LNP politicians call on Labor to fund $400 million Beef Roads project
“If we don’t start soon, I can’t see where the finish date is going to be,” says one advocate concerned about the future of a grassroots project to seal 457km of dirt roads and expand highways.
Rockhampton
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A Gracemere cattle trucking company has joined the drive to bring forward funding to seal 457km of dirt roads in Central Queensland.
It was revealed in senate estimates last week that funding for the $400 million Beef Corridor Roads had been pushed out to 2027-2028 and into the 2030s.
The work was originally understood to have started as early as next year.
The Beef Corridors Roads project was a “grassroots project” that came from community groups and was spearheaded by Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes, presented at Beef Australia 2021.
The project includes $300 million to seal 457km of roads across seven local government areas including the Alpha Rd in Clermont, May Downs Rd, Kilcummin-Diamond Downs Rd, Alpha-Tambo Rd, Dawson Developmental Rd, Fitzroy Developmental Rd from Bauhinia to Duaringa and from Bauhinia to Taroom, Duaringa-Apis Creek Rd, and Glenroy Road Corridor.
A further $100 million was towards expanding heavy vehicle corridors on the Burnett, Leichhardt and Dawson highways.
Owner of Gracemere Livestock Transport and the vice president and central region field officer of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association Queensland, Alister Clarke, has 10 cattle trucks that travel on the beef roads daily.
“It impacts us a lot, especially with the wet weather, and the way the roads are not being maintained the way they should be,” he said.
“We do a fair bit of dirt on the beef road corridors, across the May Downs Road, up and down the Apis Creek Road, the Alpha-Clermont Road.
“They are dangerous, even a little one like a 60km north of Dingo on the Beef Road at The Twelve Mile Creek, it’s a heavily used road and it’s a single lane bridge, we’re in 2024.”
Low level bridges are a main concern, Mr Clarke said.
“Bridges over the rivers, as soon as it rains you can’t get anywhere for months on end really, they come up and down a fair bit.
“When it rains the rivers are up and the bridges are shut.”
This downtime has to be passed onto the producer and down the line to people at home, he said.
“It’s hard, you have weeks where you can’t get anywhere so you are sitting around and you still have to pay wages and have your running costs, as soon as it’s dry enough, everyone rings at the same time so you are trying to do three weeks’ work in one,” Mr Clarke said.
The time it takes to travel these roads also has an impact.
“We’ve got stringent regulations on fatigue and when you have these roads it takes a long time so fatigue and hours are a big thing, trying to get livestock to their destination in an efficient time,” he said.
“We need a government to step up and show some serious funding to fix these roads and keep us moving.”
Banana Shire Council Mayor Nev Ferrier is worried if it doesn’t start soon, it will never start.
“If we don’t start soon, I can’t see where the finish date is going to be,” he said.
“The worst thing is if it’s $400 million now, in five or six years time, that $400 million, the way costs are going up, we are going to have to reduce our roads or they are going to have to find more money for us.”
A road in his shire that is of dire maintenance is the Bauhinia Downs Roads to Taroom.
“They have had 200mm of rain in the last couple of weeks and it’s in a bit of a mess and it is dangerous,” Mr Ferrier said.
“Dust is a big thing, without the potholes.
“We are very careful how we go about it with signs and all that sort of stuff but you just can’t do that all the time, the road network is just way too big to run around and try to fix every bit that’s dangerous.”
Mr Ferrier urged the state government to have another look at the project.
“Look at what comes out of Central Queensland with royalties and coal,” he said.
“The money keeping Australia going at the moment is Central Queensland and Western Australia.
“It’s about time they come and look after us a bit better. ”
Standing at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange at Gracemere saleyards, Capricornia MP Michelle Landry alongside Rockhampton-based Senator Matt Canavan, called the Labor government “disrespectful” for pushing out the funding.
“This is very important for our community,” she said.
“Over $2.7 billion of income comes from cattle in this area.
“It’s out of the forward budget and it’s just ridiculous.
“These roads are dangerous and they need to be sealed.
“People here deserve safe roads, they deserve safe passage into Rockhampton, into the abattoirs, into the saleyards, this is disgraceful.”
Mr Canavan said the funding had been taken out of the Beef Corridors Roads funding to make up extra money needed for the $1.7 billion Rockhampton Ring Road.
“They are robbing our beef producers, our coal miners that use these beef roads to pay for the Rocky Ring Road, why is that when the state government is getting an extra $15 billion dollars from the coal mining royalty tax hike that they can’t actually use of some of that to invest back in Central Queensland,” he said.
“Why do they have to take from Central Queensland, the royalties and take again from the beef industry from beef roads just to pay for the Rocky Ring Road.
“The Labor party promised at the last federal and state election that they would build the Rocky Ring Road and the Beef Roads.
“We only discovered this because we could question departmental officials at senate estimates last week.
“It only got exposed through my and other senators’ questioning last week in the Senate.”
He labelled the May Downs Road, often used by miners back and forth from Mackay, as a death trap.
“If you actually drove on these roads and saw them, there is no way you would cut this funding,” he said.
“I call on the prime minister, the agriculture minister, the roads minister, when you come up here to get your instagram selfies at Beef Week, actually come out to these roads, don’t just come into the pavilions in Rockhampton and try to tell us you support the beef industry, actually come out and drive the Springsure-Tambo Road, drive the Alpha-Clermont Road, the May Downs Road, and see what you are doing to the hard working men and women of Central Queensland.
“These are not complicated jobs, the Rocky Ring Road is complicated, cost blow-outs, designs, it goes over a flood plain … These roads just require a work team, even a council work team can do this and lay some bitumen.
“This is really good value, really simple work, just get on and do it.
“I’m more than happy for Anthony Albanese to ride in my truck and will go around these routes.”
Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Bart Mellish said no Beef Corridor funding was diverted for the Rocky Ring Road amd any suggestion otherwise was more disinformation from Senator Matt Canavan and the LNP.
“He did not deliver a single dollar for the Rocky Ring Road, and his party dragged its feet on upgrading our Beef Roads when in power.
The Miles Government has $100 million on the table to commence the Beef Roads program,” Mr Mellish said.
“Queensland Labor governments have always invested heavily in regional Queensland – from 472 upgrades right across the Bruce Highway and the fully-funded $1.7 billion Rockhampton Ring Road.
“QTRIP 2023-24 to 2026-27 outlines a $2.605 billion program in the Central Queensland Region, estimated to support 2,320 direct jobs over the life of the program.
“We will always fight for Queensland’s fair share – the same can’t be said for the LNP.”