Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government update the House on the history and progress of the Alstonville bypass in my electorate of Page?

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

I thank the member for Page for her question. The Alstonville bypass has indeed had a long history over the last decade. It is a history in which not much happened for a very long time. But in recent times—indeed, just a little over a month ago—work began on the Alstonville bypass and 140 people started work. It does have a history, though, and I am not the only one who has looked at the history of this project. The member for Warringah was on the doors this morning. He had the following to say about the history of the bypass:

The Howard government first committed $12 million to the Alstonville bypass in 2002. Then the Alstonville bypass was costed by the state government at $24 million. The Howard government gave the state government $6 million but they didn’t actually start any work.

That is what he had to say this morning. You would think that, if you had made a commitment in 2001 to build a road and it was now 2009 and you had had two full terms to build the road, you would be embarrassed. You would not be going out there on the doors and talking about the promises. In spite of the commitment in 2001, nothing happened. Nothing happened in 2002, nothing happened in 2003 and nothing happened in 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007. Nothing happened at a time when revenue was being returned to government coffers in record terms.

But the coalition’s opportunism is a character trait. It is not just the federal opposition that have that trait. The New South Wales Nationals leader, Andrew Stoner—and yesterday I quoted him praising the Kempsey bypass—had this to say this week. He said, ‘The long-awaited Alstonville bypass has been dropped.’ He must think they are still in government down here. He must think they are still in government, because it is not true. It is not only not true but it is going ahead fully funded by this government. There is a pattern of behaviour over there. They say: ‘Oh, we were going to do something about Cooroy to Curra in our 13th year. We were going to do something about the Hunter Expressway in our 13th year. We were going to do something about the Kempsey bypass in our 13th year.’ They went to election after election and made promises. If you go back and look at the funding, you will see there was nothing ever there in the budget. They are delusional not only about the past but about the present, and they have nothing to say about the future. The member for Groom also went out on the doors today, and this is what he had to say. He was asked:

Can you stand here and tell us which infrastructure projects in your electorate that you oppose?

The member for Groom said:

Well, I haven’t got any as far as I know.

That is what he said. He said, ‘I haven’t got any.’ He should log onto www.economicstimulusplan.gov.au, and there he will find 73 schools in the electorate of Groom, eight social housing units in the electorate of Groom, $4½ million for the regional and local Community Infrastructure Program, $1.6 million to install boom gates at two level crossings in his electorate and $4½ million to fix four black spots—three of which, because they were on the national network, he voted against when he voted for that ridiculous amendment moved by the Leader of the Nationals to remove any funding for black spots on the national road. They are in denial about the past, they are completely unaware of the current situation and they have absolutely nothing to say about Australia’s economic future.