The Federal Member for Ryan Michael Johnson is weeping crocodile tears now that his avid support for the Goodna Bypass has come back to haunt him. He has been preaching his outrageous stance over the bypass to the still unconverted and is wondering why the people are not embracing him with open arms.In leaked emails, he is quoted as saying he is "bleeding on this issue".
You don't need to be Einstein to figure out in advance that if you put a major motorway right through the middle of your electorate, particularly one with upmarket acreage homes, you are going to have many hostile voters on your hands.
But then Michael Johnson is no Einstein.
This hapless politician has now concocted a plan to construct two multi-million sports parks in the vicinity of the planned bypass to placate two Brisbane businessmen facing major financial losses on their Brisbane River waterfront homes at Moggill.
Michael Johnson sees this as the best way to get himself out of a very sticky mess even though the Queensland Minister for Main Roads Warren Pitt has quite rightly pointed out that the parks are not needed and were not part of the original bypass proposal.
The $2.3 billion Goodna Bypass should be scrapped immediately. Work could then proceed on upgrading the Ipswich Motorway, under the 2002 proposal, at less than half the cost.
Unless that happens, Michael Johnson can build all the parks he likes but the intelligent voters of Ryan will still see through his mishandling of this issue and his support for foisting this unpopular bypass on the people of his electorate. The Labor candidate for Ryan Ross Daniels must be positively salivating over this latest disclosure.
A cursory reading of Hansard will make it very difficult for Michael Johnson to wriggle his way out of his one.
He would be better off continuing his Prince Charles approach to his constituents on Moggill Road at Indooroopilly where he seems to spend countless hours just waving at passing motorists.
What you don't realise Michael is that most of the drivers who are responding to your endless hand-waving are not ordering "Two to the Valley" but are giving you a true-blue, two-fingered Aussie salute in recognition of your exceptionally poor performance as the outgoing Member for Ryan.
