Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For too long Commonwealth funding on transport has been dominated by the road lobby and the pork-barrelling of the old parties. Rational transport decisions based on evidence and need have rarely been unaffected by the politics of marginal seats and the ideological blinkers of outer suburban backbenchers. As a result public transport, particularly rail transport, has been at best the poor second cousin to road funding. The private sector has been willing to encourage this obsession with roads because it has seen billions of dollars poured into construction, and into private profits, and many cases led to privatised tollways. This is despite some manifest failures of tollways in Brisbane and Sydney, where they have not been meeting their inflated traffic figures and have become white elephants.

The most recent manifestation of this tunnel vision is the Leader of the Opposition's retrograde views on Commonwealth support for public transport and his pledging of $1.5 billion for the East-West tollway tunnel right through my electorate of Melbourne. I said at the time that the coalition's support for the East-West tollway was another example of 19th century thinking from the Leader of the Opposition, but as a constituent of mine correctly pointed out it is far worse than that: 19th century Melbourne had a substantial rail and tram system backed by government and the private sector—something it seems that the Leader of the Opposition would no longer countenance. So it is perhaps more accurate to say that the Leader of the Opposition is living in a mythical fantasy land where freeways are not gridlocked and tollways can continue to widen and lengthen regardless of their impact on the communities they plough through and despite their failure to resolve congestion.

Yesterday we had further evidence of the failure of this tunnel vision with an extensive report in TheSunday Age on what has been, until now, a secret assessment of the Department of Transport. The report states:

Hoddle Street will remain a traffic nightmare even after the Napthine government's east-west toll road is completed, according to the Department of Transport.

A department briefing prepared for Roads Minister Terry Mulder says only a small proportion of the cars, trucks and buses clogging Hoddle Street are likely to use the tunnel as an alternative if there are no off-ramps to the city.

The finding was mirrored in a November 2011 ''Hoddle Street Study'', released under freedom of information laws. It reveals the department's own traffic modelling found ''no expected change to the traffic operation of Hoddle Street as a result of the new link''.

Rather, it suggested the situation on Hoddle Street, already one of Melbourne's most congested roads, would worsen. With the road already carrying more than 90,000 vehicles a day, it warned worsening congestion triggered by population growth would increasingly force vehicles onto surrounding roads as motorists searched for alternative routes, further clogging the inner north.

''As congestion increases, motorists will also choose alternative north-south routes that are not desirable from a community perspective, including routes such as Brunswick Street, Smith Street or Princess/Denmark Street where traffic will compete with pedestrians in shopping precincts or public transport along tram and bus routes or at rail crossings,'' the report warns.

''If we do nothing, people will spend more time travelling on all forms of road-based transport, eroding quality of life and impacting the liveability of Melbourne.''

This assessment backs up the early Eddington report and contradicts the coalition's claims for the tollway, claims that until now have not been able to be assessed because they refuse to release the business case for the East-West link.

People in Melbourne do not want a tollway cutting through their communities. Whether it is a tunnel or above ground, the East-West link will make Melbourne less liveable and create a rat's nest of on- and off-ramps in the inner city. Unfortunately, for federal and state government ministers and the Leader of the Opposition the inner suburbs of Melbourne are simply places you pass through to get somewhere else. For us, the people of Melbourne, it is where we live. Melbourne does not want or need this tollway; what it needs is investment in public transport.

Melbourne Metro is also a key part of the Greens transport vision for Melbourne, which also includes Doncaster rail, expanded east-west bus tram routes and improved train and tram timetabling. So, I welcome the government's decision to commit $3 billion of funding to the Melbourne Metro. This is a big win for my electorate of Melbourne, and something we have all been working for. But it will come to nothing if an Abbott government funds the east-west tollway instead.

Labor's commitment to prioritising Melbourne Metro over the east-west tollway rings somewhat hollow, given the recent decision of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to fast-track environmental approval for the east-west tollway. The minister has been given virtually no information about the project, and neither have the Victorian public. He should have asked for more information or waited for an actual detailed proposal. In that respect he has not done his job here, which is to protect the environment and heritage—and that includes Melbourne's environment and heritage.

My colleague and leader of the Victorian Greens, Greg Barbour, has written to the minister asking for detailed reasons, and the Greens will obtain our own legal opinion as to whether his decision is even lawful under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. But, regardless, the minister cannot hide behind the letter of the law. He has been more than happy to look for creative ways—and I applaud him for this—to halt other environmentally destructive projects, such as alpine grazing, but here he has given the east-west tollway the green light instead of going the extra mile to stop this environmental vandalism.

The tollway will be a pollution nightmare and will wreck one of Melbourne's great natural parks. If Labor is serious about metro rail they need to back this bill before the House to Abbott-proof the metro rail funding and prioritise the rail project over the east-west tollway.

This bill, the Infrastructure (Priority Funding) Amendment Bill, will prioritise Commonwealth funding of rail projects identified by Infrastructure Australia over major road projects. Important exemptions are included in the bill for projects in relation to road safety, as well as exempting existing projects. As we know, major infrastructure projects have long lead times and require substantial investment. Commonwealth investment in infrastructure is increasingly important in determining which major projects proceed.

Infrastructure Australia was established by the Infrastructure Australia Act 2008 to assist the Commonwealth in identifying and prioritising funding for major infrastructure projects. Despite this objective no requirement was placed on the Commonwealth in the act to follow the priorities identified by Infrastructure Australia. The bill will provide a simple but effective mechanism to ensure Infrastructure Australia can do its jobs effectively and is listened to.

I will briefly outline each element of the bill. Clause 3 gives effect to the provisions in schedule 1 of the bill, and item 1 of that inserts a new section 5A into the Infrastructure Australia Act. This section requires the minister to prioritise the funding of infrastructure projects listed on Infrastructure Australia's national priority list as ready to proceed in relation to rail, ahead of other infrastructure projects related to road, with the exception of exempted road projects.

For example, Commonwealth funding for the Melbourne Metro, which is listed as a ready-to-proceed project on the national priority list, would be accorded priority over funding for the Victorian east-west tollway, which is not listed as ready to proceed. Road projects that are exempted from this order of priority are defined in the new section as those designed to address an urgent or significant road safety issue or on which construction has already begun at the time this act commences. For example, Commonwealth-funded Black Spot Program projects or existing projects such as the Melbourne Ring Road upgrade would be exempt from the priority ordering in this section.

It is simply astounding that Commonwealth might fund the east-west tollway ahead of the Melbourne Metro rail. It is a question of priorities. Victoria's public transport system is under severe pressure and needs an urgent injection of Commonwealth funds. According to Infrastructure Australia, the east-west tunnel has not made the grade, yet the Melbourne Metro, which tops the Infrastructure Australia's national priority list, is being sidelined.

The east-west tunnel was Victorian Labor's idea, and some in Labor still spruik it. If Labor is serious about opposing this tollway, it needs to get behind my bill in case we have a change of government in September. There is only a fixed amount of infrastructure money the Commonwealth will give Victoria, and if billions go to a tollway we may never see the Melbourne Metro rail project built.

There was a lot of talk about time bombs, booby traps and locking in Tony Abbott when the budget came out. I would like to lock in the Leader of the Opposition to funding the Melbourne Metro. The Leader of the Opposition has said he will not fund Melbourne Metro but will tip in $1.5 billion to the east-west tollway. This bill, if supported by parliament, will ensure that no federal money can be spent on the tollway unless the Melbourne Metro rail project is funded first.

Bill read a first time.

Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 41, the second reading will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.