Gympie ambo Wayne Sachs was the hero of the moment when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to Gympie on Monday, pledging to spend $7.2 billion saving lives on the Bruce Highway.
It was Mr Sachs who 16 years ago convinced Mr Albanese, then Transport Minister, to begin upgrading regional sections of the Bruce Highway, starting south of Gympie.
He told Mr Albanese of the terrible toll of lost and damaged lives and the horror he experienced first hand as an ambulance officer.
“He spent a good hour with me. He listened intently. He listened and he acted,“ Mr Sachs told a national media conference in Noosa Road.
Effectively launching Labor’s 2025 election campaign from that Gympie roadside, Mr Albanese was accompanied by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a Queenslander, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Queensland Senator Murray Watt.
All were effusive in their praise for the Gympie ambulance officer who they said had saved hundreds of lives already as a result of his powerful lobbying for a start on what is now Gympie’s Cooroy to Curra bypass.
It was the start of what will be a decades long push to upgrade the most lethal length of national highway in Australia.
“He (Mr Sachs) spoke with extraordinary passion and anyone who had a heart would have responded to it,“ Mr Albanese told assembled media.
“It was February 2009 when he talked to me about his experience attending accidents.“
Others present at the meeting said Mr Sachs’ powerful submission had given them “goosebumps.“
Mr Albanese got the project moved from Priority Number 26 to Priority Number One and turned the first sod the following September.
Mr Sachs compared the old highway’s death and injury toll to that of a war zone, with 54 people killed in one 10-month period.
“Fatalities have actually stopped (on the upgraded section)“ he said, welcoming the Government’s new commitment to improving the rest of the national route to Cairns.
“They’re going to be saving literally thousands of lives,“ Mr Sachs said.
“I have so much respect for the Prime Minister for what he has done and for his Cabinet for what they have continued to do, not just for Gympie but for the whole state.“
Mr Albanese said he had launched the northern phase of the highway upgrade in Gympie’s Wide Bay federal electorate even though it was not a seat he could win, “because I’m determined to represent all Australians.
“Sixty-two per cent of Queenslanders use the Bruce Highway (and) there were 41 fatalities in 2024 – and two more already not far from here this year.“
Asked the oft repeated question of an election date, Mr Albanese said: “I’ll give you the tip. I won’t be going to the Governor General this Sunday.”
“I’m looking at an election in 2025,“ he said during a brief joust with members of the Canberra press gallery, who travelled with him.
He listed government achievements as “inflation with a ’3’ in front of it, wage increases, tax custs, two budget surpluses and improved aged care.”
