John Anderson (Gwydir, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also addressed to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. I ask: would the minister advise the House of progress in the development of the Melbourne to Brisbane rail line? Can he tell the House how this development will enhance Australia’s national land transport network, AusLink, and what it will mean for inland regions?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Gwydir for his question and acknowledge his personal commitment over many years towards transport infrastructure in Australia and his particular effort and interest in the prospects of constructing an inland railway in Australia to link Melbourne and Brisbane. As he would be aware, this afternoon I released the study by consultants Ernst and Young into the economics and the transport needs on the rail sector for our eastern states for the next couple of decades.

This study has identified the fact that the rail sector will have to play an increasing role in our transport task in the years ahead. The transport role between our major capitals—Brisbane-Sydney, Sydney-Melbourne and Brisbane-Melbourne—will double over the next 20 to 25 years. That means twice as many trucks, twice as many trains and twice as many ships to be able to achieve the task, otherwise our economies will start to strangle as a result of an inability to move products around as quickly as we need to.

I think most of us believe that our roads system, even with the substantial investment that this government is providing, will not be able to cope with a doubling of the number of trucks. So rail will need to play an increasingly important role. Rail has a reputation—unfortunately correctly earned—for being unreliable and not on time. We have to fix that, and the $2.4 billion that this government is committing to upgrading the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne rail line will, hopefully, make a significant step in this regard.

The report has recognised that that expenditure has been appropriately targeted and will deliver good results. I commend the honourable member for Gwydir for his role in the choice of some of those projects. It does recognise that we will then need to do something about the worst bottleneck in the Australian transport system, and that is getting freight in and out of Sydney. That needs to be dealt with promptly. That will require at least another $1.5 billion in capital expenditure north of Sydney. But, by 2019, even that enhanced route will not be sufficient to meet the task. In that regard, an inland railway line linking Melbourne and Brisbane will be required by that time.

The report goes on to identify potential routes, looks at the economics of the various proposals and I think demonstrates that this proposal will be required, that it is affordable and that it can play a very significant role in delivering Australia’s transport tasks into the future. Now there is an opportunity for the public to comment on these proposals, and I invite anyone who is interested in this important national project to make a contribution. This will be an important national vision that we can fulfil, and I believe that this report represents a significant step forward in this project.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.