Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

The comments that the minister has made are simply incorrect. It could well be that he is not aware of the functioning of Infrastructure Australia and the role that it plays. But the fact is that Infrastructure Australia has been able to examine projects of significant value across the nation and has produced regular reports and regular accountability to the Australian public through that transparent process. What the minister has not stated is that the legislation which is before the Senate that is linked to the amendments that we are moving and considering now to the Land Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2014 in fact diminish the independence of Infrastructure Australia, and they do so in a number of ways. Firstly, they remove the ability of Infrastructure Australia to publish information. That becomes a decision made by the minister. Secondly, and most remarkably, they allow for certain classes of infrastructure to not be examined if that is directed by the minister.

Quite clearly, this is a government that have said it will not fund public transport projects. They have said that they will, as they put it, 'stick to their knitting' and just fund road projects. The problem with that is that it undermines the whole basis of Infrastructure Australia, that you need to look at integrated transport strategies and the way that the cities fit together and the way that transport infrastructure fits with community based infrastructure and with employment. That is why the opposition was so disturbed that on the first day that those opposite were sworn in as ministers they abolished the Major Cities Unit. We are one of the most urbanised countries on the planet and the priority of those opposite was to sack the Major Cities Unit upon their coming to office and then to declare that they would not fund any urban public transport projects. In order to defend that, they say, 'Oh well, we won't fund any urban public transport projects but that will mean state governments will be able to because we will be funding road projects.'

The difficulty is that all of the announcements that they have made are re-announcements. According to those opposite, it is like that declaration post French Revolution of 1792 which was declared to the year one. They think year one was September last year, that everything that went beforehand does not count. We have seen numerous examples of that by those opposite. Just today we saw the latest example of that whereby those opposite, including the minister at the table, put out this press release, 'Funds flow to reduce Kwinana Freeway congestion'—a good announcement, but the only problem is that it was announced on 5 August 2013 between me and the WA minister, 'Extra funding for Kwinana Freeway and Great Eastern Highway'. You can tell that the department had something to do with both of the releases because, remarkably, they are very similar in terms of the rhetoric. Today—

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