I write to congratulate you on your election to the high office of Prime Minister of Australia, and to wish you well. Your success is Australia’s success, and with challenging times ahead for our great nation, this success is essential to our security.
Public transport on the Sunshine Coast has long been in a parlous state. Since 2016, I have successfully fought to secure Federal Government investment to build better roads and rail in our rapidly growing region.
As you know, the Coalition committed $1.6 billion in the 2022-23 Budget to deliver the Sunshine Coast Rail project, which will see a rail line along the CAMCOS corridor, connecting Beerwah to Maroochydore via Caloundra and Kawana. Sunshine Coast Rail will revolutionise the way we move people in southeast Queensland – busting congestion on our busiest roads and reducing the use of cars and thereby carbon emissions.
This project was initiated by the Beattie Labor Government and backed by the Bligh Labor Government in which Premier Palaszczuk was the Minister for Transport. The project has the support of local families and their businesses and is projected to create thousands of jobs on the Sunshine Coast.
I write to ask that the new government honour the commitment made in the 2022-23 Budget and call on the Queensland State Government to match the funding and get the project done.
This is not an issue of party politics. It is about delivering for one of the country’s fastest growing regions.
I would welcome the opportunity to share with you about this project and the Sunshine Coast’s pressing infrastructure needs and look forward to speaking with you when Parliament resumes.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Wallace MP
Federal Member for Fisher
