John Howard's 2020 grand road plan for a $5.2 billion upgrade of southeast Queensland roads is a last gasp effort at holding key marginal Liberal seats around Brisbane at the November 24 election.The Premier Anna Bligh hit the nail right on the head when she declared John Howard's weekend announcement as just a re-hash of existing commitments and promises.
Howard came up with magnificent promises including a northern link tunnel, a Port of Brisbane Motorway and even more money for the Pacific Motorway.
And how much did he promise to upgrade the most-notorious stretch of the Ipswich Motorway from Goodna to Dinmore?
Nil, zilch, nought, zero!
It is the worst section of National Highway in Australia, yet John Howard cannot promise one brass razoo to eliminate the vertical and horizontal geometry which makes this 6km stretch an absolute horror for 100,000 drivers a day.
His weekend media conference had the sad and dejected faces of soon-to-be-defeated Liberals behind him, with the only smile coming from that buffoon from Blair Cameron Thompson who must be happy to know that in less than three weeks, he will be applying for the improved welfare benefits promised by Labor.John Howard can promise what he likes at this stage of the game but voters will remember that he has been promising to improve SEQ's local roads since 1996 and - just like the promised rail link to Redcliffe - nothing has ever eventuated.
And under the Liberals, nothing apparently ever will!
