Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the member for Blair and congratulate him and the member for Blaxland on their election to this joint. Based on their contributions this morning to this debate on the Infrastructure Australia Bill 2008, I think they are going to be valuable contributors to the debates of this parliament. Obviously they have a very clear knowledge of their responsibilities in terms of representing their electorates’ interests, so I want to congratulate them for their contributions.

There is no question that infrastructure is the veins through which the lifeblood of our economy flows. Proper systems of road, rail, shipping, telecommunications, ports et cetera are essential to keep our country strong and our economy growing. Shortfalls in infrastructure will result inevitably in bottlenecks in delivering products to market, as is evident in the capacity constraints faced in areas of Queensland and the Hunter Valley. These bottlenecks place extra costs on businesses, act as a brake on economic and productivity growth, and create inflationary pressures.

The importance of good infrastructure cannot be assessed just in economic terms. It has a direct effect on communities. I know this only too well—as I am sure you do, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott—from living in the Northern Territory and representing some of the remotest parts of Australia in the seat of Lingiari. The provision of infrastructure in places like these takes on a whole new dimension. Vast distances between population centres and a high number of remote and rural communities create a unique set of issues in delivering reliable infrastructure and ensuring people can access the services they deserve as citizens of this nation.

We have to address these infrastructure issues. People who live in these parts of Australia have unique constraints in terms of infrastructure which affect the way in which people live their daily lives, whether or not they live in any of the communities across my electorate of Lingiari, be it Alice Springs, Gove, Bathurst Island, or on Christmas Island or the Cocos Islands—two island communities in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 3½ thousand kilometres from Perth, both of which are part of my electorate. I commend the member for Blair for demonstrating the extreme shortfalls of the Howard government’s approach to infrastructure and the capacity constraints that have resulted from it in developing the Australian economy. It was the Rudd Labor government which highlighted infrastructure as a major priority—indeed, a key priority—with this piece of legislation being one of its first acts after election.

As a result of this legislation, for the first time since Federation the Commonwealth government has an infrastructure minister and an infrastructure department. It is clear that this government has put infrastructure front and centre on our agenda for economic development for this country. By doing so, it shows the irresponsibility of the previous government in neglecting its obligations to the Australian community. There are doubtless and apparent shortfalls to be overcome after 11½ years of absolute neglect by the previous government. In 2004, the Australian Council of Infrastructure Development estimated that the lack of investment in the nation’s infrastructure over many years cost the economy around $6.4 billion a year in lost production. The OECD ranks Australia 20th out of 25 countries when it comes to investment in public infrastructure as a proportion of national income. Given the nature of the Australian continent, the dispersal of the Australian population and the need for infrastructure development, this defies belief when we know that investment in infrastructure generates higher returns than investment in other sectors of the economy.

This piece of legislation is vitally important to this nation and its future. It delivers on our commitment to establish a statutory advisory council—Infrastructure Australia—to develop a strategic blueprint for the nation’s future infrastructure needs. It is not my intention to pursue the issue of Infrastructure Australia any further because it has been outlined by others quite significantly and well and I am conscious of the time line for this debate. But I do want to demonstrate some of the unique and significant infrastructure shortfalls and needs for the people of the Northern Territory. They are not unfamiliar to you, I am sure, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott.

One significant area is, of course, that of roads. For Territorians, not only are they our lifeline in terms of getting service in communities, but the nature of our economy means they are vital to the economic growth of the Northern Territory. We have approaching 300,000 live cattle exports crossing Darwin’s wharf every year, something I am sure would be close to your heart, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott. Then there are the mining companies which are developing in the inner Northern Territory and which use the Northern Territory’s roads. There is the significance of the tourism industry. And there is the need to have road infrastructure, the networks of roads, properly serviced to allow the very diverse numbers of communities to be connected with one another and the wider economy. In much of the Territory bitumen is scarce, and failing bush roads between scattered remote communities and pastoral properties are the norm.

Many communities in the Top End in particular face isolation year after year with the coming of the wet season. Roads are flooded and made impassable. People living in these communities can be cut off for months at a time from the delivery of supplies and essential services. As an example, the Wollogorang Road runs 262 kilometres east of Borroloola through to Queensland. Borroloola is in the south-eastern part of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along it there are 10 major stream crossings, excluding the McArthur River crossing, which are closed to access for varying periods over each wet season. The McArthur River crossing is impassable for more than eight weeks each wet season. Locals have to resort to using small aluminium boats to cross the river, and in doing so expose themselves to the danger of strong and unpredictable currents. On the other side of the Territory, the Port Keats Road, or Wadeye road, connects the community of Wadeye to the outside world. A number of stream crossings become impassable during the wet. The causeway across the Daly River, for example, closes the road for an average of 114 days a year, with longer closures in years of extreme rainfall. In 2005-06, the road was closed for 210 days.

I know it is difficult for people in this place to understand what that means. I say to the member for Banks: if the Hume Highway were cut for 210 days a year, what would it mean to the people of Sydney? What would it mean to the people of Melbourne? What would it mean to the people of Canberra?

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