Beef Corridor funding a political stunt ahead of Beef '24, says Tambo grazier

Tambo producers Matthew and Bernadette Paine run Myola, a 7000 hectare 2500 head cattle operation located between Springsure and Tambo. They are members of the Queensland Beef Corridors campaign group, launched by councils and stakeholders at Beef 2021.

Mr Paine said the project would support the growing beef industry across central and western Queensland.

He said the condition of the roads meant livestock transport was being slowed down immensely, reducing access to southern markets.

"We're 110km from town but it takes over two hours in a truck. Under livestock care, we can't go past 14 hours on a truck, so some markets we're priced out of in terms of hours and travel time," he said.

"It we had bitumen we could get that back to an hour travel and could get into some different markets and even supply better products."

On March 13, Minister for Transport and Main Roads Bart Mellish put out a media release outlining the state government's $100 million commitment to the project.

The project would be delivered progressively, with early works expected to commence from 2024-25.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said the $400 million of federal funding would be released progressively.

"The Queensland government is consulting local councils on the delivery of this program of works and the Australian Government's funding will flow once the projects are ready to proceed," she said.

Mr Paine thought the announcement was intended to take the heat off the federal government following revelations made by Senator Matthew Canavan in February that indicated the $400 million in federal funding had been pushed back from 2025/26 until the 2027/28 financial year.

"I think what we saw about a week ago was a Labor Government making things a lot nicer for them at Beef Week," Mr Paine said.

"Realistically the state government is only 20pc of the funding, so no one's going to lay their cards on the table until the other level of government does.

"There may be some sections of it started, but the main funding has been pushed out to 10 years.

"Wind got around that there was going to be a fair bit of backlash at Beef Week so the state now has come out and said they'll fund it next year, but next year they'll probably say the feds haven't funded it.

"Everyone can see through it, we know what these political games are," he said.

Michelle Landry MP, Colin Boyce MP and Senator Matthew Canavan have also slammed the announcement, calling it a "smoke and mirrors" attempt at announcing funding for a project without a clear start date nor clear commitments from both levels of government.

In response Ms King accused the Coalition of "playing cheap politics", while her government was working with the state government to deliver for Queensland.

Mr Paine was also disappointed some roads had been left out of the announcement, raising questions about if and when they'd be funded.

He first became involved in the group when councils brought together community groups advocating for individual roads. His group was chasing funds for the Springsure-Tambo Road.

"The Springsure-Tambo Road was not listed in the press release and that's what we're probably most upset about because we were founding members."

"Some people have been left out. Beef roads was never a pick and choose, it was beef roads as a package and even the shires weren't going to play winners.

"In terms of growth, we can see that we're just not going to hit the mark on where our beef industry is going to be in ten year's time if this funding doesn't come now."

Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Queensland president and Tambo transport operator Gerard Johnson said it was disappointing the funding may be delayed, but he was grateful it was still going ahead.

"Obviously it's something that we want because better roads means better bottom line for our business. It means less wear and tear and maintenance and less stress on the cattle. It just makes life easier all round."

He wanted to see the funding on the table now.

"It's always a concern if all the funding is not on the table yet and things can quite quickly change, so we'd certainly like to see it all locked on and the sooner the better," he said.

The March 13 media release announced sections along Clermont-Alpha Road in Mackay/ Whitsunday and Central West would be paved and sealed and floodway along the Alpha-Tambo Road would be paved, seal and widened.

Sections would also be paved and sealed along the Fitzroy Developmental Road between Bauhinia and Duaringa as well as sections of the May Downs Road in the Mackay / Whitsunday district.