On Thursday 29 February 2024, I made a speech in Federal Parliament about the LNP's disastrous Indro Roundabout 'upgrade' project. You can watch the full speech here or read the transcript below.
Transcript:
Twenty-three seconds off your commute, at a cost of over $200 million and years of traffic chaos: that's what the LNP forced upon my electorate of Ryan with their Indro roundabout project. It was stunningly irrational and wasteful. The then federal LNP and the LNP city council partnered up to fund a roundabout upgrade that would deliver only a 23-second decrease in commute time. It was to be a $126 million project. It then blew out to an estimated $186 million in 2021, and it's likely at least $250 million by now.
On what else could we have spent those taxpayer megabucks? Maybe a decade's worth of high-frequency bus routes on the west side. Maybe hundreds of kilometres of new footpaths or separated cycle routes. There are countless streets on the west side without any footpath at all. No wonder so many choose to drive. This is not to mention that the west side is host to some of Brisbane's most notoriously dangerous roads for cyclists. Of course, the previous Indro roundabout had safety issues, which the LNP have been using to justify this project, but prioritising the speed of cars over other road users doesn't make it safer. There are so many much cheaper safety solutions deliverable much faster with minimal disruption. I'm sure the contractor who got the gig is happy for the money, but the rest of us suffer through what will end up being three years of disruptive roadworks interrupting commercial activity and sleep.
The LNP has spent billions of dollars on road widenings and mega road projects over the last decade, and guess what. The traffic has just got worse. In Brisbane, commute times have jumped by almost 50 per cent since the early 2000s. When you build more roads and do not provide other, more efficient transport nodes, you encourage more people to drive. It is a no-brainer. You can't build your way out of traffic congestion. The only way to fix traffic congestion is free and frequent public transport and making walking and cycling a real and safe alternative so everyone has the freedom to live their car at home and. Frankly, the only party that understands this reality is the Greens.