James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on the Nation Building Program (National Land Transport) Amendment Bill 2009. This bill is central to the effective delivery of the Rudd Labor government’s $26.4 billion road and rail program, our Nation Building program, and is essential to our national interest. The bill proposes changes to ensure more effective provisions for major road and rail infrastructure projects on the national network, as well as off the network, and more effective provisions for the Roads to Recovery program and the Black Spot Program.

The Rudd Labor government is delivering for Dawson, delivering on real nation-building infrastructure for the 21st century. We are delivering what those on the other side failed to do, year after year, whilst in government. The passing of this bill will enable the full implementation of the nation-building program to properly proceed. We are getting on with the job of nation building—of building up now, not later, desperately needed infrastructure to ensure we have world-class facilities for a world-class economy.

My electorate of Dawson in particular was well served by the government’s focus on delivering infrastructure spending now, not later. With targeted investment now to create more jobs and to protect our economy—an economy affected by the global financial crisis, which, as we remember, started in the USA—we will come out on top and in form as a nation. I am especially pleased that the bill will enable the effective delivery of the additional black spot funding allocated through the Nation Building and Jobs Package. Nationally, this bill will allow $8.5 billion in rail, roads and ports infrastructure for Australia to lift productivity.

We believe it is important to invest in nation building today to support jobs and provide infrastructure for tomorrow. The Rudd Labor government will invest $35 billion over six years on transport infrastructure. The Howard government, by contrast, failed to deliver on Australia’s infrastructure needs and left us with an infrastructure deficit. This is a government that listens and acts.

In Queensland alone we are investing $7.3 billion through the nation building program. This includes work on the Townsville port access road, in my electorate, and the upgrade of the southern approach to Mackay, in my electorate. There is also $1.75 billion in the Roads to Recovery program; $500 billion in the Black Spot Program, and additional investment in this program through our stimulus packages is seeing an additional 607 black spots addressed right across the nation; $70 million in the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program; and $150 million in the Boom Gates for Rail Crossings Program.

In my electorate alone, three Black Spot Program projects worth $152,000 are delivered in the budget. Alligator Creek on the Bruce Highway is receiving $100,000; Ivory Road in the town of Ayr is receiving $40,000; and Cape Hillsborough Road in Seaforth is receiving $12,000. That is three programs in Dawson delivered by the Rudd Labor government this year. But that is not all—there is more. Dawson will receive four boom gates for rail crossings, including those on Maraju-Yakapari Road in Mackay, on Gorman Street in Mackay and on Drysdale Street in Ayr, boosting safety and providing residents with real outcomes. Dawson and surrounding electorates are the recipients of six Nation Building projects, worth $62.7 million, including two new projects: maintenance works on the Bruce Highway between Sarina and Cairns in 2009-10, $30 million; and safety enhancement works in known accident zones between Sarina and Cairns, also in 2009-10, $10 million. These two projects will total $40 million in 2009-10 and $255 million by 2014. With the continuation of the strategic corridor program, the Townsville Port Access Road, the Burdekin Bridge maintenance and rehabilitation and the Bruce Highway southern approach to Mackay making up the remainder, these are projects promised and delivered for the seat of Dawson.

These projects cannot be delayed by those opposite, those without the ideas, without the vision that this country needs. I am proud to be in a government that delivers real infrastructure—not just promises, not just lip service but real dollars to invest and build the nation’s infrastructure for tomorrow, creating jobs now in the process. I am proud to be a part of a Rudd Labor government that is building Australia’s future today. I commend the bill to the House.

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