News Corp Australia and NRMA Insurance have launched the Help Our Highway advocacy campaign, calling for urgent action to fix Queensland’s Bruce Highway.
The Bruce Highway covers more than 1,670 kilometres from Brisbane to Cairns and is a critical transportation corridor for freight, local communities, and other motorists. For years, the road has dealt with safety concerns, congestion, flooding, and funding issues. Hundreds of people have lost their lives on the stretch of road.
Help Our Highway is a three-phase print and digital editorial campaign that will begin today and continue until December.
The campaign will include conversations with state and federal MPs, consultation with lobby groups and local communities, and research and surveys to identify issues and solutions.
Coverage in all of News Corp Australia’s Queensland mastheads will support the campaign, with The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail, Gold Coast Bulletin, Sunshine Coast Daily, The Gympie Times, The Morning Bulletin, Daily Mercury, Townsville Bulletin and Cairns Post all getting involved.
The Courier-Mail editor Chris Jones said the campaign will be one of the biggest advocacy campaigns Queensland has ever seen, and that today marks the launch of an “unmissable, state-wide declaration of intent endorsed by every editor in Queensland.”
“On every newspaper front page and on every digital homepage today you will see an editorial blitz calling for urgent action. We’ll be calling on the Queensland Government, the Premier, and the Transport Minister to take action and we’ll continue that pressure all the way to the Queensland election and beyond.”
NRMA Insurance chief customer and marketing officer Michelle Klein added: “NRMA Insurance has a long history of helping Australians protect what matters and that includes staying safe on and off the road. We’re not only there to help when things go wrong, we play an active role in helping prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.
“Our claims data shows there has been a 48% increase in the number of incidents on the Bruce Highway between 2019 and 2023. More needs to be done to ensure the safety of Queenslanders when driving on this important stretch of road. That’s why we have united with News Corp Australia to advocate for meaningful change. Throughout this campaign we will use our own insights and expertise to help Queenslanders stay safe on the Bruce.”
The Help Our Highway campaign partnership was developed by Newsamp in conjunction with Initiative.
Initiative Media chief strategy and product officer Chris Colter added: “Newsamp’s unique depth of community insight uncovered the one thing Queenslanders want help with most… their Highway. By bringing together NRMA Insurance’s heritage of help and expertise with the unrivalled cross-platform scale of News Corp Australia, we have a real opportunity to not just generate action but create true generational impact.”