Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the motion put by the member for Corio, because it is outrageous. What he is doing in this chamber is denying the best interests of people in his own electorate, the best interests of people in my electorate, the best interests of the member for Aston's electorate, and the best interests of the electorates of those sitting opposite. Our motion, which was first put by my colleague and friend the member for Aston, is the right motion, because it shines a light on Tony Abbott's commitment to spending more than $1.5 billion on appropriate infrastructure for the East West Link. This money that will be supported by the state government, the Denis Napthine state government, which announced nearly $300 million in the last budget in order to get construction up by the end of 2014. Then you have those opposite. You have Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of this country, promising $1.8 billion for WestConnex—which the member sitting opposite is happy to take—without Infrastructure Australia seeing it as a proper priority akin to the East West Link.

We will get an east-west link up-and-running without tolls, which will increase the ability to support the new extension of the ports of the Port of Melbourne at Hastings. It will allow people to spend less time in their cars, it will allow people to get to the knowledge precincts in Carlton and Parkville. This motion that has been put by my friend the member for Aston is the right motion, and this amendment put by the member for Corio is the wrong motion.

This project is a wrong amendment, because this motion put forward by the member for Aston supports the East-West Link, which is an 18-kilometre road. It will cost between $6 billion and $8 billion. It will take five years or more and it will take 3,200 jobs—important jobs for people who have lost their jobs under this Labor government. They are people who have lost their jobs because of the carbon tax, the waste, mismanagement and more than 20,000 regulations and nearly 30 new taxes that the government has introduced. They are people who are losing their jobs in manufacturing, losing their jobs in small business and losing their jobs in industry. These are people we can help to find a job with this major infrastructure project.

This project, as the member for Aston referred to, is also the priority of the independent RACV. They put out a document called Driving the agenda! ahead of the 2013 election. There are lots of names at the bottom of this: NRMA, RACV, RACQ and RAA et cetera. They have a list of priority projects for Victoria. I go to No. 1 on that list, which is the east-west road link—from the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Road with a tunnel to CityLink. That is what these guys have said is their No. 1 priority.

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