Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to speak on this MPI about infrastructure. It's quite an exciting week for me, because I am going back to Brisbane tomorrow, and there is a very big weekend for rugby league in Brisbane. It is the Magic Round. Every game of rugby league will be played at Lang Park. So you will be able to see all the teams that you want to see at Lang Park. I'm sure most Queenslanders will be excited about that, as will a lot of New South Wales people. But there will be one team missing. That team won't be playing. It has gone missing. It went missing on Tuesday night. It is 'Team Queensland'.

Mr Ted O'Brien interjecting—

There is an interjection from the captain of Team Queensland. Remember when it was announced in February by the member for Bonner in the Sunday Mail that there was a coalition of federal MPs from Queensland lobbying their caucus to get infrastructure and jobs for Queensland. There was a big write-up—Team Queensland and the captain, the member for Fairfax, speaking. But, unfortunately, it is not a very good team at all. When it is setting out defence they have no-one at all on the left wing, one person in the centre and all of the rest of them over on the right fighting to stay on the right. And what happened? Their caucus colleagues ran over the top of them.

I listened on Tuesday night for the Treasurer to announce all of these things for Queensland after Team Queensland want into bat for them. I thought they were going to have all of this stuff handed down because Queensland needs so much infrastructure. But what did we actually see in terms of announcements? Well, we really good dudded. In terms of new infrastructure funding, we are worse off than any state or territory per capita. Queensland—the state that delivered government for the Morrison government—is worse off than any other state or territory. So, Team Queensland, you're not fit to peel the oranges and be Team Queensland. That's ridiculous: you went into bat and we went backwards! Unbelievable!

Queenslanders have been left waiting for years for any substantial money to flow. There was $1.6 billion promised—worse than Victoria and worse than New South Wales—but when you look through it we're only actually getting $18.8 million flowing in the next 12 months. That wouldn't even buy the ornamental gates on the Leppington Triangle—$18.8 million in 12 months. And over half of the new money promised for Queensland won't be delivered in the budget. It's unbelievable!

Let's look at the $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund. It was announced in 2018, but only $284 million has actually been spent. Where were Team Queensland? Where was the member for Bonner? Where was the member for Bonner, going in there and saying all the things that he promised in the Courier Mail? They said they were going to have some tunnels from Acacia Ridge through to the Port of Brisbane. There wasn't even money in the budget for a shovel! That's what they delivered for that project, which is going to put trucks, trains and coal into the middle of my electorate in that disaster called Inland Rail. They somehow think that Inland Rail is going to go to the Port of Brisbane, except Acacia Ridge is where it stops, 37 kilometres from the Port of Brisbane. I need to give the Deputy Prime Minister an atlas or something.

He promised that he would actually come to my electorate and look at the Coopers Plains rail crossing project, which has been a bane of my electorate's existence for 50 years. We really need to get the Coopers Plains rail crossing sorted out—

A government member interjecting—

Well, your government made a commitment to it, Queensland captain!

Government members interjecting—

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