Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for his question and I note his ongoing interest in infrastructure issues, including during a visit I had to his electorate looking at the area of South-East Queensland that is experiencing such extraordinary growth. Infrastructure is important, particularly in our growth regions; but it is important also because of the current economic context which the government faces. We are suffering from some severe economic challenges ahead, not only in terms of the global credit squeeze but also in terms of global increases in petrol prices. That is why infrastructure investment is critical. That is why the government has joined the nation-building agenda along with the private sector—as the Prime Minister has outlined, the private sector that is investing so much in infrastructure, as the capex that was released last week demonstrated.

Twenty-first-century nation building requires responsible economic management and it also requires a plan to deliver world-class infrastructure and to boost productivity. That is why we have put $41 billion into long-term nation-building funds: $20 billion into the Building Australia Fund, $11 billion into education infrastructure and $10 billion into health infrastructure. The $20 billion that has been put aside into the Building Australia Fund will provide for our long-term prosperity in rail, in ports, in roads and in broadband. That is on top of the $26 billion that we have committed to road and rail infrastructure projects, many of which we have brought forward in the budget. We have brought forward projects such as the Townsville port access road in the electorate of Herbert—and I am surprised that there is not some support for that. Certainly, my colleague the member for Dawson, when I visited there recently, was very supportive of the infrastructure agenda there and of potential major infrastructure projects in regional areas, such as at Abbot Point.

What we are doing is sitting down and working with the three sectors of government as well as working with the private sector on infrastructure projects, because the budget strategy was about delivering two things: firstly, putting downward pressure on inflation and interest rates by producing a $22 billion surplus; but, secondly, making sure that we put aside funds into long-term investment opportunities in order to secure our prosperity for the future. We know that when we invest in infrastructure, unlike one-off payments, it is not money that just goes; it is money that comes back. It comes back in the form of increased revenue in the future. It is an investment for the long term—an investment in our productivity.

We know that over the last 40 years productivity growth has accounted for more than 80 per cent of the improvement in Australia’s living standards—more than 80 per cent. But what did we see from those opposite? What we saw from those opposite was an attitude towards infrastructure investment that was, ‘The market will look after it by itself.’ There was no national leadership, no coordination, no work on harmonisation of guidelines, no work on enhancing public-private partnerships and no work on removing the impediments to investment in infrastructure from those opposite.

But of course you cannot put aside the surplus into long-term investment funds if you destroy the surplus. That is what we are seeing in the Senate from those opposite. Those opposite are prepared to rip $6.2 billion out of the surplus—$6.2 billion that will not be available for issues such as easing urban congestion in our cities, $6.2 billion that will not be available to deliver high-speed broadband, $6.2 billion that will not be available to improve public transport in our cities. These are all critical issues.

What Infrastructure Australia will do is produce an infrastructure priority list for the COAG meeting in March next year. Infrastructure Australia will guide investment to where it is needed most—to help parents get out of traffic jams and home to their kids, to get our exports to market without delay, to drive the digital revolution and bring the Australian economy into the 21st century, to make public transport a viable alternative to the car, to help Australia transition to a low-carbon economy and to give families the best possible education and health care. That is the government’s strategy, and it is one being opposed by those opposite, though not with an alternative—just opposition for opposition’s sake. There is no plan from those opposite, no alternative from those opposite—just opposition for opposition’s sake. They are opposing removing a 24-year-old start-up concession and opposing removing a rort that was introduced by them to draw a distinction between alcohol as to whether it is in straight spirits or it is mixed. They are opposed to removing that rort. One has to ask why that rort was introduced.

Our infrastructure record in the past is a proud Labor one. We are proud of our tradition as the nation-building party. That is our past and that is our future. In the budget we laid out how we are preparing the economy for the future, how we are creating the conditions for a decrease in inflation and interest rates and how we are increasing the prospects of our securing prosperity well beyond the mining boom.

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