Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Infrastructure Australia Bill 2008. This bill clearly is an example of national leadership, nation-building, economic reform and tackling inflation through enhanced productivity.

Let me turn to the bill. The bill sets out the plan to establish Infrastructure Australia—the body that will advise the government—and the Infrastructure Coordinator, to support the operation of Infrastructure Australia. It also sets out the composition and functions of Infrastructure Australia. I note with commendation that Sir Rod Eddington was appointed to the chair of Infrastructure Australia, receiving widespread community approval. Infrastructure Australia will have 12 members including the chair, and I am sure it will comprise some women and men of note who will be able to contribute to the auditing and mapping of national infrastructure requirements.

We all know that enhancing national productivity is a necessary component in the fight to tackle inflation. It is a fight that we are committed to. Infrastructure Australia will not be about our wish lists—and we all have wish lists for our seats; we know what we want in terms of infrastructure—but it will be about looking at infrastructure right across Australia. It will look at the national infrastructure we need to have in place to support and strengthen the economy and tackle productivity. It will also look at rural and regional infrastructure requirements.

The bill goes on to define nationally significant infrastructure to include transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure, communications infrastructure and water infrastructure—the four key areas ‘in which investment or further investment will materially improve national productivity’, which is a key focus of Infrastructure Australia. The primary function of Infrastructure Australia is most telling:

Infrastructure Australia has the primary function of providing advice to the Minister, Commonwealth, State, Territory and local governments, investors in infrastructure and owners of infrastructure on matters relating to infrastructure, including in relation to the following:

(a) Australia’s current and future needs and priorities relating to nationally significant infrastructure ...

But I go back to the primary function, which involves the Commonwealth, state, territory and local governments, because that is what it is about—it is about cooperation. Cooperation is the hallmark of the Rudd Labor government. If we do not have cooperation across all those levels of government and in this case the private sector—because we have to work together—then we will not be able to do what we need to do, which is to map, audit and prepare our national infrastructure to provide us with the basic framework that we need to be competitive and strong and to make our communities sustainable.

One of the primary functions of Infrastructure Australia is to advise—it is not to tell us what to do; it is to advise. Infrastructure Australia, supported by the coordinator, will have the ability and the space to be able to do that. They will be able to do the assessment and the research and provide the evidence that we need to make the decisions about what infrastructure we will set up. The fact that the Commonwealth government has a minister for infrastructure and a department for infrastructure—the first since Federation—demonstrates the Rudd Labor government’s bona fides on the matter of Australia’s infrastructure needs. It is a first, and long, long overdue. The fact that the previous coalition government did not have a minister for infrastructure and a department for infrastructure demonstrates their failure to plan and develop infrastructure required to build and sustain a modern framework to support our workplace, strengthen our economy and sustain our communities. The fact that the previous coalition government were missing in action over regional and rural infrastructure needs throughout 11 years of government demonstrates how they had completely lost touch with the communities in rural and regional Australia and with what their needs were.

The people in Page I represent live in an area that has no public transport to speak of and a roads network that contains the Pacific Highway—which is not just a highway; it is our local road. It is a road that carries an increasing number of B-doubles and all other forms of traffic. In Page, there is an expanding population of sea changers, an increasing number of aged people requiring different forms of transport, particularly for their medical needs, and an increasing movement of goods within the region. Page stretches up to the Queensland border, where we also have movements of traffic through an inland route coming down the Summerland Way. That is an area that needs to be factored in and looked at when we are talking and thinking about infrastructure. We also have lots of young people wanting to access educational services. All of this activity requires transport. I submit that water is essential, communications is essential, energy infrastructure is essential and transport is vital for all the communities to work and be sustainable.

In terms of transport, many in the region of the Northern Rivers want us to look at trains. They want more buses or they want commuter trains to travel on shorter routes. And who can disagree, particularly when we are faced with the challenges of climate change? We are told that trains are far more friendly in terms of climate change, but there are costs. We have to determine people flows and how much it will cost—and that is in all areas, not just trains. The member for Riverina talked about trains and how the New South Wales government had cut train services. The cuts to train services have been going on since the sixties. I agree that there have been such cuts, but it is an old problem and it is one that has not been addressed. Where I live, the train services have been wound back since the sixties. The cuts reached their zenith under a coalition government. The motorail was taken off and the timetabling was changed. It became very unfriendly to country people. People also talk about the ‘missing link’ up my way and how we should have the ‘missing link’. Since 1984 there have been six inquiries done on the ‘missing link’—and the ‘missing link’ is still the missing link. That says something about how all governments have looked at the issue of trains and the ‘missing link’. In fact, when Premier Greiner was leading the New South Wales government, another report was done on the ‘missing link’. It never saw the light of day, but we did manage to get a look at it. It was just one of those issues that nobody would touch.

Good infrastructure is the difference. We need good infrastructure. It is actually the difference between a developing and a developed nation. We are a developed nation, but the OECD has said in terms of infrastructure we are No. 20 out of 25 countries on that list. That does not say a lot about the state of our infrastructure. Infrastructure is the stuff that makes our communities work. It is running water. It is sanitation. It is the power or energy system—that is, generally electricity but also changing forms of energy in keeping with environmental and climate change concerns. It is roads. It is bridges. It is schools. It is hospitals. It is also telecommunications, high-speed internet and download capacity. As the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government said in his address to the National Press Club on 20 February:

Infrastructure is the basic framework or underlying foundation of an organisation or a system.

If we do not get that right, we do not get anything right. That is why it has been necessary to have a minister for infrastructure, to have an infrastructure department and to set up Infrastructure Australia. If we do not get the basics right, it is hard to get anything else right.

Indeed it is, but there has been neglect. If we neglect that then we neglect our economy. Our economy relies on sound and modern infrastructure. The previous coalition government, who trumpeted their economic credentials, failed miserably here. They not only did not identify critical infrastructure needs but did not take infrastructure seriously as an issue, which is inherent to maintaining a strong economy and to tacking inflation. This is despite the 20 warnings from the Reserve Bank regarding inflation that they received. The Rudd Labor government know that to tackle inflation we have to address infrastructure shortfalls. This is one part of our five-point plan to do that. The Infrastructure Australia Bill is a central part of the government’s plan to combat inflation. It will drive investment where it is needed most, fuelling the nation’s productivity capacity, not inflation. Under the Rudd government, infrastructure development investment will be motivated by need and not by the margin of the seat. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Keenan) adjourned.

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