PRIME MINISTER'S QUEENSLAND BROADCAST-NO. 8
TRANSPORT
Sunday 11 May 1975
It's a sad fact that Brisbane has some of the worst
public transport in Australia. You all know what an ordeal
it can be getting to work, or home again or anywhere else
for that matter on overcrowded or dilapidated trains,
often running late into the bargain. Run-down old-fashioned
transport services are not just uncomfortable and slow; they
are uneconomic as well. More and more people are forced to
take their cars to work, and the number of passengers declines.
Transport losses increase, fares keep going up, and still
more people are discouraged from using the services. It's
a vicious circle, It's a problem faced in most of the world's
great cities, but with this difference: other-cities are doing
something about it. Brisbane is lagging behind.
When Labor camne in we.-gave a high priority to upgrading
urban transport services in our great cities. Of course we
can't do this without the ' cooperation of the States. We have
offered the Queensland Government almost $ 20 million over the
next three and a half years to electrify your suburban railways
and upgrade Brisbane transport services generally. No national
Government has ever made free grants for urban transport before.
The Bjelke-Petersen Governmentdithered and delayed for a long
time before accepting our proposals. As far back as 1957 the
Country Party in this State scrapped the previous Labop
Government's plans for suburban electrification. They did
nothing for 18 years until my Government's offer was made
last year. Some of you may remember the modern urban passenger
carriage we put on display in City Square a few months ago.
That's a sample of the comfortable, streamlined trains we
hope to see eventually on all Brisbane's suburban railways.
And it's not just in city transport that a Labor
Government is getting on with the job. Previou ' s Liberal
Governments in Canberra shirked one of the great development*
projects needed in Queensland a national highway linking
her coastal cities wiLth Brisbane and the southern States.
Labor has given the go-ahead for a high-grade all-weather
highway to link Cairns with Brisbane and eventuall' with
Sydney and Melbourne. Despite opposition obstruction we
have passed the necessary legislation to provide $ 1,126 million
for our national roads program over the next three years.
We are the first National Government in Australia to undertake
this essential program. No State. Government has had the
resources to do it alone. No previous Federal Government
cared enough to do it even though they had thq necessary
constitutional powers. We are using those powers. We are
getting on with the job.
2.
lh are doing a lot for other roads as well. For
example, to improve Mt. Isa's links with the rest of
Queensland the Australian Government will help build
: the Landsborough Highway from Mt. Isa to Brisbane as a
full-scale all-weather road. This will be part of the
national highways program, so Mt. Isa will be linked in
due coburse by first-class roads to Melbourne and Sydney.
On top of that we will spend $ 24 million in
Queensland on northern beef roads over the next three
years. All of this means a first-class rural and intercity
road network for Queensland. It's worth recalling
that the Bjelke-Petersen Government in 1972 promised that
all Queensland State highways would be full bitumen roads
by 1975. Of course that won't happen. But with the help
of the Australian Labor Government Queensland's roads will
be among the best in Australia.
There are two other matters I want to mention in
the transport area. One is the new international terminal
we are building at Brisbane airport at cost of more than
$ 4 million. We expect it to.. be finished by the end of this
year. The other concerns the Australian National Line. We
want to see Queensland's coastal cities served by A. N. L.
ships. There is no reason in the world why Australia's own
shipping line shouldn't~ ply between the ports on Queensland's
coast. But Mr. Bjelke-Petersen won't let them. He insists
that A. N. L. ships should only sail between a Queensland port
and a port in another State. And he's alone among the Premiers
in preventing the A. N. L. providing services between ports in
Queensland. As a result we have the absurd situation of
foreign ships being chartered to carry bauxite from Weipa
to Gladstone -a job that Australian ships could do just as
well. I'm afraid Mr. Bjelke-Petersen's obstinacy hasn't
helped transport services in Queensland. I spoke earlier
of railways. When we came to office the Labor Government
offered to take over financial responsibility for all State
railways. These railways are a crippling burden on State
budgets and financing them puts a heavy strain on a State's
resources. There is no constitutional barrier to the
Australian Government taking over these services in fact
the Constitution specifically envisages such a possibility
in Section 51. We have just reached agreement with South
Australia which will relieve that State of the financial
burden of its non-metropolitan rail services. Mr. Bjelke-Petersen
has refused to discuss our offer. So whenever you hear
Mr. Bjelke-Petersen crying poor mouth, or complaining of a
lack of help from the Australian Government, remember the
opportunity he has turned down to boost his State revenues
and improve transport systems throughout Queensland. My
Government is doing everything in its power to help. It
will be a great pity if Queensland people have to put up
any longer with bad roads or run-down buses and trains because
their Premier won't cooperate with a National Labor Government.