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

(—) (): I thank the member for his question. We have indeed worked with Infrastructure Australia in establishing a finance working group, chaired by Jim Murphy from Treasury and consisting of private sector representatives, to look at how, under the constraints that are there on fiscal positions of the federal and state governments, we could mobilise infrastructure spending now in order to get projects sooner rather than later. That is what we have done with both the Melbourne Metro and the Cross River Rail project: worked through with the private sector and the respective state governments to make sure that the funding takes into account that, whilst the construction time is short, the productivity benefits are long indeed. Hence the availability payment model, talked about by the private sector for a long time and delivered in last night's budget. Similarly, the negotiations we have had with the New South Wales government and Transurban regarding the F3 to M2 link—promised by the former government; nothing done. It has taken this government, $400 million from both levels of government with a contribution of construction being overseen by Transurban, to make sure that this missing link, which is of particular benefit to the Central Coast and the Hunter as well as to the freight network, is undertaken. This has been talked about for some time, and last night the federal government delivered. (Time expired)

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