us to do that (keep investing in roads and rail) because we’ve also got the plan to have a strong economy in place that pays for it.”

He pointed out that half the voting-age population have never lived through a recession during their working lives.

Asked about the Victorian election, in which Mr Andrews recorded a thumping win despite police launching a criminal investigation into allegations of Labor misusing taxpayers’ money to pay campaign staff, Mr Morrison said: “As we go into the election, people will be quite less interested in commentary and politics and a lot more interested in what’s going to happen and ‘what does this mean for me, and what have you guys done, and what are you now planning to do’.”

This appears to be a hint that Mr Morrison believes that voters will be less interested in Malcolm Turnbull’s demise last August and more concerned about their future.

“What we’ve focused on is two principal things. The economy Queenslanders will live in for the next 10 years will be ­determined by who forms the next government,’’ Mr Morrison said.

The Government would tell voters about what Labor leader Bill Shorten’s $200 billion in new taxes would mean for them. Labor’s negative gearing changes, capital gains tax and franking credits policies would be a focus.

“Bill Shorten (will be) charging people higher taxes to pay for the financial ­mismanagement of the Queensland Labor Government … constant bailouts and no progress. (Queensland Government) is more interested in desks than they are in funding roads ... hospitals and medical services.”