Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak on this topic. I want to start by reminding the House of this government's record on delivery of infrastructure. Let's look at the projects delivered just in the last 12 months. The Pacific Highway, Woolgoolga to Ballina, $3.745 billion—delivered in full. NorthConnex, running from the M1 at Wahroonga to the M2 at Pennant Hills, a $3 billion project with $412 million from the Commonwealth—delivered in full. The Mackay Ring Road stage 1 in Queensland, $398 million—delivered in full. Let me particularly acknowledge the local member there and his compelling video advocacy urging us 'to put a ring on it'. That was a shocking image, but it certainly produced the funding and the outcome. The Bringelly Road upgrade, $407 million—delivered in full. The Great Northern Highway Muchea to Wubin upgrade in Western Australia, $276 million—delivered in full. The North-South Corridor Darlington upgrade in South Australia, $210 million—delivered in full.

In fact, since we've come to government, 440 projects have been completed and delivered by this government. We hear this ludicrous argument from the shadow minister that an underspend is somehow problematic. I'll tell you something that these guys on the other side of the chamber, who have zero experience of business, do not understand: if you announce a project, estimate it's going to cost X and it turns out to be delivered for less than X, that's not a bad outcome. That's a good outcome. Saving taxpayers' money is a good outcome, but this incompetent, commercially illiterate rabble simply would not understand this. We had the complaint from the shadow minister that somehow it's problematic if some of what is announced is beyond the forward estimates. We're running a 10-year pipeline. It's about long-term systematic planning, something that this hopeless rabble have no idea of. Let's look at the 2013 budget delivered by the then minister for infrastructure, now the Leader of the Opposition. What percentage of that was in the forward estimates? Thirty per cent. Seventy per cent of it was beyond the forward estimates. These people are completely inconsistent in the contradiction between what they're now complaining about and what they actually did when they were in government.

While we're talking about contradiction, we had the suggestion that there's political bias in what we're doing on this side of the House. Political bias—this is from somebody who's on the most valuable players list as far as the Auditor-General is concerned. Remember her great performance in administering the Regional Development Australia Fund? What did the Auditor-General have to say about the member for Ballarat? He said:

He said:

… the recording of reasons for funding decisions did not adequately explain how the preference evident for projects located in Australian Labor Party (ALP)-held electorates had resulted from a merit-based process.

That's what the Auditor-General said about you. The suggestion from the shadow minister that she is some kind of authority, some kind of paragon of virtue, when it comes to the basis for making decisions—this is a shadow minister who has absolutely no credibility on that subject.

What have we committed in terms of spending? We've committed in this budget $15.2 billion of infrastructure spending, including $2 billion for the Great Western Highway from Katoomba to Lithgow; $2 billion for the Melbourne intermodal terminal; $400 million for the Bruce Highway, that's additional funding in Queensland; $237.5 million for METRONET in Perth; $161 million for the Truro bypass in South Australia; $250 million for the Monash roads upgrade; $380 million for the Pakenham roads upgrade; $178 million for the Gold Coast rail line from Kuraby to Beenleigh. That's $15.2 billion, part of a forecast $70 billion over the next four years.

Now let's have a look at what Labor spent when they were in government and what's happened since we've come to government. Labor's average spending over the years they were in government was $5.2 billion. It turns out that, under the coalition government, actual spending is 15 per cent higher: almost $6 billion. The entire premise of this ludicrously misconceived matter of public importance debate this afternoon is completely without foundation, but where we find the absolutely yawning gap—the gap between the fantasy world that the shadow minister lives in and the reality—is when we go back and have a look at the record of Labor on delivery and infrastructure when, of course, the infrastructure minister was the man who now holds himself forward as an alternative Prime Minister of Australia, and what a chilling prospect that is. This is the man who committed $91 million to Sydney west metro in the 2009-10 budget. What happened? This project was cancelled by New South Wales Labor: Commonwealth money committed, project cancelled. In the 2009-10 budget, Commonwealth Labor provided $61 million to the Adelaide O-Bahn: also cancelled. What kind of record of delivery is that? It's a hopeless record of delivery.

Let's not forget that the man who is presenting himself as the alternative Prime Minister of this country also has his fingerprints all over the hopeless failure of this lot when it comes to the implementation of the National Broadband Network. Here's what the then minister had to say. On 4 September—

See this speech in context