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

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. By blocking this bill, they are standing in the way of the effective rollout of the Nation Building Program. That includes over 120 road and rail projects. It includes the elimination of thousands of black spots around the country, the installation of 292 boom gates at high-risk level crossings and the construction of additional rest stops for truck drivers.

The bill proposes changes to ensure there are effective provisions for major road and rail infrastructure projects on the National Land Transport Network, as well as for projects off the network, and effective provisions for the Roads to Recovery program and the Black Spot Program. We have secured memorandums of understanding with each and every state and territory government, including Western Australia’s. All those governments have entered into these cooperative arrangements with the Commonwealth to build the nation, and they have done that to address the 11 years of inaction that the coalition left the government with.

Blocking vital road and rail infrastructure projects at any time is unacceptable, but to do so in the midst of a global economic recession is a deliberate act of economic vandalism. Just as bizarre as their decision to vote against our legislation are the reasons the coalition give for doing so. They do not want federal dollars used to fix black spots on sections of our national highways. They also do not want to upgrade urban roads. The opportunism of the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the National Party is emerging as the greatest threat to the nation’s economic recovery and the modernisation of the nation’s infrastructure. Not satisfied with having left a major infrastructure deficit, now the coalition are attempting to thwart our efforts to act.

I want to address the two coalition amendments that have been put forward and explain why they are unacceptable. The opposition will be moving amendments to part 6 of the bill, which relates to off-network projects. The bill proposes to amend the principal act to make it clear that part 6 can be used to approve funding for projects which are off the National Land Transport Network in both regional and metropolitan areas of Australia. This is unacceptable to the National Party. They have therefore put forward an amendment stating that off-network projects should only be allowed in regional Australia.

We have heard much rhetoric from those opposite on those issues. It is time, though, that the National Party came clean. Here are some examples of what they used the strategic regional program for. Two million dollars was used for the Campbell Parade upgrade at Bondi Beach in the electorate of Wentworth. They said that was a strategic regional road and say they are opposed to the use of these funds in urban areas. You cannot get more urban than Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach. Any further east and you are on your way to New Zealand—and yet, for the marginal electorate of Wentworth, there was funding out of regional Australia put into Campbell Parade.

There was funding from the program in another marginal seat at the last election too, and that was the electorate of Bennelong. Regional road funding of $509,000 was spent on the upgrade of Balaclava Road, $239,000 on the upgrade of Cox’s Road and $280,000 on the upgrade of Wicks Road. What hypocrisy and opportunism from those opposite! And $10 million was used for the Lloyd Street extension in the marginal seat of Hasluck, allocated from the strategic regional roads program.

I will table a list of off-network projects to which the coalition is opposed. The list contains 41 projects worth $655 million that they are opposing if their amendment to this legislation is carried. In New South Wales: no funding for the Bega bypass, no funding for the Alstonville bypass and no funding for the North Orange bypass. In Victoria: no funding for Springvale Road, for Warrnambool intermodal terminal, for Shepparton intermodal terminal or for Clyde Road in the electorate of La Trobe. I will wait and see what the member for La Trobe does on this amendment, whether he wants $30 million to be spent on Clyde Road in the electorate of La Trobe. In Queensland: the Peninsula Development Road in Far North Queensland, sealing community road upgrades in Cape York. In Western Australia: the new interchange at the Reid Highway and Alexander Drive intersection in Perth. During this parliament, just last week, the member for Stirling came in here and said there should be more funding for his electorate for roads. Well, he has an opportunity in a little while to vote for that, or else his opportunism and his betrayal of his electorate will be known to everyone in that electorate. In South Australia: the Victor Harbor intersection with Main South Road.

In Tasmania—and I notice in the chamber the member for Lyons, someone who supports regional development in Tasmania—the amendment would stop funding for the Kingston bypass. It would stop funding for the north-east freight roads. It would stop funding to upgrade the Derwent Valley rail line from Boyer to Karanja, in south-west Tasmania. In the Northern Territory, it would stop the funding of Port Keats Road at Wadeye. Who could possibly be cynical enough to move an amendment to delete these fundings? Only the National Party. In the ACT, it would stop the upgrade of the Canberra airport corridor—$30 million. I ask you to think about that when you are struggling to get to the airport on Thursday night. Those opposite are opposed to that. I table the 41 projects worth $655 million.

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