John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand as a proud Queenslander from our side of politics. We represent the bulk of our state in this House. I am astounded that the member for Grayndler would even raise infrastructure as a matter of public importance given the undoubted embarrassment that those opposite have in relation to their record of failure in securing decent infrastructure for Australia. Contrast that with the proven and magnificent efforts of the Turnbull government in relation to nation-building infrastructure. This discussion provides the ideal opportunity to shine a light on those nation-building efforts of our government. We need only refer to the unprecedented commitments in the 2017-18 federal budget just handed down—$10 billion over the next decade for the National Rail Program for passenger projects, important for our cities, suburbs and regional centres, among many other urban and regional initiatives being played out throughout our country. In Queensland the Bruce Highway, Warrego Highway and Pacific Motorway upgrades are the result of continuing increases under the coalition government, together with significant regional commitments.

In our electorate of Groom the coalition government initiated and is funding the vast majority of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. It is a project worthy of particular note—it is the largest inland project in Australia being delivered by the Turnbull government. It is a project, importantly, that will provide benefits not only to Toowoomba and the Darling Downs but to our entire nation given its linking of the busy freight routes of the Warrego, New England and Gore highways, providing above all else safety to road users in our region and efficiency for freight networks across the country. It is a project that had to fight its way through the hurdles of bumbling and indecisive state and federal Labor governments that simply had no vision and certainly no regard for regional Australia and the catalytic role that significant infrastructure development projects can play. It took the alignment of forward-thinking coalition governments in Queensland and in Canberra, together with local government, to finally get it off the ground. We will see it completed late next year, and it will involve 1,800 jobs.

In this budget the Australian government allocated an additional $8.4 billion in equity to the Australian Rail Track Corporation to construct Inland Rail in partnership with the private sector. This is in addition, of course, to the almost $900 million previously allocated for preconstruction works.

This project will support up to 16,000 jobs during construction, and an average of 800 new jobs per year. When operational, Inland Rail will create an average of 600 jobs per year through its lifetime. We are getting on with it, whereas Labor was prevaricating and ignoring its features and benefits, such as the following. It will be 1,700 kilometres long, with over 500 kilometres of new track. It will create, as I said, 1,600 construction jobs. It will be a $16 billion economic boost—and they were dragging the chain! Two hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of CO2 will be taken out of the atmosphere. It will save lives. It will reduce congestion, with thousands of trucks off the road.

It must be noted that Labor made no allowance for extension in 2010 to the Port of Brisbane. We have capacity on that line for 10 to 15 years. So we are working with Queensland on future options for port connections.

Moreover, industry representatives that I speak to understand and support this approach. Third-party endorsements of the Turnbull government's commitment to regional infrastructure in particular abound, and they abound in relation to the approach that we are taking to nation-building infrastructure—for example, from Australian railway, automobile and trucking associations; the Australian Logistics Council; and Pacific National, who said:

Inland Rail is a true game-changer and we commend the Government for its commitment to such an important nation-building project.

So the coalition government is justifiably proud to be the nation-building government that the budget proves it is and that our country knows it is.

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