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

I thank the member for Goldstein, who is a very fierce champion for infrastructure, for his electorate and for his great state of Victoria, because he knows about the economic benefits that infrastructure delivers. He knows about the benefits of a commitment of over $1 billion of infrastructure for Victoria, including $500 million for regional rail, $100 million for the Geelong rail line and $100 million for the North East rail line. The member for Goldstein knows full well that Melbourne presently does not have a direct rail link from the city to the airport, unlike Sydney, which has a direct rail link from the city to the airport; Brisbane, which has a direct rail link from the city to the airport; and Perth, where a direct rail link from the city to the airport is under construction. That is why the member for Goldstein supports the Turnbull government's commitment of $30 million of funding for a business case for this vitally needed link.

And, of course, the member for Goldstein supports the other important elements of the Turnbull government infrastructure commitments: more than $500 million for the Western Highway, $200 million for the Tullamarine Freeway widening, and, of course, the $3 billion Victorian infrastructure package, funded fifty-fifty by the Commonwealth and Victorian governments, which was agreed in November last year and which includes a $1 billion upgrade for the Monash Freeway to benefit the people of south-eastern Melbourne.

I am asked if there are alternative approaches. Indeed, there are alternative approaches. There used to be a land called Conrovia, a land in which economic reality did not apply. But, Mr Speaker, I must tell you, there are many such lands on the other side of the chamber. There is a land called Albonia where ordinary rules of economic reality do not apply, where you can stand up and claim that $400 million is sufficient to build a rail link from Leppington to Western Sydney Airport, when the transport minister in New South Wales in 2015, the first time this was announced, said, 'No, no—much more likely to be $4 billion.' Albonia is a land where every major piece of infrastructure—the Three Gorges Dam, the Hoover Dam, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the pyramids, Mount Rushmore, the Channel Tunnel—is the personal responsibility of the member for Grayndler. Why is he not getting the credit that he deserves? Albonia is a special land a land where economic reality does not apply. But on this side, I can tell you, economic reality does apply. We are delivering infrastructure for the people of Australia.

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