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

It's an absolute delight to address this matter of public importance in relation to nation-building infrastructure, because when it comes to that vital investment the runs are on the board for the coalition government. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

I've been impressed to hear from a number of my colleagues on this side about investment in road, investment in rail and investment in water infrastructure, particularly now, in times of drought. We know the people of Australia, those who recognise the importance of our agricultural industries, whether they work in them or simply depend on them, want to look into the long term. They talk about water infrastructure in the long term—dams, pipelines—and we know that this government is leading the charge, finally, to prioritise those sorts of projects and that it is working as hard as it can with relevant state governments to bring projects to the fore. Colleagues have spoken in particular about regional benefits right across the country from significant infrastructure investment.

I want to take this opportunity to talk about a couple of examples that relate to my home city of Toowoomba, my electorate of Groom and the wonderful Darling Downs. If we reflect on Queensland media just today, there's significant reference to the exciting plans of South-East Queensland mayors, chaired by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk. The deputy chair of that group, the Council of Mayors South East Queensland, is my own mayor, Paul Antonio, the Mayor of Toowoomba. A whole range of initiatives that they're talking about in South-East Queensland—again, road and rail in particular—touch in part on Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. The reference to fast rail and the reference to a specific passenger rail feasibility study project that was announced earlier this year by the government under our Major Project Business Case Fund prove that we talk about the long term—the decades to come—not just the political cycles which those opposite seem to focus on at the expense of the long term.

Can I refer to the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, something of which I'm very proud, that will bring benefits to the whole eastern seaboard. This has been spoken about since the middle part of last century. Federal and state Labor when they've been in power over the years have proven they were not interested at all, never, ever prioritised it with Infrastructure Australia, never showed any interest at a local level about this vital piece of infrastructure—something that's underway now—the biggest inland road project in our country, $1.6 billion, which will be completed by the early part of last year.

It's a project I know a bit about. Sure, it affects my home town, but it's a project that former Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss led the charge on when he was infrastructure and transport minister. It's a project that at that time the state LNP government led the charge on; the Toowoomba Regional Council led the charge on. After decades of discussion, it took these three levels of government to pull it together. The proof is there, and I know because I signed the deal on behalf of the then state government as Acting Treasurer of Queensland.

I refer to Inland Rail that will bring benefits to Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It's been spoken of for 100 years. Who's delivering it? This coalition government—the 2016 budget; the 2017 budget. I can recall pundits and commentators suggesting maybe this coalition government may contribute in the order of $1 billion to get this thing going to show they're fair dinkum. We contributed over $8 billion for this nation-building project. Labor couldn't organise it; we're now delivering. We're dealing with the challenges of how that might impact on landholders right through those three states and making sure they don't have to wear all of that, and dealing with the benefits for agriculture, for trade, for international trade, for regional communities, as I said, through those three great states.

Those examples prove a long-term vision—long-term vision that focuses on future generations, not just electoral cycles, not just political debates in this place but a fair dinkum long-term commitment to nation-building infrastructure. That's what we've proven through these projects. That's what our $75 billion long-term commitment to infrastructure is all about. I celebrate the fact that we finally have this long-term vision, courtesy of the coalition government.

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