Joel Angry Overpass not Built

JOEL Fitzgibbon, federal member for Hunter said he is tired of standing on the Scone level railway crossing asking why an overpass is not there.

Hon Joel Fitzgibbon, federal member for Hunter demanding to know why the overpass in Scone has not been built.

“I stood here once when we announced the Labor government would fund the study, I stood here again to announce the $45million that we would contribute to the construction of an overpass and here we are almost three years on and not a sod of soil has been turned,” said Mr Fitzgibbon.

“The Coalition government for some reason has been unprepared to spend the money,” he said.

“The state government said it would match the funding, but we are yet to see the colour of their money there seems to be a conspiracy between the Baird and Turnball governments to study the issue the death and therefore to avoid spending any money.

“The money has been there for three years, we should be driving on the overpass now,” he said.

“There is a debate about a bypass and certainly a Labor government would be prepared to contribute to a Scone bypass, but until the community decides it wants a bypass we should proceed with the overpass, it is a safety issue and a bypass will not remove the safety issue of this level crossing in Kelly Street, Scone,” Joel Fitzgibbon.

JOEL WANTS BARNABY TO HAND OVER THE LETTER

Joel Fitzgibbon also took the opportunity to ask why Barnaby Joyce has refused to hand over the letter from Paul Grimes, which he alledges may be the smoking gun that Mr Joyce misled parliament with the hansard changes.

“Barnaby Joyce needs to explain if he has lodged an appeal against the information commissioners orders and if not why he hasn’t released the letter today,” said Mr Fitzgibbon.

“It seems he remains unprepared to release the letter and if that’s the case the community is left with only one conclusion to draw that is that Barnaby Joyce the acting prime minister has something significant to hide,” he said.

“I suspect that the letter between Paul Grimes and Barnaby Joyce which of course was written at the height of the tension between Paul Grimes and Barnaby Joyce over hansardgate is at the very least a character assessment of our acting prime minister and one from a very professional and senior public servant and quite possibly the smoking gun that demonstrates that Barnaby Joyce mislead the parliament when he said that the hansard changes were made by his staff, without his knowledge,” he said.

“If Barnaby Joyce has misled the house he is potentially guilty of contempt of the parliament,” Joel Fitzgibbon said.