Federal funding pledge for Bruce Highway hits timeline pothole

Anthony Albanese promised $7.2bn for an upgrade of Queensland’s notoriously dangerous Bruce Highway but now there are questions of when the funding will be delivered.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli in Brisbane on Friday.

Queensland Premier David ­Crisafulli will seek assurances from the Albanese government that its promised $7.2bn in funding for Bruce Highway upgrades will be available from this year after federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher indicated the money would not be budgeted for another four years.

Anthony Albanese kicked off the election year in Queensland this week with the announcement of the major federal funding boost to deliver a safety overhaul of Australia’s deadliest road.

The highway stretches along the Queensland coast, from Brisbane to Cairns, and is notoriously dangerous in sections. It was the scene of 43 fatalities last year.

On Monday, Mr Albanese said “the funding will be available from this year,” while the Crisafulli state government committed to spend the remaining $1.8bn of the estimated $9bn needed to bring the highway up to minimum safety standards.

But Senator Gallagher, on the ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday, raised doubts about the timing of the funding’s delivery.

“Well, the cost for that will be reflected in the next budget update, as they come into those forward estimates years,’’ she said, when asked if it would involve any change in the current federal budget’s bottom line.

When pressed on whether the funding was included in the calculations of the last budget update, the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, delivered in December, Senator Gallagher indicated the spending would not begin for another four years.

“Well, I think the funding will be coming outside of those forward estimates years, because it is a long-term project,’’ she said.

Anthony Albanese in Perth on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

Senator Gallagher’s office later said the funding was “profiled” or timed over the next eight years, and referred the inquiry to Infrastructure Minister Catherine King’s office, who repeated the comment. Ms King’s office later said the “cost will be reflected in the next budget, into the forwards and then beyond’’. Neither office would not give any further detail.

At a press conference on Friday, Mr Crisafulli said he was aware of Senator Gallagher’s comments indicating the funding would not be in the federal budget until 2028, which he said were in “stark contrast” to what he had been told by the Prime Minister.

“That’s not what the Prime Minister has indicated publicly or privately to me, and as a state we will be seeking assurances,” he said.

Mr Crisafulli said the state government, which is in charge of rolling out the civil works, would be ready to “begin on these projects this calendar year”.

“You would have to ask the federal government where they are funding it from, whether or not they’re taking it from a portion of the budget that hasn’t been ­allocated to individual projects,’’ he said. “What I’m saying is that the Prime Minister’s public commentary and his private commentary suggest to me that there is money on the table, and the moment we can spend it, the 80 per cent of funding comes to Queensland, and that’s exactly the ­commitment that we’ve got from Peter Dutton.”

Mr Albanese’s announcement reversed an earlier decision made by his government that funding for joint state-federal road and rail projects would be split equally. Under the Bruce Highway upgrade plan, the Albanese government reinstated a previous longstanding arrangement that involved the commonwealth funding 80 per cent of a joint project, while the state covered the ­remaining cost.

The funding commitment comes as the federal government faces a four-year $22bn blowout to the budget’s bottom line, outlined in the mid-year budget update.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ mid-year economic and fiscal outlook revealed a 5.7 per cent surge in real spending growth, the largest annual increase outside a recession or major financial crisis since the mid-1980s.

It also included an undetailed $5.6bn election war chest, but did not allocate any money for the Bruce Highway upgrade.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who pledged to match the $7.2bn in spending for the upgrade, called on the federal government to disclose the timing of the availability of the funding.

“Queenslanders have waited long enough for the PM to come to the table on the 80:20 funding split, but now he’s at odds with his Finance Minister,” Mr Dutton said. “Who are we to believe?”