Editorial: Let’s get moving on Brisbane Metro expansion

After the Bruce Highway there is one much smaller financial commitment we are still waiting on, writes the editor.

A Brisbane Metro vehicle (right) on trial last October

The federal election campaign has kicked off in earnest, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visiting Queensland last week to shake hands, kiss babies and splash cash in a state he obviously sees as vital to his re-election chances.

Most important was the $7.2bn he promised to bring the entire length of the Bruce Highway up to the minimum three-star safety standard – a goal that was set by The Courier-Mail during our Help Our Highway campaign.

We obviously welcome the move. But there is one much smaller financial commitment we are still waiting on.

It’s a matter of $50m – not a trifling amount – for a business case for the proposed expansion of the Brisbane Metro to Carseldine, Springwood, Capalaba and the airport, as we report on today.

The $50m would not be new cash – rather a reallocation of budgeted City Deal cash that was allocated for the now defunct Woolloongabba Metro station.

Former premier Steven Miles and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner jointly wrote to the federal government in August seeking support to progress the Metro business case using the Woolloongabba funding.

More than four months on, the new state government and Brisbane City Council have not received an answer.

This is despite federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King saying in December that the proposal was supported, and the expectation that the reallocation would be included in the federal government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook in December.

It wasn’t.

The business case would investigate the best routes, station location and infrastructure requirements like fleet size and the number of fast charging sites required to expand the Metro beyond the inner-city and into the suburbs. It would also look at how the new routes would integrate with the existing public transport network.

So why the holdup?

If we wanted to be cynical we could suggest that perhaps the money will miraculously appear during the election campaign proper.

That would be a shame as Brisbane can ill afford any more delays to public transport improvements, especially with the Cross River Rail works trying the patience of commuters.

So please, Minister King and Prime Minister Albanese, release the cash that is already sitting there so Queensland can get to work.

SHAMEFUL DIAGNOSIS

It’s unacceptable that, in a nation with a proud history on social welfare like ours, people forgo seeing a doctor due to the prohibitive cost of an appointment.

Sadly, that’s the damning reality revealed in the Cleanbill Blue Report. It found the cost of seeing a GP in Queensland spiked in the last 12 months and only 14 per cent of the state’s doctors offer bulk billing to adult patients. More worryingly, more than 1.5 million Australians didn’t see a GP in 2023-24 due to the out-of-pocket costs.

The federal government’s Medicare urgent care clinics and state government’s soon-to-be-renamed satellite hospitals have helped take pressure of Queensland hospitals, but they haven’t helped ease the prohibitive cost of seeing a doctor.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek to make Medicare and an expansion of bulk-billing and urgent care clinics a centrepiece of the federal election campaign.

The Coalition in December launched a website debunking Labor’s “lies and scaremongering” about its record of investment in Medicare, but we’re yet to hear how Peter Dutton will make it easier and more affordable to see a doctor.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Michael Wright is pleading for a “significant boost to Medicare” to help, in part, incentivise clinics to spend longer with higher-needs patients.

We hope both sides of politics commit to an evidence-based overhaul of the sector to ensure no Australian is forced to choose between groceries and a GP.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Let’s get moving on Brisbane Metro expansion