Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

in particular our 2016 election commitments, including the Pacific Motorway Gateway merge and the Pacific Motorway Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes section. We have committed our share of funding to these important projects, however these projects have slowed thanks to the Queensland Labor government and their underinvestment in vital infrastructure.

A report released by the RPS Group which analyses ABS data shows public sector spending on infrastructure in Queensland is at record lows since 2006, and half the rate of expenditure it was five years ago. Queensland's public spending on infrastructure is at a 10-year low. While future generations will suffer for it, frustrated Queenslanders are suffering now. I talk to people regularly, every single day, who are frustrated at the lack of infrastructure being built not only on the M1 corridor. The member for Wright is here and he has the Mount Lindesay Highway and the Beaudesert Salisbury rail line, and I know the member for Wright is an advocate for those very important infrastructure projects that affect both of our electorates.

The coalition government is focused on delivering infrastructure for the 21st century, including in Queensland. Our current commitment to Queensland's land transport infrastructure is $12.1 billion from 2013-14 through to 2019-20. While the Queensland government slashes infrastructure spending, the Turnbull coalition government is investing billions of dollars improving Queensland's transport networks. Infrastructure related election commitments in Queensland from the federal government total some $496.2 million, which is a substantial further investment in projects in Queensland to drive productivity, economic growth and employment. This includes a commitment of $215 million to Pacific Motorway Gateway merge project in a combination of Rankin, Moreton and Bonner, and the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes upgrade project. In addition, the Australian government has committed over $223 million towards projects in Queensland under the Northern Australia Roads Program and over $56 million under the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program.

While the Queensland government is fighting over the 80-20 funding split for works on the M1 Pacific Motorway, these projects have historically been funded 50-50 due to the high levels of urban traffic that use that corridor. The Australian government stands by its commitment on these two projects and has agreed to front-load the funding of these projects to allow the progression of the expression of interest process to begin on the Pacific Motorway Gateway merge and also the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes project.

Mr Dick interjecting—

The member for Oxley interjects, and he will get his chance in a minute, but I will just remind the member for Oxley that our money sits on the table; the state government has not come up with a cent at this point.

I am very pleased to say that we are continuing to work with the Queensland government to finalise the funding splits, with the outcomes from the EOI process to inform the discussions. It is frustrating, however, that the Queensland Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports, Mark Bailey, has continued to play politics over this matter. As recently as October 2016, he publicly claimed that the Australian government had short-changed Queensland, as the funding committed through both the northern Australia roads programs was below the notional allocation outlined in the budget of 2016. The budget paper highlighted that state allocations had not yet been determined. Despite the fact that the government's commitment to Queensland is lower than what was notionally allocated, Queensland will still receive more than a third of the available funding under the Northern Australia Roads Program and more than half the funding available under the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program. For Mr Bailey to say that the Australian government is short-changing Queensland is simply not correct, and any such suggestion is an insult when you lay out the billions of dollars we are investing in Queensland.

We have committed up to $6.7 billion to a 10-year program of works on the Bruce Highway, with a list of projects and packages targeted at improving safety, flood mitigation and reducing congestion as part of its plan. We are providing up to $1.37 billion on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, which is the largest Australian government commitment to a single regional road project in Queensland's history. We have committed $914.2 million to the Gateway Upgrade North project, which is expected to deliver a range of benefits, including supporting economic growth, and improving accessibility to Australia TradeCoast, Port of Brisbane and Brisbane airport—reducing travel time delays and improving safety and performance. We have also committed $508 million to a package of works totalling $635 million on the Warrego Highway between Toowoomba and Miles, as well as $200 million towards the Ipswich Motorway Rocklea to Darra upgrade—so, there, Member for Oxley, is the answer to your earlier question—and $208 million to the Cape York Region Package to upgrade road access to Cape York.

From a rail perspective, the Australian government has committed an additional $593.7 million in equity for the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project in addition to the $300 million previously committed. We are also undertaking a study to explore the potential to extend the scope of the Inland Rail project to Gladstone and will also be working with the Queensland government to identify Brisbane freight needs, including connection to the Port of Brisbane. The coalition government is investing $150 million towards the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor, which will provide a new eight-kilometre rail freight line connecting the North Coast Line to the Port of Townsville. In South-East Queensland we are investing $95 million towards stage 2 of the Gold Coast light rail network as well as funding for smaller off-network projects such as road maintenance funding and projects funded under subprograms such as the Black Spot Program, Roads to Recovery, the Bridges Renewal Program, the National Highway Upgrade Program and the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. I do not think that any of this list shows that we are short-changing Queensland at all.

Regardless of Queensland Labor's banter and politicking, we will continue to work with them to deliver the infrastructure needed to increase productivity and improve efficiency on Queensland's transport network. However, if we are to be successful we need the Queensland Labor government to stop playing games and spreading misinformation about funding agreements and commit to their fair share of the infrastructure projects. I am calling on the Queensland government to reverse their concerning trend of reduced infrastructure expenditure and deliver the infrastructure that the people of Queensland desperately need to get the Queensland economy growing and get jobs again for the Queensland economy.

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