Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government's $9.6 billion of funding in the 2022-23 October budget for the infrastructure that Australia needs, including but not limited to:

(a) upgrading the Bruce Highway in Queensland;

(b) building electric bus charging infrastructure for Perth's electric bus network;

(c) investing in Tasmania's Bass and Tasman highways;

(d) investing in South Australia's Dukes and Augusta highways;

(e) partnering with the Victorian Government to deliver Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop;

(f) improving Canberra's cycle routes;

(g) sealing the Northern Territory's Tanami Road and upgrading the Central Arnhem Road; and

(h) investing in Western Sydney's Road Package; and

(2) notes this funding will make journeys quicker and ensure Australians return home to their families safely.

It was great to be able to sit in the main chamber and watch my mate and neighbour, the Treasurer Jim Chalmers, hand down the Albanese government's first budget last month. It was a true Labor budget, a responsible budget considering the current instability of the world markets and other factors that impact outside of the government's control. However, this motion acknowledges the $9.6 billion of funding contained within the Albanese government's first budget that will go towards the infrastructure that Australia needs. I choose these words carefully as, for almost the last decade, money has not always gone where it was most needed to improve the country for Australians. Instead, it has often going to where it is most electorally favourable for the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments. Again, I say: this funding will be invested in the infrastructure that Australia needs. Importantly, this infrastructure pipeline will deliver boosts to every corner of Australia.

Coming from north of the Tweed, I will start with infrastructure spending in Queensland. Whether it is investing in improving the Bruce Highway between Gladstone and Rockhampton—that is, Yeppin, not Yeppoon—as well as in Brisbane's outer north or working with the Queensland government by locking in funding to get on with stage 1 of the Coomera connector—or better known locally as the second M1.

On the other side of the country, in Western Australia we are helping to build electric bus charging infrastructure for Perth's electric bus network to provide green public transport. Tasmanians do not miss out. They will get safer, faster travel through upgrades to the Bass and Tasman highways. In New South Wales, there is $300 of new money for the Western Sydney roads package. And we are investing right here in the ACT to improve Canberra's cycling routes, which will take more cars off the road and make it safer for people and families to get around for work and for fun. We are investing in South Australia's Dukes and Augusta highways, as well as sealing the Northern Territory's Tanami Road and upgrading the Central Arnhem Road—great for those communities.

I cannot not forget Victoria, where we are partnering with the state government to deliver the important Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop. The rail loop will deliver a 90-kilometre rail line that will link every major train service from the Frankston line to the Werribee line via Melbourne Airport. Much like the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane, this is a vital heavy rail network infrastructure project that was ideologically opposed by the Liberal-Nationals. You have to wonder whether the coalition just does not like helping to build much-needed heavy rail infrastructure of the future, or perhaps it may have more to do that they do not want to go back into major projects put forward by Labor state governments, which goes back to my earlier point: the Albanese government is about delivering infrastructure that Australia needs, not about pork barrelling, not about doing unfunded projects such as building car parks for train lines that are not needed.

However, the former Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments were interested in spending lots of money, borrowing money in fact, taking us into deeper and deeper debt, but only to win or help when marginal seats. Maybe this is why Labor governments are the ones that build nation-defining infrastructure projects, not the Liberal and National parties. This budget investment will help Australians get around quicker and safer whether it is for work, for family or for pleasure and that will be good for our productivity. The Albanese government has stripped the waste and rorts and is getting on with delivering an infrastructure pipeline that states, communities and contractors can rely on.

See this speech in context