Stewart McArthur (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Vocational and Technical Education at the table participated as well in that committee and made a great contribution at that time. The inquiry looked at the importance of rail infrastructure receiving some capital improvements. The Tracking Australia report, tabled in August 1998, recommended a national track standard gauge linking Brisbane and Perth and also investment in the national track infrastructure. It suggested that the Commonwealth invest $750 million to fix the worst deficiencies on the national track over the following three years and that it should invest $2 billion over the 10 years from 2001. The chairman of that committee was Mr Paul Neville, the member for Hinkler, who has been a strong supporter of railway infrastructure and has taken a great interest in these matters.

I am delighted that in this current budget, after lobbying from that committee in the early years and from the Australian Rail Association and others, the importance of the government, the private sector and the rail companies investing in rail infrastructure has been recognised. The government is going to invest $270 million from 2006 to 2009. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services recently heard an outstanding presentation by Mr David Marchant, the CEO of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, in which he made the observation that with the introduction of some smaller capital amounts, relatively speaking, the north-south line from Brisbane to Melbourne could be improved and the times taken for those train journeys could be reduced quite dramatically.

This injection of capital will improve passing loops, communications systems, bridges and of course the rail infrastructure itself. It is interesting to note that 75 per cent of the freight on the east-west rail route goes by rail. It would be my hope that, with the freight task I think doubling by the year 2020, a large percentage of the north-south freight—that is, Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney—will be moved back onto rail. I commend the government on that particular initiative. It does not get a lot of headlines, but in 20 years time I think people will be delighted.

Could I just recognise the funding of the Geelong ring road, the 120 places in the Deakin medical school and the $300 million allocated in Roads to Recovery to all the shires and municipalities around Australia. That is a great initiative. This is an outstanding budget. It is soundly based and it sets a blueprint for the future.

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