Government’s role must be as a facilitator and driver of investment and development of road transport infrastructure and the recently released Inland Queensland Roads Action Plan (IQ-RAP) offers a great roadmap for future investment. Four Regional Development Australia (RDA) groups have worked with 33 Queensland regional councils, 8 regional transport groups and the RACQ to formalise a staged set of recommendations to State and Federal government to address the increasing demand and necessity for infrastructure upgrades in the inland road network in Queensland.
A key driver for any agricultural industry is having efficient road infrastructure for access to farming inputs and to get products to domestic and international markets. With much talk of opening up new industries and regions to more intensive agricultural and horticultural production, particularly in north Queensland, improved transport infrastructure will be essential. The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) was briefed by the IQ-RAP chair on the progress of the plan and QFF congratulates the partners for their work and recommendations in the plan.
The IQ-RAP provides a fantastic and pragmatic framework that identifies key regional road network upgrades essential for industry and the economy. QFF commends the partners for working so proactively and collectively with such a large number of regional stakeholders and interest groups. The agreed Action Plan is an achievement in and of itself.
The Action Plan accurately identifies the importance of agricultural industries to Queensland. Our industriescontribute $13.7 billion and 5% of Gross State Product (GSP) and employ 323,800 people accounting for 14% of Queensland’s employment. Approximately 88% of those jobs are regionally-based and agriculture relies on access to efficient, safe and modern supply chain routes so improved roads infrastructure is essential to the growth and sustainability of the Queensland agriculture industry.
By integrating a statewide regional approach IQ-RAP has presented to government a fully costed prioritisation plan of investment in 5, 10 and 15 year program horizons to address significant road infrastructure shortfalls. The IQ-RAP provides the basis for governments to rapidly assess projects for funding based on their priority within the inland Queensland road network, safe in the knowledge that a robust and non-partisan multi criteria analysis has been undertaken.
The IQ-RAP marks the first time a strategic level analysis and prioritisation has been undertaken on a network of around 16,000km of rural roads, and provides a methodology that can continue to be used to monitor the infrastructure gap and review priorities. It analyses existing data on road and bridge conditions against established TMR intervention and vision standards, and prioritises investment based on economic value, strategic intent, safety, access and social value.
Significant new agricultural expansion is already planned in much of Queensland based on water resources associated with the major catchments and there has never been a more pressing time for government to come to the party and commit the funding needed to unlock regional Queensland’s future. IQ-RAP has been able to pull together a united multi-partisan systematic action. All we need now is for government to respect the importance of regional investment in Queensland and properly fund it.
To view the full Inland Queensland Roads Action Plan visit: https://rdanwq.org.au/iq-rap