THE LNP has promised to deliver heavy passenger rail all the way to Maroochydore, in a significant infrastructure investment for the Sunshine Coast, if elected in October.
Announced as part of the LNP’s Right Priorities for Queensland’s Future Campaign last week, the Brisbane to Maroochydore project would be a golden opportunity for a growing region, the opposition said.
The State Labor and federal government’s have agreed to fund $5.5bn to build the Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line to Caloundra.
A business case study commissioned by the state government found that the rail line to Maroochydore would cost $12 billion and not have been finished by the 2032 Olympics.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Olympic and Paralympic Infrastructure, Jarrod Bleijie, said only the LNP would deliver heavy passenger rail to Maroochydore.
“Under Labor’s plans, Caloundra will be the end of the line and become the carpark of the Sunshine Coast,” Mr Bleijie said.
“Only the LNP will link Beerwah to Caloundra to Kawana to Maroochydore and deliver the infrastructure needed for Queensland’s future.
“We will not stand by and watch Caloundra become a carpark while the rest of the Sunshine Coast gets short-changed.
Member for Caloundra, Jason Hunt, said he found the LNP comments “very interesting.”
“What the LNP is doing is writing the shopping list but not providing the actual funding,” Mr Hunt said.
“It’s all well and good to say what they would, could or should have done – and haven’t done in the last 40 years.
“The last four MP’s for Caloundra have been two premiers, a state treasurer and a cabinet minister – none of them put a single railway spike in the ground around that rail spur line.”