Residents whose homes were bulldozed to make way for a new road upgrade are angry it may have been all for nothing after funding for the project was cancelled.
Lynette Martin was one local forced from her home after living in the quiet streets of Mountain Creek on the Sunshine Coast’s Mooloolah River for 17 years.
“I was trying to put this off, but I couldn’t put it off. They said you can’t,” she told 9News.
READ MORE: Bunnings unleashes new secret weapon to tackle Coles, Woolies
“It was my home and I didn’t want to leave, and when they did that to me, I just … I don’t know – I was really upset about it.”
Hers was one of 135 homes resumed by the Queensland government to make way for a new road project – the Mooloolah River Interchange.
Of the 135, 84 were bulldozed and more than $80 million in taxpayer funds were handed out in compensation.
READ MORE: Driver’s ‘stupid decisions’ ruined five families, court hears
“They didn’t give me what I wanted. I wanted more but they wouldn’t do it,” Martin said.
The planned road expansion was spruiked as creating a safer highway and busting congestion.
Stage one of the project was forecast to cost about $320 million, with the state and federal governments agreeing to pay half each.
However last Thursday that plan fell apart when the Albanese government withdrew its funding, effectively cancelling the project.
“The project needs to go ahead, let’s be very clear, but it would be an absolute travesty if in the middle of a housing crisis residents were kicked out of their homes, the homes were knocked down, and then the project didn’t proceed,” Member for Buderim Brent Mickelberg said.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said he believes the project will still go ahead, but he’ll need to talk to the treasurer, who indicated the state can’t afford to fund it on its own.
“No state has the fiscal capacity to fund intra projects that the federal government cuts. Can’t be done,” Treasurer Cameron Dick said last Thursday.
Residents say they have had no updates and fear they have lost their homes for nothing.
“I don’t understand why they had to knock them all down. It has been for nothing if they’re not gonna do the road,” Martin said.
