Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to have moved this matter of public importance about the government's failure on infrastructure. The government would have you believe that it has only just come into office. That, at 18 May, somehow—it's a miracle—they're a brand new government. But this is a third-term government that has had no agenda when it comes to infrastructure. After six years, two terms, they're basically claiming that projects that Labor had funded in government were somehow miraculously their own, they're cutting projects that had been funded and there are cost blowouts and delay. At the eleventh hour they discovered infrastructure, with this claim that they've now got a $100 billion 10-year infrastructure plan. I want to unpick that a little bit.

The first thing to say is that it is not $100 billion. The $100 billion includes projects that are not agreed by states and territories, like the East West Link in Melbourne, something that the state government in Victoria has clearly stated is not a project that it will be pursuing. It includes things like the Perth Freight Link. I see that the Liberal Party in Western Australia have again decided that they're going to pursue this particular project. But, again, it is a project that the federal government is not providing enough money for. It goes to a port that has already reached capacity and is frankly not going to assist with the freight task for Western Australia. Also, it is nowhere near the amount of money that will be needed to deliver that project.

So the first thing is that it's not $100 billion at all. The next thing is that they have already underspent by $5.1 billion on projects that they promised they were going to deliver. That's $5.1 billion less than they should have actually delivered in their term in office. They are projects that should already have been well and truly underway. So this government hasn't even been able to deliver on the small amount that it did actually promise.

The next thing is that a vast majority of this money is frankly on the never-never. How much of this so-called $100 billion infrastructure fund is actually going to be delivered in this term of office? We know from Senate estimates is very little of this money is actually going to be delivered in this term. Even where it is, it's back-ended to basically the fourth year of the forward estimates, when the government is going to be out there trying to claim these projects as new and part of the 2022 election campaign.

We have lots more of these examples, and I suspect there are lots more on the other side as well. Many of our backbenchers started to ask some questions about when some of these projects would be delivered. When will this money be delivered? In the forward estimates, only 30 per cent of the infrastructure money will be flowing. That's only in the forward estimates. We asked questions about the Pacific Motorway. It is an important project, an extension to Raymond Terrace in New South Wales but only $1.6 billion of that will be available in the next four years.

We asked about work on the South Geelong to Waurn Ponds rail upgrade in Victoria. That won't actually commence until July 2024. I'm not sure if the then member for Corangamite, when she was talking about this project, put in her leaflets: 'You might get this project, but you won't get it until 2024. Don't just elect me at this election but at the one after as well.' We know what the people of Corangamite thought about that. There's still absolutely no start date for the new Bridgewater Bridge, a project that's important for the member for Lyons seat in the north of Hobart. It is an important project. When is it going to start?

We know that this government has been big on rhetoric but very, very small on delivery. Remember, this is a third-term government that has been unable to deliver on infrastructure. It's now making a big claim. Let's see what it's going to be able to deliver. We know 90 per cent of the $500 million will be available for the safety upgrades for the Princess Highway south of Nowra, in the member for Gilmore's electorate, where we had the Prime Minister talking a big game about how he would fix all of the road safety problems on a highway that has seen far too many deaths in recent years. He was going to fix that. How much of that is actually going to be available? We know a very small proportion of the money, some $50 million, will be available in these four years.

When is work going to begin on eliminating the Boundary Road level crossing in Coopers Plains, one of South-East Queensland's worst traffic black spots? When we asked questions about that last week, the minister was totally unable to say when this project would commence. We also asked questions last week about the Rockhampton Ring Road, the bypass in Rockhampton. I know the member for Oxley asked the question, but somehow or other we had the minister unable to actually talk about where the project was. He started talking about—

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