Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

So they voted against safety for boom gates and they voted against funding under the stimulus strategy to fix black spots across the country—that is $150 million. In the electorate of Lyne, I say to the honourable member that what we have done is provide funding for councils—the Greater Taree City Council, Kempsey Shire Council and the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council. That has been increased from $11.1 million to nearly $60 million over a five-year period. That is an increase of 43 per cent.

On the Blackspot Program, according to my advice we are providing $1.5 million, including stimulus funding, to fix seven blackspots in the honourable gentleman’s electorate of Lyne. He asked a broader question about the fixing of timber bridges. Those are our generic responses to this challenge nationwide for local roads and for local blackspots in particular. Obviously, local government also have it within their remit to draw upon those funds for those purposes.

The member for Lyne asked a legitimate question about the overall capacity of state and territory governments to provide effectively for infrastructure. Can I simply answer the honourable member’s question in these terms: what many ministers and the government have been confronted with is the effect that spending responsibilities are having on the overall state of both Liberal and Labor governments across the country. This is obviously one of the factors which inform our considerations on the future of health and hospital reform. You can see the impact in terms of what has been, in many cases across the country, an underinvestment by state and local governments in local transport infrastructure. I have some knowledge, having taken a few drives myself, about the state of a number of rural bridges.

Therefore, the serious answer to the honourable gentleman’s question goes to the long-term structure of Commonwealth-state financial relations, and it goes to the serious question of the future spending responsibilities of the states and how that impacts also on the health and hospitals debate. In answer to the honourable member’s question, that is specifically what we are doing in two categories. That is the application for his electorate and those are the increases we have made. On the broader question of the financial capacity of states and territories, we have much more reform work still to be done.

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