Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Treasurer. I refer to the government’s proposal—referred to again a few minutes ago by the Prime Minister—to reduce inflation by overcoming infrastructure bottlenecks. Can the Treasurer explain why $65 million in funding to maintain and upgrade working rail lines, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, to reduce bottlenecks has been delayed for two years under the recently announced Rudd government’s spending cuts?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, this is a question better referred to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to receive a question on this issue. The government did not cancel the $65 million in works. As stated before the election, we will spend $15 million for the Australian Rail Track Corporation to do a detailed study. Work done so far has identified a preferred far-western subcorridor. Our study will finalise the alignment within the corridor, identify planning and environmental issues and look at cost and demand for the line.

The previous government had brought forward money to do work on the existing track at the same time as the study was being done. That is putting the cart before the horse. You need to know where the line is going before you fund the building of the line. The government is not alone in thinking that this is appropriate. Everald Compton, Director of the Australian Inland Rail Expressway, said on ABC Radio New England just this week:

I am not shedding a single tear over the deferment of this $65 million because we never ever asked for it in the first place and I approve of what the government is doing to defer expenditure that is not needed while we tackle the inflation situation in Australia.

So I say to the Leader of the National Party, who is profligate with taxpayers’ funds—of course, we know about the National Party and the way that they abused taxpayer funds through programs such as the ‘regional rorts program’—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I say to the minister that giving an answer to advance matters that truly are, by way and nature, of debate does not assist the way in which we carry out our business at question time.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In his support for the government’s position, Everald Compton went on to say, ‘The inland railway is alive and well.’ The fact is that the government has instituted a study for an inland railway, something that in the first 12 years of the Howard government they did not get around to doing. They did not do anything to build the railway; they did not do anything to plan the railway. Our position recognises commonsense: that you need to have the study, get the planning right, get the details right and then assess the project properly and be prudent with taxpayers’ funds—not make, in the lead-up to an election when you know you are about to go out the backdoor, irresponsible promises to fund projects before you have funded the study to show where the projects will be built.