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

There have been a number of questions raised. Firstly, the member for Hunter gave a historical analysis of the development of the Hunter Expressway—that it took a previous Labor government to have planning for the Hunter Expressway and it has taken another Labor government to get on with the business of building it.

We are very pleased that, as one of the infrastructure priority-list projects, we are providing some $1.45 billion. There is $200 million being provided by the New South Wales government. This is an absolutely critical project. We actually have to get on with the business of this. There are still some properties to be purchased before construction can commence there. In spite of the rhetoric of the previous government, there had not been an appropriate allocation to allow this expressway to be built. It is a common theme that we hear from those opposite: they were always going to get around to it in their 13th year; they were always going to get around to it in their sixth or seventh or eight term. They actually did not do anything about it.

I was asked by the member for Herbert about the Douglas Arterial duplication. I can inform him, through the House, that $55 million has been committed by the Rudd government for this project, which has been matched by the state government of Queensland. That construction will commence this year, in the third quarter. I thank him for his question.

We had the member for Kingston raise the Seaford to Noarlunga line. That was a very important project that we were very pleased to announce in the budget, and I was pleased to travel to her electorate the following week, with the Treasurer, for that announcement. That was the very day that the Leader of the Opposition drew into question the ongoing support for those projects, when he stated that all projects would have to be under review. He made that statement in Adelaide, and it was certainly one of great concern to the people of South Australia and, indeed, the people of the nation who want this nation-building agenda to go ahead.

The member for Wide Bay raised a number of issues. He alleged that the Rudd government’s commitment—some $36 billion in transport infrastructure—was less than what the former government had committed to. The budget papers from the previous government—released on 8 May 2007 by Mark Vaile, the Leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister at the time, and Jim Lloyd, the then Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads—state very clearly:

… government will invest $22.3 billion in Australia’s land transport system from 2009–10 to 2013–14 …

That is the truth of what they budgeted: $22.3 billion. They run around and they say that there was all this money committed, but it was never in a budget. It was not in their first budget; it was not in their second, third, or fourth; it was not in any of the number of budgets that they committed—not one. They cannot produce a budget paper to show the funding that is there, because the budget papers show the reality, which is some $22 billion—certainly not $31 billion.

The member for Wide Bay also raised the Infrastructure Australia process. This is the most rigorous process that we have ever had for infrastructure development in this nation. It is also a process that is transparent. The methodology for going through each of these projects is on the Infrastructure Australia website. The fact is that, as part of the budget, we produced detailed analysis of each and every project, each and every process. (Extension of time granted) The fact is that this has been transparent. It has been well received by the business community and well received by the general public.

The member for Wide Bay raised the issue of the O-Bahn. The member for Makin quite rightly pointed out how important this project is to him. Let me explain it very clearly to the member for Wide Bay so he finally gets it. There are two projects that were funded in the budget that are not funded out of the Building Australia Fund. The Building Australia Fund is used to fund Infrastructure Australia projects, but the government have a range of other infrastructure initiatives, one of which we have said is the establishment of a major cities unit, a major cities program, with support for sustainability, productivity and liveability in our cities. That is what we said we would do with major cities.

There are two projects. One of them is the O-Bahn. The second is the Northbridge project in Perth, Western Australia—one that those opposite do not mention. Neither of those projects is funded by the Building Australia Fund.

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