Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

If the Howard government's attitude to infrastructure—their failure to invest in infrastructure—could be characterised as ignorance then this government's attitude towards infrastructure can be characterised as inertia. The government has sat on its hands when it comes to important infrastructure projects. The Howard government and this government—one in opposition during the Rudd-Gillard years—campaigned and voted repeatedly against the upgrade of the Ipswich motorway from Dinmore to Darra. Again and again they voted against appropriations that provided funding for that particular road. Even now, in contrast to the comments made by the member for Forde, they've had to be dragged kicking and screaming, and following the Queensland government and the federal Labor opposition, and finally agreeing to upgrade the Darra to Rocklea section of the Ipswich Motorway.

In every budget since 2014 this government has not met its infrastructure spending allocation. In fact, over five budgets, they have spent $5 billion less on state transport projects. In fact, less than 30 per cent of the much-heralded $115 billion in infrastructure programs is budgeted over the next four years. So they will go to election campaigns and tell voters they are going to fund certain projects, and then in the forward estimates, in budget papers 1, 2, 3 and 4, they won't actually allocate any money. It's deceptive, and it's deceiving in relation to voters. It's an insult, to be honest with you. This government, when elected in 2013, cut all spending to new public transport projects like the Cross River Rail in south-east Queensland.

This government has failed monumentally and not listened to the experts. For example, Infrastructure Australia's third national audit confirmed that the cost of road congestion to our major cities will more than double by 2031, while the cost of public transport crowding will increase fivefold. We've seen the Reserve Bank governor call repeatedly for fast-tracking infrastructure investment and the government rejecting that. We've seen the HILDA survey findings that, over the last few years, the average weekly commute rose from 3.7 hours to 4.5 hours for residents in our major cities. So this government's attitude is to say one thing but do another or, in fact, not do anything as best it can and get away with as little spending as it possibly can.

The best example I've seen locally in my electorate of the government's failure to find a real plan to protect jobs, to curb rising congestion in our cities and to stimulate the economy was in their third term and on two roads that cross Ipswich and go out the sides—the Warrego Highway and the Cunningham Highway. For the Cunningham Highway, the road project needs upgrading between Yamanto and Ebenezer Creek, so Labor made a commitment at the last election to put $170 million in there. The government has budgeted money in there but has done nothing about negotiating and discussing it with the Queensland government to get that project done. There have been some discussions between the levels of government.

Commuters might live in Yamanto, Flinders View or Willowbank. I urge the Deputy Prime Minster to go to the Willowbank area group and hear what they say. There'll be 50 to 100 people there, urging him to meet with the Queensland government and urging the Queensland government to sit down with the federal government and sort out the agreed proportion to get that road project done. It's really critical.

This is a government that has ignored the fact that there is road project infrastructure that needs to be done outside the biggest military base in the country. In addition to that, they've put money in the budget for the Warrego Highway, but they've done nothing about the worst intersection on the Warrego Highway, the Mount Crosby interchange. If you live in Corunna Downs or Karalee or Tivoli or any part of northern Ipswich, you need this done. I urge this federal government—who boast and brag and pose and preen about infrastructure expenditure—to sit down with the Queensland government and negotiate better outcomes for the Warrego Highway and for the Cunningham Highway and to not let the people of Ipswich down.

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