News Corp Australia and NRMA Insurance have launched a major advocacy campaign, Help Our Highway, calling for urgent action to fix one of the country’s most important and notoriously dangerous roads.
Lead image: Michelle Klein CCMO NRMA
Queensland’s Bruce Highway stretches more than 1,670kms from Brisbane to Cairns and is a critical transportation corridor for freight, local communities and other motorists. For years, the road has been plagued with safety concerns, congestion, flooding and funding issues and has claimed hundreds of lives.
Help Our Highway is a three-phase print and digital editorial campaign that starts today and continues until December. There will be conversations with State and Federal MPs, consultation with lobby groups and local communities, as well as research and surveys to identify the major issues, rally support and provide innovative solutions.
The Help Our Highway campaign partnership was developed by News Corp Australia’s client strategy and solutions division, Newsamp, in conjunction with Initiative media agency.
“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,” said Initiative Media chief strategy and product officer Chris Colter.
The campaign will be supported by comprehensive coverage in all of News Corp Australia’s Queensland mastheads, including 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.
The Courier-Mail Editor Chris Jones said it’s going to be one of the biggest and most important advocacy campaigns Queensland has ever seen. “Today we start with 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 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,” said NRMA Insurance chief customer and marketing officer Michelle Klein.
“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”.
