Sunshine Coast Mayor reveals federal budget wishlist

The Sunshine Coast Mayor has highlighted the region’s top priorities ahead of the federal budget.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli. Photo: Andrew Hedgman

The Sunshine Coast Mayor has highlighted the region’s top priorities ahead of the federal budget, with a focus on the region’s heavy rail project and Olympic venues.

The Australian Government is set to hand down their 2025-26 budget on Tuesday, March 25.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli said there were a number of projects the council was hoping to see in the budget, emphasising the need for funding to complete the heavy rail project and venues ready for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“I don’t even want to entertain the idea of there not being funding for Sunshine Coast direct rail, we have been talking about this project for 30 years, we have a budget allocation to continue with that, we need to push forward and we need to see it delivered all the way,” Ms Natoli said.

The federal government have previously committed to fund the rail project to Caloundra, despite the Queensland government’s promise to get the rail line all the way to Maroochydore by 2032.

In February, Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said the government was committed to spending $2.75bn on the project.

Ms Natoli said they were hopeful the federal funding for the Mooloolah River Interchange would also be reinstated.

“The kinds of projects that require federal funding are the rail, Sunshine Coast direct rail most definitely, there is also the Mooloolah River Interchange, which has been on our advocacy list since the federal government cut funding, so we are looking for that funding to come back in,” Ms Natoli said.

The controversial interchange project was shelved by the state government earlier this year after the federal government withdrew its $160m funding promise.

Ms Natoli said the council was also hoping to receive a boost in funding through the local government association along with funding for Olympic venues.

Federal Member for Fairfax and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Ted O’Brien, said he would like to see solutions for energy in the budget.

“While I support further energy relief, that doesn’t tackle the root cause of our energy problems,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Beyond tackling cost-of-living issues, I don’t want to see any further scrapping of money for Sunshine Coast infrastructure projects, particularly heavy passenger rail.

“Labor has cancelled a host of projects including the Mooloolaba River Interchange, and I have been fighting to ensure they honour the $2.75 billion allocated for heavy passenger rail along the CAMCOS corridor connecting Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast.”

Originally published as Sunshine Coast Mayor reveals federal budget wishlist