Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I will endeavour to respond to some of the contributions that we have already had. The member for Grayndler expressed a great deal of interest in new projects. He has expressed a great deal of interest in new jobs. We all know that he has a project of his own underway: he is only creating one new job as he seeks to become the new Labor leader. That is his vision for Australia. The member for Grayndler in his comments said, 'I never let my junior speak,' which I found quite bizarre, but it does explain why the member for Maribyrnong never lets him get a question anymore in question time.

We have so much work underway right now. The Minister for Urban Infrastructure and I have $75 billion over 10 years to deliver projects right across the nation. The member for Grayndler managed to find one group that reacted in a negative sense in some way to the budget, but some of the other reactions to the budget are quite illustrative. The Australian Logistics Council's Michael Kilgariff said:

The Government should be commended for making clear commitments to two significant infrastructure projects crucial to the freight and logistics industry …

Pacific National CEO David Irwin said:

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

Fiona Simson, from the National Farmers Federation, said:

$8.4 billion for the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail is the real crown jewel of tonight's budget for the farm sector.

We are getting on with the job of delivering infrastructure that our kids and our grandkids will thank us for right across this great nation, from our cities to our regional areas.

The member for Grayndler raised the infrastructure spend in Victoria. Can I just make one simple point to the member for Grayndler. He may have forgotten that his friends in Victorian Labor, with Premier Daniel Andrews, actually paid $1.2 billion to not build a road. Imagine the roads we could have built in Victoria with that. We could have built the East West Link, to begin with. But, in the past 12 months, we have reached an agreement with Victoria to spend $3 billion on a range of projects. That $3 billion will see a billion dollars spent on the Monash upgrade. It will see the Murray Basin Rail Project undertaken. There will be $690 million in regional roads. There are projects right across Victoria as a direct result of the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and me working with the Victorian government to deliver a $3 billion commitment, which is $1.5 billion from the federal government and $1.5 billion from the state. But, in this year's budget, there is an additional $1 billion. Of that, there was $500 million committed to regional rail and $30 million for the Tullamarine planning work—finally, some planning work to link the great CBD of Melbourne to the Tullamarine airport—and we are still negotiating with Victoria on other projects that we can undertake with the additional funding that has been made available.

The member for Whitlam raised some concerns about the government's agenda in relation to decentralisation. I find it quite extraordinary that a member who purports to come from a regional area is now against regional jobs. The Labor Party in its past used to have bipartisan support for decentralisation. I refer to projects in my own electorate, where ASIC was moved to Traralgon. The business register moved to Traralgon.

An honourable member: A good initiative.

A former Labor government did that, and the member indicates 'a good initiative', so what is wrong? What is wrong with this government seeking ways to move more Public Service jobs out of Sydney, out of Melbourne and out of Canberra and into our regional centres? The government are embarking on a long-term agenda for regional Australia where we want to see an ambitious decentralisation plan delivered. We are taking a leadership role; those opposite are simply whinging about it. If it was not their idea, they do not want to have a part in it. The member for Whitlam, who pretends to represent a regional community, is now telling us he is against regional jobs. We will continue to pursue the decentralisation agenda. He asks why there is no money in the budget for any of these decisions. Well, quite simply, it would pre-empt the process. There would be no point prescribing an amount of money before we even determined what was in scope. Decisions around the first tranche of agencies to be decentralised will be made in the 2018-19 budget, and the member is well aware of that. We will continue to pursue our decentralisation agenda.

In relation to local government funding, the member asked some questions regarding indexation. The coalition government will resume indexation of the Financial Assistance Grant program from 1 July 2017, and indexation will result in an extra $836.5 million to be delivered to councils across Australia over the next four years.

This is a government that is getting on with the job—

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

of delivering everything we promised the Australian people at the last election and more.

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