Brisbane Lord Mayor’s ‘pork-barrelling’ claim as Qld projects on chopping block

The Brisbane Lord Mayor has sensationally accused the Albanese Government of “pork-barrelling” Labor seats in the southern states as a war over federal infrastructure cuts heats up.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has sensationally accused the Albanese Government of “pork-barrelling” Labor seats in the southern states as the intergovernmental war over the federal infrastructure cuts heats up.

Mr Schrinner told The Courier-Mail with Brisbane’s residents whacked this week with another rate rise courtesy of the Reserve Bank, “now Federal Labor’s Christmas gift to them is a promise of more time in traffic”.

“The sad irony is that while Federal Labor wants to build boondoggles in southern capitals, Brisbane is growing faster than any of them because their residents are moving here in record numbers,” he said.

“The Federal Government’s threat to ditch critical Brisbane road projects is just a blatant attempt to pork-barrel Labor seats in southern states.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Pressure has been mounting on Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King to release the findings of a 90-day review into about 250 projects.

There were growing fears Queensland could be hit hard, with Ms King saying roads and rail projects - such as the key Sunshine Coast rail extension and Bruce Highway upgrades - would not be exempt from potential cuts.

But several major ones in southern states, including Victoria’s controversial $200bn Suburban Rail Loop, have been declared safe from the axe.

Mr Schrinner pointed to comments made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before the election, when he said he “won’t be a prime minister that uses infrastructure to play political games”.

“I will be a Prime Minister who invests in the projects that matter,” Mr Albanese said in May 2022.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese promised to “invest in projects that matter”. Picture: Aaron Francis / The Australian

“Anthony Albanese solemnly promised Australians before the election he wouldn’t play political games with infrastructure and now he’s doing just that,” the Lord Mayor said.

There were also growing concerns about a number of level crossing projects in Brisbane which face the axe, including Beams, Boundary and Lindum crossings which had been slated to ease congestion.

“We’re making sensible savings of 10 per cent right across our Council budget to put downward pressure on rates so we can prioritise critical transport projects.

“Meanwhile, we’ve heard nothing from local Federal Labor MPs who clearly spend too much time cruising around the leafy streets of Canberra rather than driving in Brisbane suburbs like Carseldine, Calamvale and Carina.”

Mr Schrinner’s comments come as Acting Premier Steven Miles continued to profess on Wednesday that the state government was strongly opposed to any key infrastructure cuts by the federal government.

But the Queensland LNP have repeatedly accused the Palaszczuk Government of “going missing” on the infrastructure review, with Deputy Leader Jarrod Bleijie blasting it as a “political charade”.

“For more than 180 days the Palaszczuk Government has not stood up for Queensland while Labor’s infrastructure chopping block was being finalised,” he said.

“Nobody is buying the political charade, especially when the ink has dried on Labor’s infrastructure cuts hit list.

“The only things we have seen are desperate lies and a sad political pantomime from an old, tired Labor government that is totally consumed by its own chaos and crisis.”

Originally published as Brisbane Lord Mayor’s ‘pork-barrelling’ claim as Qld projects on chopping block