Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009 and Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009. These bills allocate $2.14 billion to nation building and productivity improvement initiatives, with investments in infrastructure, education, workforce skilling, workforce transitioning assistance and child care services—investments which are responsible, necessary and urgent. We face some very difficult times ahead of us, not only in Australia but for governments around the world—times that none of us have ever experienced before.

To date, more than 30 banks have collapsed or have needed to be bailed out. Economies like the US, the UK, Germany and Japan are now in recession. Six out of the nation’s top 10 trading partners are now in recession. China and Japan, Australia’s top two trading partners, have both experienced a significant slowing down of their own economies.

Investment in infrastructure and human resources in Australia will therefore make Australia more competitive. It will make Australian businesses not only more competitive but also will bring down their overheads. If they can do that, then Australian businesses are more likely to remain viable and, will in turn, support Australian jobs. If we can do that, particularly during these very tough times, then we would have achieved a very important objective in terms of the responsibilities of government.

In regard to the responsibilities of government, if the previous Howard coalition government had invested more in infrastructure, invested more in upskilling our workforce, and invested more in education when they had the opportunity to do so—because they governed during a period when there was a resources boom in this country—Australia today would have been much better placed to see through the global financial crisis.

Let us look at what is happening with infrastructure in the Hunter Valley. This bill makes particular reference to the Hunter Valley because of its rail corridors and the allocation of funds to improve them. Those corridors over the years have been referred to as ‘bottlenecks’. These bottlenecks were created because of  underfunding of national infrastructure. With the additional funding that is proposed, there will be an increase from 97 million tonnes to 200 million tonnes a year of coal that can be taken out of the Hunter Valley. That is the kind of difference that this investment will make. Again, this kind of difference could have, and should have been made, under the previous government.

There is an old saying that goes something like this: you fix the roof while the sun shines. The time to have made many of these investments in our productivity was in the boom times over which the previous government presided. Regrettably, they failed to do so. The test of a good government is how well it governs in hard times, not how it governs in boom times, and it is my contention that history will judge the Howard coalition government accordingly. In fact, to some extent, history has already begun that judgement. In the 2007 election, voters voted that government out. As a candidate in that election—and I can clearly recall the campaign—I would say that the lack of investment in productivity improvement measures in areas such as infrastructure and education in this country was one of the key policy issues on which that election was fought. Voters did understand that there had been a lack of investment in those areas and that there was a clear policy difference between the two major parties when it came to investing in productivity improvement measures in this country, and they voted accordingly. That is at least one of the reasons why the Howard government was voted out of office.

I said earlier that we face unprecedented times, with the collapse of the global financial system in a globalised economy where national responses are highly dependent on international agreements. That has now been further complicated by a drastic change to the weather patterns that we had adapted to and built our economies on. Conventional responses to the economic downturn are being complicated by global climate change. Anyone who still believes that the way of the future is to have free markets operating in an unrestrained global market is sadly misguided. Governments are elected to protect the common good. Capitalism is fundamentally about protecting and growing the wealth of a few—that is its prime objective.

The $2.14 billion allocated in these two bills will fund a number of projects to meet community needs which require immediate responses. I take this opportunity to speak about two matters related to this funding. The first is the $250 million allocated to accelerating water purchase and associated structural adjustments. There is an implied assumption in that allocation that there is water available to be purchased. If there is, and the government enters the market with $250 million with the expectation that it will be immediately spent, the obvious reaction will be a spike in the price of water. That in turn would cause serious consequences for the growers and, indeed, for the nation as a whole. That is for two reasons. Firstly, Australian taxpayers would pay dearly for less water, and that is not in the public’s interest. Secondly, and even more seriously, the farmers and horticulturalists who need the extra water to survive would also be forced to pay more and possibly to pay at a rate at which they would be priced out of the market. If water prices continue to rise, struggling farmers and growers will suffer even more. So spending up big quickly is not necessarily in their interests. I am aware that the minister for water understands this issue, but it is a matter that needs to be managed very carefully.

The second matter that I want to speak about is that of the funding of national infrastructure and, in particular, the $392 million that has been allocated to accelerate the commencement of a number of roads and other transport links throughout the country. One of the projects that those funds will go towards is the construction of the Northern Expressway in South Australia. This is a project that communities in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and South Australian industry have been calling for for nearly 25 years. The new expressway connects the town of Gawler with a continuous expressway through to the Port of Adelaide. It is 22 kilometres of new freeway and about 10 kilometres of an upgrade to the existing Port Wakefield Road, which is already a national highway.

In terms of the work that is required, the project started in about 2003 with the initial assessments, and is expected to be completed by around 2010-11. I understand that in the course of the construction some 5,000 jobs will be created. Already, many of those jobs have been put in place, but most of those 5,000 jobs will be created over the next 18 months or so—that is, at the time of greatest need in respect of placing people in jobs in this country. That is a classic example of the merits of the investment being made in infrastructure under the government’s $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan.

Equally importantly, the construction of this expressway will save, on my estimates, transport operators around 20 to 25 minutes when travelling from Gawler to the Port of Adelaide in normal traffic. If they were to travel that distance in heavy traffic, the expressway could easily save half an hour in both directions. Given that most transport operators have to travel in both directions, this expressway will save one hour off their trip every day. Given that this expressway will be used by thousands of trucks per day, you can understand very quickly that the economic savings to the nation and those industries that rely on transport services will be huge. Of course, those savings can in turn be passed on to their clients through the cost of their services.

The second benefit for transport operators from saving an hour per trip on a daily basis is the reduction in emissions as a result of the trucks being on the road for less time. Those savings will go a long way towards assisting us as a nation to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The savings in emissions that we are implementing as separate strategies can be achieved simultaneously as we save costs.

There is a third and very important reason why I talk about this expressway. The expressway will not travel through the Makin electorate; however, it will be of huge benefit to the Makin electorate. Vehicles currently use Main North Road to get to the same destination. Main North Road forms the western boundary of the Makin electorate and is used by many people in the electorate. The expressway will provide all of those trucks and many motorists currently using Main North Road with an alternative route. That reduction in the volume of traffic on Main North Road will make life much easier for people commuting to work five, six or even seven days per week. If their commuting time can be reduced not only will they save petrol and therefore costs but they will contribute to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that we as a nation are trying to achieve.

The benefits of this kind of investment are massive. I suspect that if you were to take the time to work it out—and I have not had the time to work this out—you would find that what is being spent on this expressway will be returned in only a few years. In fact, what is returned to the government and consumers will be more than what is being expended right now, and in years to come there will obviously be ongoing benefits.

A couple of weeks ago the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government formally opened an asphalt plant that has been designed and constructed onsite to service the construction of this expressway. It is a very impressive asphalt plant. I have seen asphalt plants and I have to say that this is as good as I have ever seen. It will produce about 2,000 tonnes of asphalt per day. This plant is an investment in the local region that will continue long after the expressway is completed and it will support other construction projects in the northern part of South Australia. With this national infrastructure project, we are building not only an expressway but a plant that will be there for the long haul. I know there have been some other transport projects in this general region that have been put to the federal government. Certainly, if and when those projects are funded, this new facility will be in close proximity to them to provide asphalt. This new plant will be able to provide asphalt at the best possible price.

I could talk about a number of other initiatives that are being funded in these two appropriation bills, but others have done so so I will not repeat them. Both of these bills fund projects that are urgent and that have long-lasting benefits for this nation. For those reasons I support and commend the bills to the House.

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