Thursday, 8 October, 2020
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It’s promise time
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Joseph Levick and Tiffany Cullen are the Ambassadors for the 2020 Warwick Credit Union Warwick Cup - this Saturday 10 October at Warwick’s Allman Park Racecourse. It’s the 160th running of the Cup - known as the ‘Royalty of Country Cups’, even pre-dating the Melbourne Cup itself - and promises to be a day to remember - read more on PAGE 2 ... Picture: BUBBLES BARBIERATO PHOTOGRAPHY
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Queenslanders will go to the polls in a little under three weeks’ time and already the funding promises are coming thick and fast - even for our own state electorate of Southern Downs, despite it being one of the safest LNP seats in the Sunshine State. In a rare - and perhaps even unexpected - show of cross-party ‘shoulder to shoulder’ Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week assured the State ALP government of Annastacia Palaszczuk that Canberra has “got your back”, announcing a raft of major infrastructure projects for Queensland under the overall banner of COVID-19 “recovery”. The package includes $1.3 billion for major road projects for Queensland, to use State Treasurer Cameron Dick’s words - “from Cape York and Cairns To Coolangatta”. Among the long list of announcements was funding for the upgrading of the notorious Eight Mile intersection north of Warwick on the Cunningham and New England Highways, which has been the scene of numerous fatal accidents over the last few decades. Strictly speaking the funding is not “new” the 2019-2020 Federal Budget included $17.6 million for the Eight Mile, part of $170 million announced last year by Canberra for the Cunningham Highway as a whole. Then again it’s election time and both State and Federal Governments do tend to employ a degree of ‘recycling’ when it comes to funding announcements and what is beyond doubt is that wrangling between successive Queensland Governments and Canberra over the Eight Mile intersection has been continuing for some years. But what is promising for the Eight Mile is tenders issued by the Queensland Government for the construction of an overpass at the intersection close next Thursday 15 October. The tenders were quietly opened in midSeptember this year by the state’s public works agency QBuild, with an overpass seen by many locally as the preferred option for the Eight Mile - with the overpass referred to in engineering terms as a ‘grade separation’ to physically divide the traffic streams. Neither the State or Federal Government has released detailed designs as yet for the overpass solution and the tender documents are only available to pre-qualified firms tendering for the project.
But basic details listed on the QBuild website state that offers from potential contractors are “invited for the construction of a Grade Separated Interchange (Overpass) at the Cunningham Highway intersection with the New England Highway (8 Mile Intersection)”. “Works include clearing, grubbing, excavation, embankment, asphalt construction, culvert works, Super T Girders and guidance delineation,” QBuild states. The project is to be constructed “under traffic on a full service basis”. For its part the Queensland Government has not confirmed the overpass will be built during the current financial year. But the $1.3 billion Federal roads package is understood to be tied to state projects which are “shovel-ready” or ready for construction to begin, in line with statements made by Premier Palaszczuk this week boasting that her government “gets deals done with Canberra”. “We have a real infrastructure plan with funding locked in that delivers jobs and strong economic outcomes for Queenslanders,” the Premier said. “We’ve successfully worked with the Federal Government to lock in more than $4.8 billion in new and accelerated joint funding for Queensland since last November. “Work hasn’t stopped in Queensland because of our strong response to managing the health crisis. “That means we are already delivering Queensland’s plan for economic recovery. “Thousands of workers have jobs because we’ve created a strong pipeline of projects that are shovel ready.” The Premier this week ruled out “deals” with minor parties in Queensland - such as One Nation, Katter’s Australian Party and The Greens - if the ALP fails to win a clear majority on Saturday 31 October. The LNP must win at least 47 of the 93 seats in Queensland. As it stands now the ALP has 48, the LNP 38 and the remaining seven seats belong to the minor parties and one independent. No pipeline announcement as yet Less certain than the Eight Mile intersection overpass is the proposed water pipeline from Toowoomba to Warwick Ms Palaszczuk announced during a visit to town in January of this year.
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