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

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure. On Sunday, when speaking about the Gold Coast light rail project, the Prime Minister said that the project would 'have to be to the satisfaction of the Minister Warren Truss'. Given the minister has ridiculed Labor's infrastructure plan, which includes funding for the Gold Coast light rail project announced by the Leader of the Opposition just three days earlier, Minister, will this project go ahead?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course the project will go ahead. I was the minister that, with the Deputy Premier of Queensland, negotiated the deal. We were the ones who talked through the project and examined the business case and made the offer to Queensland in relation to funding for the project. My comments three days earlier were actually about the Melbourne Metro, Brisbane Cross River Rail and Badgerys Creek rail, where no business cases have been presented and where design work still remains to be done. In the case of Gold Coast rail, certainly several weeks ago, when Queensland one Friday demanded that the Commonwealth contribute $150 million to this project by the following Monday, I did criticise them for not having a business case prepared, because they did not at that point. Subsequently, they did prepare a business case and presented it to the Commonwealth so we were able to examine its merits, and we came to the conclusion that this was a project that connected the light rail on the Gold Coast with the broader Queensland network; it connected the light rail to the heavier rail, and would enable a rail journey from the main street at the Gold Coast right through to the capital city, and it was therefore a project with merit. So we committed $95 million to the project, an amount that was welcomed by the Queensland government. There is also a contribution from the Gold Coast City Council. That will make sure this project happens. We have committed to it. I was involved in negotiating the deal. I fully support the project and I commend the Queensland government on calming down the rhetoric and then getting on with the job of dealing with this project in a business-like way. That is how we were able to come to a constructive decision that involves all tiers of government delivering a project that will be important for the Gold Coast, particularly in the context of the upcoming Commonwealth games.