Labor forced to rule out new ‘Koala Hwy’ but mystery remains over new route
Angry residents have demanded Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk be straight with them and immediately reveal where the six-lane Coomera Connector will be built after secret unpublished maps revealed a controversial proposed route.
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The Palaszczuk Government has been forced to insist it won’t destroy sensitive koala habitat after secret maps emerged revealing the route had been short-listed for a major new southeast Queensland highway.
In what threatened to become a repeat of the infamous 1995 koala highway scandal that sunk the Labor Goss government, unpublished maps for the northern section of the Coomera Connector reveal a proposed route through the Daisy Hill environmental forest.
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Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey last night ruled out that route, but thousands of residents are in limbo ahead of the election, with six other options still being considered – one through fragile wetlands south of Brisbane.
The controversial Daisy Hill route is one of eight that appears on the map and mirrors similar plans from 1995, which eventually cost Wayne Goss power when the Liberal National opposition proposed an upgrade to the existing M1.
Residents have now demanded Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk be straight with them and immediately reveal where the six-lane road will be built through before voters go to the polls on October 31.
Thousands of residents across Logan and Brisbane suburbs could be impacted by the new routes, which were drawn up as alternatives after community uproar over the government’s preferred route that cuts through fragile wetlands at Eagleby.
Eagleby Community and Wetlands Group spokeswoman Marilyn Goodwin said they had been locked in an 18-month battle against the government’s Eagleby route and obtained the new map during a recent Right to Information request, which is still yet to be published on the department’s disclosure log.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk promised us open and transparent government and our experience of this whole thing is that there has been no openness and no transparency,” she said.
“We’re a small, rag-tag bunch of people without any money to support us in a lower-socio economic suburb and people here feel they’ve been ripped off and ignored.
“It’s only the fact that we’ve got a passionate few in the group who’ve worked very cohesively.”
She called on the wider community to demand answers.
“We don’t want the government to be wrecking the environment, to be wrecking the last green space between Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” he said.
Ms Goodwin said her group first sighted the map of suggested alternatives in February during a meeting with the Transport and Main Roads Department.
“When we asked for a copy of that in February, we were told no … because it would concern people,” she said.
“We respected that until now.
“We have been trying to get information since then and we were hoping to get information prior to caretaker mode.
“We’re doing what we have to do now to get answers.”
A spokesman for Transport Minister Mark Bailey said routes on the map had been suggested by the community and are being assessed by the department.
“The suggested route ‘B2’ that had been suggested by the community, which goes north of Beenleigh Redland Bay Road towards the Gateway Motorway (and through Daisy Hill), was immediately ruled out,” the said.
“Any proposed alternative will need connect to the M1 and Logan Motorway at Loganholme.
“While we are moving ahead with Stage 1 of the Second M1 between Coomera and Nerang, we have given the Eagleby community a commitment to assess six alternatives to the existing gazetted route.
“Those six alternatives do not include the ‘B2’ route.”
He said the department has asked an independent expert to review an environmental report put forward by the Eagleby Community and Wetlands Group before a final decision was made.
“My office and the Transport and Main Roads Department has met with the ECWG a number of times, and we’ve committed to doing more local consultation on the six alternatives before any final decision is made,” he said.
Anger over the Koala highway dominated the 1995 campaign, where the Labor Goss Government lost 9 seats, including Albert, Redlands and Springwood.
The Labor environment minister Molly Robson lost Springwood with a 19.4 per cent swing against her.
In 2017, Labor launched a scare campaign over the LNP’s plans then to build a Second M1, with Capalaba MP Don Brown suggesting they could raze the vital koala habitat at Daisy Hill to do so.