Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

Is there a more ludicrous spectacle than a leader of a Labor opposition having the temerity to criticise this side of the House when it comes to delivery? How short their memories are, when you look at that side's utterly inept record of delivery. There is the member for Lilley, creeping out of the chamber. He was the man who stood here and said 'the four years of surplus I announce tonight'. How many years of surplus did he deliver? Not four, not three, not two, not one—he delivered none of them. Who can forget Labor's disastrous incompetence on border protection? I had a look recently at a press release issued by the then minister for immigration, Senator Chris Evans, on 13 May 2008, speaking about the scrapping of temporary protection visas. He said this:

… would not compromise the Government’s commitment to protecting Australia’s borders.

'Would not compromise'? What a disastrous record of delivery the Labor Party has when it comes to protecting Australia's borders—1,200 deaths at sea, 50,000 unauthorised arrivals, 8,000 children put into detention, 17 onshore detention centres—and the Leader of the Opposition has the temerity to talk about delivering.

What about their hopeless record of incompetence on delivery when it comes to the National Broadband Network? During the 2007 election they promised they would spend $4.7 billion to connect 98 per cent of Australians to a fibre-to-the-node network—complete failure to deliver. They just could not do it. So in 2009 they had a new plan. Now it was going to be $43 billion, and they were going to connect 90 per cent of Australians via fibre to the premises.

What had they achieved when they left government? They had spent money. They are very good at spending money, this lot. They had spent over $6 billion. But what had they delivered? Barely 50,000 Australians connected to the network. We are connecting more Australians to the network every month than Labor's chaotic, incompetent record of delivery when it comes to the National Broadband Network.

What about the pink batts disaster Tragically, four young men died and there were some 200 house fires, thanks to this lot's incompetent record of delivery. What about my personal favourite. There were going to be 260 new childcare centres built on the premises of schools all around the country. The member for Adelaide was going to end the double drop-off. Do you know how many they managed to build by the time they pulled the plug in April 2010? They managed 38 out of the promised 260—and this hopeless ravel has the temerity to come in here and talk about delivery!

Let me tell the House about delivery. Let me tell you what the Turnbull government is delivering. Economic growth has strengthened to 3.3 per cent. We now have faster economic growth than any of the G7 economies. In the last year we have created almost 220,000 jobs, and over 60 per cent of those have gone to women. I will tell you one very important thing that we have done to create jobs—we ended Labor's disastrous Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, which was an arrow in the heart of small businesses in the trucking sector delivering jobs. That meant 35,000 owner-drivers could get back on the road. Our PaTH program, announced in the budget, will provide up to 120,000 internships for young people to get a foothold into jobs.

I talked about the National Broadband Network before. I talked about Labor's incompetent, unbelievably hopeless record of delivery. Compare that to the systematic and steady progress we are making on this side of the House with a competent chief executive, a competent board, a competent management team and a credible business plan. That is why over three million premises around Australia can now connect to the National Broadband Network—and the chief executive of the National Broadband Network, as recently as last week, made it clear that we are on target to get the National Broadband Network completed by 2020. That is delivery. That is what is happening under Prime Minister Turnbull, that is what was happening under Communications Minister Turnbull and that is something that this lot on the other side have simply never managed to achieve because they are completely incompetent when it comes to delivery.

Let's talk about the export agreements through which Australia is engaging with the growing economies in Asia and the terrific opportunities for our exporters. Under the China free trade agreement the tariff on fresh and frozen beef cuts has already been cut from 12 per cent to 9.6 per cent. By 2024, it will be zero. Under our Korea free trade agreement the tariff on fresh beef has already been cut from 40 per cent to 32 per cent. That is delivery.

We are delivering on health care. Despite the extraordinarily misleading claims made by the Labor Party in this last election, bulk-billing is at record levels under a Turnbull government. We are investing more in localised mental health care and support. Our ambitious $1.1 million National Innovation and Science Agenda is being implemented. Innovation and science is being supported by responsible guaranteed funding of schools, which will increase by 26 per cent over the next four years.

Let's talk about border protection, where the Turnbull government is delivering. It has been almost 800 days since a boat arrival. We have been able to close 17 detention centres. When it comes to border protection, you do not hear Labor having anything credible to say. We have a proud record of delivery—and that is before I even get to talking about the $50 billion infrastructure program which we are delivering and continue to deliver.

This motion asks: 'What has been achieved in the last 12 months?' I will tell you what has been achieved in the last 12 months. Flinders Link, an extension of the Adelaide rail network to Flinders University—$43 million committed in June of this year. Forrestfield Airport Link, an 8.5-kilometre extension of the Perth rail network to connect to Forrestfield near the Perth Airport—$490 million committed in May this year. Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2, construction of a 7.3-kilometre light rail system—$95 million committed by the Turnbull government. Sods were turned in August 2016 for stage 2, and I was very pleased to be at that sod-turning. WestConnex, an extraordinarily important project that will link Sydney's west and south-west with the CBD—a 33-kilometre continuous free-flowing motorway. M4 East tunnelling began in July 2016. That is delivery. We are getting on with the Turnbull government delivering. The Gateway Upgrade North project in Brisbane, an 11.3-kilometre widening from four lanes to six lanes between Nudgee and Bracken Ridge. Major works commenced in February 2016. The Tullamarine Freeway upgrade to widen and upgrade the freeway between the Melbourne Airport and Melrose Drive. Work commenced in May 2016. In Adelaide—the north-south corridor, the Darlington Upgrade, a reconfiguration of a section of South Road into an expressway standard road. Work commenced in April 2016.

Across every aspect of this government's activities, we are delivering. What has been delivered by the Leader of the Opposition? We have seen a complete failure to act on Senator Dastyari taking payments from Chinese owned companies. We have seen $40,000 pay cut to the member for Fenner to accommodate that old-style socialist hack 'Senator Kim Il-Carr'. That is what we are seeing in terms of comparative wage justice from the Leader of the Opposition! And we have seen the Leader of the Opposition imposing silence on the member for Grayndler. The member for Grayndler has been barely heard of in some four question times. I wonder why the member for Grayndler is never allowed to get a question under this Leader of the Opposition?

By contrast, what you are seeing from this side of the House, from the Turnbull government, is a consistent pattern of delivery. Just today we have announced a way forward in relation to the plebiscite on same-sex marriage. We have announced the date when that will be held. We are carrying out the action we committed to carrying out during the 2016 election. We are delivering. Just today you have seen us announce agreement with the opposition in relation to $6 billion of budget savings. We are doing what the people expect the Turnbull government to do, which is to get on and get the budget under control.

This is a government which is delivering. We have had a year of delivery. Of course there is much more to do, but we are determined to create in this country the growth, the jobs, the prosperity and the opportunity to back Australians to achieve everything they want to achieve. That is what we are focused on. We are not focused on inside-the-Beltway political games. We have had 12 months of delivery, and there is much more to come.

See this speech in context