Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

We already have agreements with the South Australian government. We have agreements for some of the Queensland projects. My expectation is that we'll soon have agreements, in every single other jurisdiction where we have Urban Congestion Fund projects underway, which will outline when these projects will start and when they'll be completed. I must say that all of those discussions are going well. They're constructive, and the state governments share our desire to get these projects underway as quickly as possible. In fact, even last night, Jacinta Allan, the Victorian transport minister, was quoted on Channel Nine as saying, 'From our perspective, we're working as quickly as possible on these projects.' So, we share our desire to get these done, as does the transport minister of Victoria, as does the transport minister in Queensland, and as do other ministers right across the country. The first ones will begin early next year and then they'll be rolling out, busting congestion across the country. But, of course, these things do take time. You do a public consultation. There's a design process. There's a feasibility study. You have to go out and have competitive tenders. The member for Ballarat may not understand this, but we do. We want to get them done. We will follow due process. The member for Ballarat doesn't understand due process, either, when it comes to administering departments, as we know from last time.

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