Wyatt Roy's First Broken Promise

Wyatt Roy - Posing for QWeekend



  Australia's youngest ever elected Member of Parliament has blatantly broken a key election promise.

  Baby faced LNP wonder kid Wyatt Roy, promised $12 million to fix parts of a death trap, the D'Aguilar Highway, if he was elected the member for Longman.

  See "The first 3 things I'll do if elected"

  This highway has been the subject of many accidents, causing serious injuries and deaths. A large number of people turned up to a public rally including Kaylene Woodward, the mother of Stephanie Susan McPherson, who was the last person to die on this stretch of road. 

  The now youngest elected Member of Parliament has failed to deliver on a promise, he said would happen straight away should he win.

  Instead Mr Roy is chasing romance up the Sunshine Coast.

  While in a press conference he put a condition on the promise, saying in effect the funding would only come if the Liberal National Party formed Government.

  “We will immediately put the money towards there if we win the next election,” Mr Roy said.

  But later in his election campaign, he released material specifically saying if he was elected (not the Liberal National party) - the promise would happen. This promise at the time not only angered his opponent Jon Sullivan, but also members of his own party who had been working hard to get a result for the highway through what they saw as more appropriate means.

  It also came to light that Mr Roy's promise could never be delivered because it was under the program of Black Spot funding. The Labor Member for Longman at the time, Jon Sullivan, pointed out that this funding was decided on by an independent body and the amount Mr Roy pledged was the amount allocated to the whole State of Queensland.

  "While absolutely no schedule has been given for the delivery of these promised upgrades, I note that the $12 million promised by my opponent is a full year’s allocation for the entire state of Queensland under the Black Spot funding program,” Mr Sullivan said. "This raid on Black Spot funding to shore up a political campaign showed a lack of ethics."

  It has been estimated that between $40-$60 million is needed to improve the safety and efficiency of the road to:

• Meet population growth.
• Get a dual carriage way with a centre barrier to greatly reduce the risk of head on accidents.
• Get side barriers and better drainage. Full flood mitigation.
• Solve the traffic gridlocks created by events such as Splendour In The Grass and Woodford Folk Festival.
• To bring investment into the region which will flow though to local businesses and residents.

  Residents have become increasingly frustrated after ongoing crashes on the highway and general poor driving conditions, but no level of government has yet made any significant and/or legitimate funding pledge toward fixing the highway.

  State LNP Member for Glass House Andrew Powell, also campaigned on getting the D'Aguilar Highway fixed. To date the State Government hasn't allocated any funds. Mr Powell is concerned the Federal Government avenues he was exploring have now closed their doors in light of Mr Roy's over exuberance.