Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service and Integrity) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for his question and his focus on this critical issue. This is not simply a matter of an alternative use for a Commonwealth site; this is a matter of the construction of a significant piece of east coast infrastructure whose impact will be felt throughout the greater Sydney area and New South Wales as well as in freight movements into, around and out of our country.

The government formed the view that its broader national policy objectives can be best achieved through the development of an intermodal terminal on the site at Moorebank. It did that through a long consideration. It did seek the advice, the support and the constructive contribution of Infrastructure Australia, and there was a detailed business case which has been reviewed by Greenhill Caliburn. They advised the government that there was a significant uncertainty about the capacity of SIMTA to deliver the first stage of its intermodal terminal in 2014 as published as well as about its capacity to deliver the full intermodal terminal within its published time limits.

I think that all sides of our parliament, and certainly the government of New South Wales, share the concern that we all have to make freight movements in Sydney and New South Wales as efficient as possible. I think it is reasonable to say that everyone has a focus on the specific time lines that are established in the government's proposal. But in coming to the conclusion to spend the very large amounts of money that have been alluded to and enumerated by the shadow minister—the $559 million for the relocation of the defence units to Holsworthy, $332 million for major capital facilities, an additional $2 million for lease and land management and then $26 million to the project development office—we know that we are committing very substantial amounts of money to deliver what the analysis shows to be a very substantial productivity dividend to the people of Australia.

That productivity dividend manifests itself both in more efficient transport movements and more efficient transit movements of containers through the Moorebank facility. Importantly,, the judgement on the private sector involvement is that it will be optimised through the financing development operation of the project through an open tender process run by a commercially-operated government business enterprise. This is a matter that was announced, from recollection, on 23 April—just before Anzac Day. It was announced in the context of the substantial infrastructure investment which the Commonwealth believes needs to be made in a full holistic consideration of the use of the site at Moorebank and then the consequent movement of defence assets and facilities out to Holsworthy. I am very happy to take on notice those questions from the shadow minister that I may not have dealt with in sufficient detail and to come back to him in detail with specific answers. But, in general, the reason we concluded as we did is that we believe that it is the most efficient use of Commonwealth funds to create the most efficient terminal to produce the best possible dividends for the people of New South Wales, Sydney and Australia.

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