Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government has failed my home state of Queensland on infrastructure. Ninety per cent of federal infrastructure funding in the budget won't be invested in Queensland for at least four years. What this means for Queenslanders is that they have to re-elect the Turnbull government not once, but twice before most infrastructure funding flows into our home state. Good luck with that for the M1 upgrade, good luck with that for the Bruce Highway upgrade, and good luck with that for the duplication of the North Coast rail line.

One important project in my electorate is the Cunningham Highway upgrade from Yamanto to Ebenezer Creek. While I'm pleased the Turnbull government has finally agreed to put $170 million on the table as part of the funding necessary to do the job, it is much too late and after much procrastination. It matches only what a Shorten Labor government has announced previously already. I congratulate the Willowbank area group for their advocacy for this project. When I saw the budget, I thought, 'Good—finally it's going to be funded.' But I had a look at the 2018-19 year. Much to my disappointment, no money was allocated for the 2018-19 year for the Cunningham Highway upgrade. In 2020-21 it is $15 million and in 2022-23 it is $40 million. We're talking about only 32.5 per cent of the whole project being funded across the forward estimates. The rest of the money is put off into the never-never, as the member for Grayndler has said in relation to much of the lack of infrastructure funding for Queensland and elsewhere.

I looked at the budget papers 1 to 4. There are lines across everywhere on infrastructure funding. Apart from the second range crossing for Toowoomba, there are no funding projects currently underway in Queensland by this government. All the projects were previously funded by the former Labor government. There are no initiatives by this government, apart from the support and bipartisan commitment in relation to the second range crossing. Priority needs to be given to projects in Queensland. Certainly the Cunningham Highway project was on the priority list in the most recent Infrastructure Australia report. The business case for evaluation was lodged by the Queensland government back in 2017. Why is this project important? Well, 2,700 heavy vehicle movements per day go through the Cunningham Highway on the 4.75 kilometre stretch. Congestion costs have been estimated at $45 million per year. It's a pinch point. There is a high level of congestion during peak hours. If you go there from 6 am in the morning and from 4 pm in the afternoon you'll see the 8,500 people on the RAAF base at Amberley trying to get in and out. For the people who live in the Willowbank and Deebing Heights area in my electorate, it's a big challenge. The intersection at Willowbank is congested. We've got the winter nationals at the Willowbank Raceway, so it gets even more congested during this weekend. We need additional capacity in relation to this problem. There needs to be a new service road between Coopers Road and Yamanto.

We're spending a billion dollars on the RAAF base at Amberley. It's got Army units there. But the road infrastructure adjacent to and proximate to the base hasn't been done. The Turnbull government has been in power for five years and has failed across this space. We need also this road to be upgraded as soon as possible to kick start an aerospace precinct for those aerospace companies that are currently located on the base and that need to be relocated adjacent to the base. I have been involved with this project over three Queensland governments—Labor, LNP and now Labor again—and have spoken to various representatives of those governments.

This is just so typical of the Turnbull government: announce great things but underdeliver. We've seen with major road projects a 21 per cent underspend; black-spot funding, a 41 per cent underspend; the Bridges Renewal Program, a 21 per cent underspend; nationwide an underspend of $4.7 billion; and in my home state of Queensland over the last four budgets an underspend of $1.1 billion. Announcing big but delivering little; that's so much the Turnbull government. It announces great projects but doesn't put the money on the table. It expects Queenslanders to re-elect it not just this time but another time before the money starts properly flowing. I call on the Turnbull government to do much, much better for the people of Ipswich and the Somerset region.

See this speech in context