MP Michael Hart and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey battle over how Worongary is pronounced

GOLD Coast commuters are desperate for an M1 fix but politicians can’t even agree on the names of suburbs beside the motorway.

GOLD Coast commuters are desperate for an M1 fix but politicians can’t even agree on the names of suburbs beside the motorway.

Last week the Queensland Parliament received a petition from 10,000 people requesting a study to upgrade the M1.

When Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey rose to defend the Palaszczuk Government’s record on the motorway he mentioned Worongary, pronouncing it WoronGARY, rather than the more common WoRONgary.

Road Safety Minister Mark Bailey. Photographer: Liam Kidston

This led Member for Burleigh Michael Hart to accuse the minister of mistakenly calling the suburb “Wollongarry”.

“Wollongarry, that is Worongary, in fact,” Mr Hart said.

Mr Bailey responded today, saying: “I was born on the Gold Coast, know it well, have relatives there and visit regularly.

“The Parliamentary Hansard tape backs me up over Mr Hart’s latest stunt.

“Mr Hart spends too much time playing political games and not enough standing up for the M1.”

The tapes do indeed back up Mr Bailey’s assertion, although he did not take the opportunity to correct Mr Hart during the sitting.

Member for Burleigh Michael Hart

And the whole debate did nothing improve the lot of motorists stuck in traffic jams.

The word Worongary means to climb a vine and comes from the local indigenous language.

It was one of the earliest settled areas on the Gold Coast, with timber getters working in the Hinterland both there and in Mudgeeraba in the late 1850s and 1960s.