Faced with losing his seat, Dutton promised $11m for a car park, more than double the work’s projected cost and the most overfunded in the country.
The car park at Ferny Grove station, in Brisbane’s outer suburbs, had been overflowing for years. For residents in the growing mortgage-belt suburbs in the Samford Valley and surrounds, hopping on a train is the quickest way into Brisbane. But it’s impossible to get a park after 7.30am.
In early 2019, the federal member for Dickson, Peter Dutton, came to the rescue. Facing a real chance of losing his seat, Dutton promised $11 million to redevelop the car park, the funds allocated under the Morrison government’s Urban Construction Fund. He also managed to get in a crack at the state Labor government.
“If Annastacia Palaszczuk isn’t prepared to put in any money, her government can plan and build extra parking with this federal funding,” he said in a pre-budget media release.
