Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why is a dollar invested from the Commonwealth in roads good but a dollar invested from the Commonwealth in public transport bad?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to see money being invested in public transport, and money being invested in urban rail systems should be invested by the state governments, which own and operate the urban rail systems. After tonight's budget, we will see far more opportunity for the state governments to invest in the public transport systems that they own and operate, to recycle assets from less productive to more productive assets, according to their choice. What we will see in this budget tonight is a record Commonwealth spend on infrastructure and the opportunity for the states to spend record amounts on infrastructure should they choose to do so. And don't we need it, because, thanks to neglect by state Labor governments and by the recent federal Labor government, there is an $80 billion infrastructure gap in this country. We did not create the problem, but we will take responsibility for fixing it—and the fixing starts tonight.