Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise to speak on this MPI. What's particularly clear from the minister for urban infrastructure's speech is that this government, the Morrison government, is the one that's on the side of delivering infrastructure. It's on the side of Australian families—to get them home sooner and safer. In contrast, what is clear is that the roadblock to better, less congested roads is the Labor Party. The roadblock to families getting home sooner and safer is the Labor Party.

The member for Ballarat stood up and talked about timing. I thought it was an incredible contrast, because it was just last week that I was in the electorate looking at a brand new federally funded facility that is helping to ease congestion locally. It wasn't a big project. It was one of these local urban congestion projects, with $3 million from the federal government. It has been funded, built and delivered, and has now reduced congestion for hundreds of families around the local school, from 45 minutes down to just seven minutes.

While the Morrison government is out there delivering for the families of Ryan, in contrast the Labor Party have been dragged kicking and screaming when it comes to infrastructure. When I was out there during the previous election campaign, I had no less than the Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure himself and the Prime Minister himself come and drive on one of the most congested road corridors in the electorate, the Moggill Road corridor. This is a corridor that, because of the Labor state government's inaction, is now No. 1 for delay costs in the whole of Queensland. Over a million dollars is lost in delay costs per kilometre per year on that corridor. Both the minister and the Prime Minister drove that corridor, and, as a result, there is funding in the budget for two projects on that particular corridor, the Indooroopilly roundabout and the Kenmore roundabout. In contrast, it was in the last week of the election campaign that the Labor candidate decided to stick up their head and suddenly match all our promises, as if they'd suddenly just discovered that infrastructure and getting families home sooner and safer was important to local families. It is this government, the Morrison government, driving that.

It's no better illustrated than in Queensland, where the Labor state government is the absolute handbrake on infrastructure. They have the lowest infrastructure spending, well below the decade-long average. But even when they don't have to put in any money, like with Brisbane Metro, a fully funded project by the Brisbane City Council with $300 million on the table from this Morrison government, they still can't get out of the way. If the member for Ballarat would like to hunt somebody down, it should be Mark Bailey, because after more than 270 meetings with the Brisbane City Council, who are trying to get on with delivering this project so that people can get home to their families sooner and safer on public transport when it's fully funded, Labor Minister Bailey still can't make the decision to get out of the way and let us spend this money on important infrastructure. Perhaps our best chance is to find a good investment property for the Deputy Premier to purchase on the route; that might finally kickstart it. It's clear that the only plan Labor had in Queensland to fund infrastructure was to await an inevitable Shorten government, which would then invest in their pet project, Cross River Rail. Instead, they're left holding the bag.

On top of that is the fact that these projects are possible because we know how to manage the economy. We know how to manage money in the Morrison government. That's how we can continue to make investments in local infrastructure projects. We're getting on with the job of funding local infrastructure projects in the Ryan electorate, like the Indooroopilly roundabout, with $25 million to get that project out of the too-hard basket and get it going. The federal government can really add value to reducing urban congestion by getting some of these projects out of the too-hard basket and getting them going. We're able to get the project underway at the Indooroopilly roundabout because we've got a strong partnership with the LNP-held Brisbane City Council. In contrast, the other local project we've got in the Ryan electorate is the Kenmore roundabout. There is $12.5 million on the table from this federal government. We're waiting for the Labor state minister, Minister Bailey, to get out of the way, come to the table and help us get that project under way.

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