Anthony Albanese joins Steven Miles on another day of election campaign
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on the campaign trail with Steven Miles, has once again sidestepped calls to match federal Opposition funding splits for Bruce Highway upgrades.
QLD Votes
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Votes. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese once again sidestepped calls to match federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s pledge to go 80:20 on future federal/state funding splits for Bruce Highway upgrades.
Mr Albanese, campaigning alongside Deputy Premier and Treasurer Cameron Dick, state Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon and his federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Logan on Tuesday, instead spruiked his government’s existing projects and funding pledges for the highway.
“He (Mr Dutton) hasn’t done anything. He was part of a government that didn’t fund things but was good at media releases,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“I’ll give you a big clue, you can’t drive on a media release.
“What you can drive on is a road and to build a road you need money.
“So Rockhampton ring road, for example, was $700m short in terms of its funding.
“The former government made announcements with zero dollars attached to it.
“Last time we put record funding into the Bruce Highway _ $1.3bn under the Howard government, $7.6bn under us, and we have $10bn in our plan for the Bruce Hwy including additional money that we put in the last budget.’’
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, campaigning alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, state Treasurer Cameron Dick and state Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon in the seat of Waterford in Logan backed the State Government’s controversial GP clinics scheme to open 50 bulk billing GP clinics.
Critics have said the policy amounted to a tacit admission that successive federal governments had failed to lift the Medicare rebate to a level where more GPs had the incentive to bulk bill.
“I think it’s a tacit admission that both (state and federal) Labor governments are investing, in our case billions and billions, in strengthening Medicare,’’ Mr Chalmers said.
“There is an urgent care clinic down the road in Browns Plains (near where he was speaking) taking the pressure off Logan Hospital, which is just next door.
“These are the investments that Labor governments make in local communities and getting out-of-pocket costs down.
“We welcome the contribution that the Miles Labor government is taking to the table when it comes to providing more money for health … so we can get the waiting times down, so that we can take pressure off local hospitals, but most importantly making that we’re providing the health care that local families and pensioners need.’’
Earlier it was announced that a community housing project aiming to build more than 600 affordable homes across seven southeast Queensland sites will receive a $300m federal government boost.
The funding injection is one of two major housing announcements set to be made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Brisbane, with the federal government also pouring $40m to unlock a 500-home development in Logan.
Mr Albanese is set to lend his power to the Queensland election for a second day, after he appeared alongside Premier Steven Miles for the first time during the campaign on the Gold Coast on Monday.
The pair took a ride on the Gold Coast Light Rail before Mr Albanese espoused the virtues of Mr Miles and the benefits of keeping a state Labor government in place.
This despite Mr Albanese himself saying government’s “don’t get better in their fourth term, in general” when he was battling to beat Scott Morrison for the top job in 2022.
“I tell you what, this bloke here is going to get better and better. Steven Miles has been a champion,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese brushed off suggestions that some federal Labor figures were hoping voters would “go easy’’ on them at next year’s election after venting their frustration at Queensland Labor on October 26.
“I want people to vote Labor in Queensland and return Steven Miles as premier and this bloke here (pointing to Cameron Dick) as the deputy premier because I want a government that actually cares about Queensland,’’ he said.
“It’s a government that’s committed to increasing housing supply, that’s committed to dealing with cost of living pressures, including the 50 cent fares I had the privilege of (using) while going on Gold Coast light rail yesterday (October 14), committed to free school lunches.
“This is a government that is getting things done and is worthy of re-election and I’m very pleased to campaign with them.’’
The latest housing announcement from the federal government includes $40m to pay for trunk infrastructure and fast-track site approvals for 500 new homes at Meadowbrook, in Logan.
According to the federal government the cash would help get the sites approved in 12 weeks instead of 12 months.
Housing Australia will also funnel $300m into a three-way partnership with the state government and major superannuation outfit Australian Retirement Trust to deliver more than 600 social, affordable and rental homes across seven sites in the southeast.
In total the project will cost $855m, with $405m coming from the state government.
The Brisbane Housing Company will deliver and manage the developments across seven sites, including two in Chermside and one each in Stones Corner, Redcliffe, Woolloongabba, Toowoomba, and Southport.
Construction is underway at the Chermside, Redcliffe and Stones Corner sites, with building to get underway in 2025 at the Toowoomba, Woolloongabba and Southport sites.
Sex work laws safe under LNP despite criticism from own MP
Sex work will continue to be legal in Queensland under an LNP government despite public criticism of Labor’s decriminalisation of the industry as ‘a mess’.
Changes to police pursuits under an elected LNP after 13-year ban
David Crisafulli has promised an extra 1600 police recruits and vowed to find a ‘balance’ between safety and effective crime fighting as some officers push for changes to pursuit policy.