View the video recording of the speech here
Record of Proceedings, 21 May 2025
Beaudesert Boonah Road is a major artery through the Scenic Rim electorate. For many years I have been lobbying for improvements to be made to that road, including the construction of an overtaking lane in each direction and also upgrades to the crossing of Teviot Brook at Coulson, which regularly goes under water even in moderate rainfall events. I reassure the Scenic Rim electorate and everyone who lives on both the Boonah side and the Beaudesert side that this will continue to be a top priority for me now that we have had a change of
government in Queensland.
That road is not only a major artery connecting the entire region of the Scenic Rim but also a growing economic route for the entirety of South-East Queensland as it connects the Ipswich region to the Scenic Rim and the Gold Coast. Lobbying the Minister for Main Roads and the Treasurer for funding for that road is a top priority for me now and it will continue to be in the future.
It was great to welcome the Minister for Health, Tim Nicholls, to the electorate recently when he visited Boonah Hospital to see the great work that is being undertaken there and to meet the staff, some of whom have been at Boonah Hospital for over 40 years. It is a great facility. It was last upgraded in 1977 when the Hon. Llew Edwards was the treasurer and the minister for health in Queensland. After 50 years or so, it is time for further upgrades to take place at Boonah, and it was good to have the minister there on the ground to see what needs to happen and to hear from the staff and also members of the community how improvements could be made.
We then also visited Beaudesert Hospital, a key hospital for that region and also for the southern area of Logan City. I am proud to say that in 2014 the LNP restored maternity services to Beaudesert Hospital after they had been gone for 10 years under the Labor Party. I will say this: the Minister for Health, Tim Nicholls, is probably the second-best health minister we have ever seen in the state of Queensland, just behind the minister for health in the LNP government from 2012 to 2015, the Hon. Lawrence Springborg, who did so much for rural and regional communities in restoring services, including in Beaudesert. There is more to be done in Beaudesert and we will continue to fight for better services at Beaudesert Hospital and at Boonah Hospital as well.
We also cannot fail to mention the Mount Lindesay Highway and all of the investment that has been put into that highway by the coalition government in Canberra over the years. It was former coalition governments in Canberra that invested in the Mount Lindesay Highway duplication north of Jimboomba. If it were not for the coalition and Scott Buchholz, nothing else would have happened. I will continue to fight for the Mount Lindesay Highway as well.