JIM CHALMERS:
I'm absolutely delighted to be here at the intersection of Rochedale Road and Priestdale Road to see a really crucial, important project completed for our local community. It's a real pleasure to be here with the Mayor of Logan, shortly the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, with my colleague from the Federal Parliament, Ross Vasta, Lisa Bradley and Stephen Huang from the councils as well. This is what you can achieve when different levels of government work together. As someone who grew up in this area, who went to school on this road, I know how important this road is and how absolutely critical it is that we keep our kids safe around here. This is about better commuting times but above all, it's about keeping our kids safer. There are about half a dozen schools within two or three kilometres of this intersection. There's a lot of parents coming through here in the day, a lot of people going to and from work - something like 19,000 cars a day. And we collectively want to make it easier for people to get to and from work, to and from school, and we want to keep our kids safe doing it in the process.
This is a really important project. This is something I'm proud to have fought for in opposition, really pleased to see it funded and absolutely delighted to see it finished. It will make things better, quicker and safer here in a really important part of our community. Because it's the border of a couple of federal electorates, and because it's the border of a couple of different councils, there's a real onus on all of us to work together. The Brisbane City Council, the Logan City Council and the Albanese Federal Labor Government have all kicked in to make this project a reality. This is a really proud and pleasing day for our local community, for the residents of Rochedale, Rochedale South, Priestdale and further beyond. It will make a difference to the whole area, particularly for families and kids coming to and from school. There were too many accidents and too many incidents, too many times where our kids were put at risk. By making this intersection safer then we do what we can to make sure that our kids are being protected on their way to and from school and families on their way to and from work.
DARREN POWER:
Thanks, Jim. Just continuing on with what Jim just said, it's great to be in a partnership with another council and of course the Federal Government. I'd like to highlight the work involved with Brisbane and also the local councillors who have been fighting for this for a long time. I know at the Council of Mayors this was a topic that I spoke about with the Lord Mayor and he was very concerned about this particular intersection. He made it one of his pledges, and I know with the Federal Government pledge, it made it all possible. Timing has been immaculate - as you know, school is back next week. We've got a lot of schools in this area and this couldn't be better timed. It's a great result for everyone and it's great to see governments working together. Thank you.