Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great opportunity to stand at the despatch box and talk about this government's infrastructure achievements in regional Australia. The Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure rightly pointed out the infrastructure projects that are happening across our capital cities. But we must not forget the lion's share of infrastructure investment being spent in regional areas. This government is absolutely committed to the infrastructure that regional communities need.

There's $5.2 billion leaving our pockets through the Roads to Recovery Program from 2013-14 out to 2023 for local roads, appropriating directly to local government so that they can make those infrastructure priorities at their doorstep in their communities. There's an additional $804 million through the Black Spots Program, which is saving lives—an additional $110 million per year from 2021-22 delivering those much-needed safety barriers and street lighting and upgrades of sections of dangerous roads that need attention. There's an extra $2.6 billion through the Community Development Grants Program that has been rolled out from 2013-14 through to 2025-26.

Between 1 July 2013 and now, there has been no less than $16.2 billion spent on land transport infrastructure projects in New South Wales alone. To date, that has resulted in 71 projects being completed, and a further 51 are underway. So this government is getting on with the job in the state of New South Wales. In Victoria, $6.4 billion worth of projects have been completed. Of the projects the government has committed to, 50 are being completed and a further 49 are either under construction or in the planning phase. In South Australia, over the same period, there has been $3.5 billion spent on land transport infrastructure projects. There have been 11 projects completed, and 20 are underway or in planning. In Western Australia, there has been $5.3 billion spent. There have been 22 projects completed, and a further 31 are underway.

In Queensland, my home state, there has been $25.6 billion of funding spent on land transport infrastructure projects between 1 July 2013 and now. That $25.6 billion is part of our $100 billion commitment. We were at a $75 billion commitment on infrastructure. We noticed the importance of that to driving the economy, driving jobs, driving growth and getting those economic corridors right, so we increased that to $100 billion. In those outward years, Queensland's share of that is that $25.6 billion. To date, we have spent $9 billion on transport infrastructure in Queensland, with 84 projects delivered and a further 94 underway.

Our record speaks for itself. In the coming months, I look forward to opening part of one of the most significant inland road infrastructure projects in Australia's history—the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. That is a $1.7 billion project to which we committed 80 per cent of the funding. These projects do not get off the ground unless governments are in a strong economic position and can co-fund the projects with state governments to make sure these major pieces of infrastructure are opened. There is a new stretch of road—41 kilometres—that will bypass the city of Toowoomba. That will take out of the community no fewer than 24,600 vehicle movements a day, of which 4,400 are heavy vehicles—large trucks. And I note that 80 per cent of these—3½ thousand people—are expected to divert around the Toowoomba range crossing. It will be a magnificent piece of infrastructure. It fills me with a sense of pride when we drive up to Toowoomba: you can see the viaducts, which weren't there years ago. It is going to save lives. Lives were lost on the old piece of infrastructure, which could be described as a death trap.

In Queensland this morning The Courier Mail reported that the tolls for that road had been advertised. The tolls are $2.30 for a car, $5.70 for a commercial vehicle and $22.85 for a truck. That is much less than what was anticipated by the private sector. In coming to office, we have committed that we will invest another $10 billion in infrastructure on the Bruce Highway. All this infrastructure in Queensland is being rolled out whilst this government is delivering record investment in health and record investment in education. We as a government are delivering. We can do it because we have a strong government and we have our expenditure under control. We are the government that will deliver infrastructure into the future.

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