Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What we did when we were last in government will be reflected over our period in government as well. The commitments that we put into the budget include, of course, in Victoria, the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that will make an enormous difference in Victoria. What we didn't do is what happened after our period in office. Compared with the rail funding under the Howard government, which is a really easy number to remember—zero; not a single dollar went into public transport over 12 years—what we did was transform projects, with rail projects like the Regional Rail Link in Victoria. We actually had, as well, in Victoria the Melbourne metro project. The member would be aware of the Melbourne metro project because it is the key to unclogging congestion in the network to enable the entire network across the city of Melbourne to be expanded.

We had $3 billion in the budget and we even had a joint board with Commonwealth representatives. What happened when the Liberal Party came to office was they ripped that $3 billion out and pulled the Commonwealth from the board because they didn't believe in funding projects like that—nation-building projects. So they ripped the money out of that, and that led to a delay in that project, which, of course, is now funded thanks to the Andrews government, which is in its third or fourth or fifth term—I've lost count.

Now in Brisbane, of course, we have the Cross River Rail project, which will be so important for the Olympics. Of course, there as well, we had $715 million in the budget, as well as an availability payment model of $2.4 billion. Again, they ripped the money out of the Cross River Rail. They ripped it out of that project and said it wasn't good enough. Tony Abbott, when he was prime minister, didn't believe in funding public transport. That's the sort of loss that we saw.

What our government has done is not rip out fully funded projects. What we have done, though, is identify the range of projects that are underfunded and can't possibly ever be delivered. It is dishonest to say, as they did for the Rockhampton Ring Road, that you can build a ring road for half of the money that it will actually cost for construction.

Honourable members interjecting—

I won't go too far into Rockhampton, because it gets him upset about Rockhampton and Yeppoon and Yeppen, as you well remember, in the past. (Time Expired)

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