Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Grayndler proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The government's failure to properly invest in infrastructure.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

We just saw, writ large in question time, the government's incompetence when it comes to infrastructure. Here we have a major investment in infrastructure in Perth, just weeks before the state election is due to be held, on 11 March, and they do not know two important facts. One is that they do not know that the Perth Freight Link project does not even go to the port. It stops three kilometres short. This is a $1.2 billion investment in freight transport infrastructure to a port, but it does not get there; it stops three kilometres short and vehicles will have to go through the suburbs of Fremantle in order to get the freight to the port. But it is worse than that because it is a road near a port that is at full capacity. We know that the port will be at full capacity in 2022, which is why the outer harbour is so important. The new port is what is critical if we are going to deal with exports and imports in the west. That is why during the election campaign we committed to fund the planning for that port project. That is what Mark McGowan is doing—planning for infrastructure for the future.

Of course, this is nothing new for the people of Western Australia. When we were in government, we engaged in the largest ever road project in Western Australia, the Gateway WA project. It was promised, funded and built on our watch, and yet those opposite came along at the end to the ribbon cutting, having opposed the nation-building program and the economic stimulus, and tried to suggest that they had something to do with it. It is not just that. When you land at Perth and leave the airport, the first road you go on is the Great Eastern Highway. It was widened and upgraded by Labor. If rather than east you go west, you will hit the work that is taking place on the Swan Valley Bypass, which is now called NorthLink under this government. Giving a road a new name does not make it a new road. It is the Swan Valley Bypass and it was funded by the former Labor government.

We understand that to deal with urban congestion you do not just need roads; you need rail lines as well. We invested in the Perth City Link project. It was promised, funded, built and opened under federal Labor. Those opposite talk about value capture. This project is a great example of value capture in action. You use the area where the road has been built to build the railway underneath and then you develop on top, to reunite the Perth CBD with the Northbridge entertainment precinct. It is a great example of Labor vision, Labor being engaged in urban policy and Labor being engaged in making our cities more productive, more sustainable and more livable.

We are not just engaged in cities, of course. We did the Great Northern Highway, the North West Coastal Highway, the work around Port Hedland, the work in Kalgoorlie, the Esperance port access road and the work around Bunbury—all delivered as part of the $6.9 billion that we put into Western Australia. We took investment from the Howard government's $92 per Western Australian to $261 per Western Australian—we tripled the infrastructure investment, because we understood that transport infrastructure was critical.

But of course we also did the National Broadband Network. We also did the support for hospitals. We also did the support for every school in Western Australia, because we understood that that was important.

At the last election there was a battle that will be played out on 11 March, which is: do you put money into a road to a port that is at full capacity, a road that does not even get to the port, or do you build rail infrastructure that will truly build on the legacy of Labor? That is the legacy that built the Mandurah rail link and the legacy that built the link up to the north, up towards Joondalup. Do you engage in that infrastructure investment? That is what is critical. WA Labor have made it clear that their commitment is to building the Morley-Ellenbrook line, building the Yanchep line, building the Byford line, commencing the circle line linking the suburbs, starting to fix level crossings and, of course, completing the Forrestfield to airport line. That is an example: $500 million was ripped out of the budget in 2014; two years later, in order to compensate for the GST, some funding is put back, and they pretend it is new!

The fact is that what we have seen under this government in Western Australia is symptomatic of their approach everywhere. Yesterday, there was a report into the funding of WestConnex in Sydney that followed the funding of the East West Link in Melbourne. In all these cases, commitments had been made; money was taken away from public transport projects like the Melbourne metro and Cross River Rail in Brisbane, and taken away from projects like the M80 in Melbourne that had been approved by Infrastructure Australia, and forwarded as advanced payments for projects that had no business case and that were not ready to proceed. And we wonder why it is having a negative impact in terms of the economy!

What we see from the Australian Bureau of Statistics are remarkable figures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures in this graph, where the red is Labor and the blue is the coalition, show that, for every single one of the 12 quarters that the coalition has been in office, public sector infrastructure investment has been less than in any single one of the 21 quarters where Labor was in government, from the time of our first budget in the June 2008 quarter right through to September 2013. Indeed, in their first two years in office, what we saw was a drop in infrastructure investment of some 20 per cent. And they stand up and speak about the $50 billion fantasy that they have; they stood up at the 2014 budget and said: 'Going forward, we have a $50 billion plan.' There is just one problem there, which is that budget papers get produced and show how much investment is actually occurring. And what we know is that up to 2019-20 the investment is $34 billion, and beyond that it is $8 billion at some unforeseen time, booked into the future. What we know is that there have actually been cuts each and every year to projects like the Pacific Highway and the Bruce Highway. When you compare what they themselves said they would spend with what actual spend is, last financial year the underspend was something like $1.2 billion.

This comes at a time when the resources sector is moving from the investment phase to the production phase. The Reserve Bank governor, last Thursday night, warned again on, and called for, investment in infrastructure. We have record low interest rates. We have a demand that is there, with a massive need for infrastructure, particularly in dealing with the challenges of urban congestion, and in dealing with the challenges of freight—projects like finishing off the freight line from Mascot to Port Botany; that is an absolute no-brainer, but they will not even proceed with that.

What we see from this government is all politics and no substance. They have abandoned the processes of Infrastructure Australia, they have cut funding for Infrastructure Australia, and they have not listened to what Infrastructure Australia has had to say. They have ministers who cannot even agree on who is in charge of what particular issue or project. This failure comes at a time where infrastructure is one of the keys to growth and to future jobs. If it is in the right projects, it boosts productivity and returns to government. That is why this government stands condemned, whether it be in Western Australia or any other state or territory in the nation, for simply failing when it comes to infrastructure. (Time expired)

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Look, it is tough being the people's choice. It is tough being the people's choice when you are preferred by the rank-and-file, you have got a book, you have got a beer named after you and you are a disc jockey, but it has taken months and months and months to get a question and to get an MPI because you lost out to Backroom Bill. Backroom Bill had the numbers in the party room, in the caucus, and unfortunately being the people's choice just did not cut it.

What you soon learn in dealing with the member for Grayndler is: you would go mad looking for internal consistency in what the member for Grayndler has to say. Here he is today, waxing indignant that we have not immediately signed on to Labor's METRONET proposal in Western Australia. I might add: step 1 of Labor's METRONET proposal is the Perth to Forrestfield airport link—being delivered by the Barnett Western Australian government. I was at the sod-turning myself with the Premier and with the state minister just a few months ago. So we hear from the shadow minister that somehow this side of politics is claiming credit for things that Labor has done, but it seems the shadow minister is not at all above doing that. And then he waxes indignant that we will not immediately sign on to METRONET, at the same time as criticising this government for proceeding with projects before they have been approved by Infrastructure Australia. Where is the Infrastructure Australia approval of METRONET? Shrieks of silence from the shadow minister on that particular issue. You would go mad looking for consistency from this man.

Let us have a look at what he has had to say on WestConnex. Let us have a look at his inglorious record of inconsistency on WestConnex. What did we see from the shadow minister on WestConnex when he was in government? I will read you a media release issued by the then minister in 2013:

The Federal Government has committed to providing funds towards the Westconnex road project …

…   …   …

This infrastructure commitment is also helping western and south-western Sydney residents to cut back on travel times and improve the quality of life they can enjoy with their families.

WestConnex was terrific! In fact, Labor committed $1.8 billion to WestConnex at the 2013 election, as yesterday's Auditor-General's report found. Labor committed $1.8 billion to WestConnex, and in 2014 the shadow minister was on the radio, on Ellen Fanning's show, proudly trumpeting Labor's contribution to WestConnex. Here is what he had to say:

Take WestConnex for example. We funded the work in terms of planning. $25 million was already spent from us and $1.8 billion was included in last year's budget for the WestConnex project.

There was the shadow minister proudly beating his chest, claiming credit for WestConnex: $1.8 billion! But then something very mysterious happened. In 2016, the very same shadow minister, discussing the very same project, was on ABC Radio with Fran Kelly. Fran Kelly asked him, 'Did you provide that money?' And here is what he said—listen very carefully: 'We provided $25 million for planning, Fran. That's the whole point. They say they support planning. We provided $25 million. Not for construction; not a dollar did we provide for construction.' In 2014 it was: 'We provided $1.8 billion. What heroes we are!' In 2016 it was: 'No, no, no. I was nowhere near it.'

Why did that happen? Why that inconsistency? I will tell you why that inconsistency—because he was running scared from the Greens. The Greens threatened the member for Grayndler. The Greens hate roads; the Greens hate road projects. Of course, all of a sudden for the member for Grayndler it was a 180-degree turn with reverse pike in degree of difficulty. He had nothing to do with WestConnex. 'Not me!' he said. He tells a community meeting in his electorate that if he is the minister there will be not a dollar more for WestConnex.

This architect of rank hypocrisy stands up and criticises this government on its infrastructure spending because it rankles with him that we are spending more on infrastructure than occurred under the Labor government. These are the facts. There is more spending from this government on infrastructure. We hear this standard run of criticisms from the shadow minister. In a speech in 2015—one of his best—he criticised this government for continuing with Labor projects like WestConnex and NorthLink and then criticised us because we had cancelled Labor projects.

The shadow minister runs this ridiculous argument, this factually incorrect argument, that there have been no new projects under a coalition government. Let's just go through some of them: the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, 41 kilometres and $1.137 billion; the Northern Connector in Adelaide, 15 kilometres and $788 million. What about the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan: the Northern Road, which is being upgraded to four lanes all the way; and the M12, which will connect Western Sydney Airport to the M7? We have committed $2.87 billion of Commonwealth money to the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan. Then, of course, there is Western Sydney Airport. This government has committed to it—something that Labor never achieved. The Perth Freight Link is a commitment of nearly $1.2 billion.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Zero dollars for rail! It's in your budget!

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And then of course there is the other standard claim we hear that there are no rail projects that this government is committing to. That is not true either. With this shadow minister you have to check the facts. For the Perth-Forrestfield Airport rail link $490 million was committed by this government.

Those opposite claim that we are not spending any money on rail, but we are. There is the Flinders Link, the connection between the Flinders Medical Centre and the Adelaide metropolitan rail line: $43 million. There is the Sydney Metro, a transformative rail project in Sydney: $1.7 billion committed by this government. There are the Gold Coast Light Rail, $95 million; Canberra light rail, $67 million; and inland rail, $894 million. The claim that there are no new projects is completely wrong. The claim that there are no rail projects is completely wrong. Do not trust what you hear from this shadow minister, because the reality is that this government is delivering on a $50 billion infrastructure program. Announced in 2014, our commitment was that the package we announced that night would take the government's total investment to $50 billion by the end of the decade, spending between 2013-14 and 2019-20, and we are precisely on track towards delivering that.

Then, of course, we hear the claim from the shadow minister that in some way the coalition government is spending less on infrastructure than Labor did, and that is simply not true. Here is a simple comparison, which I encourage anybody who has got the budget papers to engage in. Take the four-year forward estimates in Labor's last three budgets and the four-year forward estimates spending on infrastructure in the coalition's first three budgets. The average under the coalition is $27.9 billion, 54 per cent more than under Labor in the last three years.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How much more?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fifty-four per cent more. The fact is that this government is spending more on infrastructure and we are delivering on infrastructure projects all around the country, because infrastructure is vitally important to productivity, to efficiency, to getting people moving to and from work quickly and to getting freight moving around quickly, and it requires careful planning and careful distribution of projects. So the premise of the matter of public importance debate this afternoon is completely incorrect. This government has a comprehensive plan for infrastructure all around the country. There are an enormous range of projects underway.

Let me just remind you of some of the projects that have been announced and/or commenced since this government began: the North-South Corridor in Adelaide, the Northern Connector, $788 million; the East West Link—$3 billion is available for any Victorian government that stands ready to build the East West Link; the Western Sydney infrastructure package, $2.87 billion; the M80 Ring Road upgrade, $350 million; the Monash Freeway upgrade, $500 million; the Murray Basin Freight Rail, $220 million; the Capital Metro in the ACT, $67 million. The projects go on and on. This government has a strong infrastructure— (Time expired)

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Proper infrastructure investment is vital. It is vital because it removes capacity constraints, it boosts productivity and it supports jobs in the short, medium and long term. It is particularly important in Western Australia at the moment because of the prevailing economic conditions. We are in recession in Western Australia. We have very, very high unemployment, and the unemployment is getting worse month by month. We need investment in infrastructure—any investment in infrastructure. Frankly, a bit of improper investment in infrastructure would not be too bad! We are getting nothing. Seventy-three out of the 78 road and rail projects promised by the coalition at the last election went elsewhere. Five came to WA. Four per cent came to Western Australia. The Regional Jobs and Investment Package, announced last week, is specifically intended to deal with areas facing economic transition and unemployment. There is $220 million for 10 projects—not a single one for Western Australia, even though parts of Western Australia that would be eligible under that program have three times the unemployment of some of the areas that received funding.

What makes this all the more bitter if you are from Western Australia is that we were told by the member for Warringah, when he was the Prime Minister, that he would be the 'Infrastructure Prime Minister'. That was to be his epithet. That was what would ring down the ages.

An opposition member: 'Good government starts today'!

Well, good government has not started yet in Western Australia, and good state government there will not start until 11 March, at the earliest. But, as the member for Grayndler pointed out, the infrastructure spend under this federal government, in its best quarter, is lower than the lowest quarter of infrastructure spending under the former Labor government. It is meant to be a government for jobs and growth. Unemployment is higher under this government. Growth has been lower under this government. In Western Australia we have had 23 months of falling full-time employment. We are in recession, and inequality is at a 75-year high.

The Prime Minister might not be aware—his answer at the dispatch box today gave every impression that he is not aware—of what is going on in Western Australia. He has not been to WA in six months. So we get the double whammy. We get the invisible gifts of the 'Infrastructure Prime Minister' and we get the incredible dissolving promises of the 'Public Transport Premier', a Premier who went to the ballot box in the past promising the Ellenbrook rail extension, which has not been delivered, and promising MAX Light Rail, which has not been delivered.

So for us in Western Australia, as I said at the beginning, it is not really about whether or not you invest properly in infrastructure; it is about whether you invest at all. There has been two-fifths of nothing for the people of Western Australia—no public transport, no congestion-busting projects like Community Connect South, no properly delivered broadband, no investment in projects like the second stage of the floating dock. The only prospect of funding we have is in the horrible, ridiculous, monstrous shape of the Perth Freight Link, and you would struggle to find a better example of improperly planned and provided infrastructure funding than that ridiculous road.

An opposition member: Maybe the East West Link!

Maybe the East West Link. It is the most expensive road in WA's history, a privately operated toll road that does not even reach the port, a road that goes nowhere, a road that came out of nowhere. When it was announced in the 2014 federal budget, the parliamentary secretary for transport in Western Australia said:

The commonwealth has a propensity to make these announcements, as you well know, but the reality is that the Main Roads department and this government will be implementing and designing the Roe 8 extension, and at this stage we have not actually got design plans that are worthy of public scrutiny …

When the then Labor spokesperson, the wonderful Ken Travers, asked whether the Commonwealth had had any conversations about the Perth Freight Link with the WA government, the Western Australian spokesman said:

Maybe that is a question you should be asking a Commonwealth government representative.

Today the Prime Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport came to the dispatch box, and what did they know about the Perth Freight Link? They knew two things: they knew the dollar figure and they knew the name—and some of the time they did not even get the name right. That is all they know about the most expensive road project in Western Australia's history, the only project that has any Commonwealth infrastructure funds attached to it. We have copped, for too long, state and federal coalition governments that have failed to invest in infrastructure in WA properly or at all. We have copped state and federal coalition governments that take Western Australia for granted. This week we are seeking long-overdue reform to so-called parliamentary entitlements. We desperately need reform to the sense of entitlement the coalition has in relation to Western Australia— (Time expired)

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a lot of argument going over here. Everyone knows that infrastructure drives economic growth, connects communities, leads employment and in many cases, particularly in road infrastructure, leads to safer, more efficient transport and saves lives. But the difference is that we are actually delivering things, whether it is roads, rail, bridges, airports, connectivity—in the form of fixing mobile phone black spots and actually delivering the much-waited-for NBN—or social infrastructure like increased aged-care building.

In my area, in the electorate of Lyne, on the North Coast of New South Wales, you only have to look outside the metropolis of Wauchope to nearby east Wauchope, called Port Macquarie, and you will see an extra $2 billion being spent on the Pacific Highway. The Pacific Highway has an extra $2 billion put back in and it is actually being built. There is $1 billion being spent just between the Oxley Highway and Kempsey, creating over 900 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs—really driving economic growth. Then there is the Bucketts Way between Gloucester and Taree, extra Roads to Recovery funding, extra Black Spot funding and bridges to recovery. You only have to look at other states, for example the northern Australia roads—beef roads. You only have to look at the Bruce Highway: there is an extra $2 billion being put into the Bruce Highway. And there is the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing—the list goes on and on.

For rail infrastructure, as I mentioned, we have Inland Rail that is finally having serious amounts of capital put in by the coalition government. That is $893 million from Melbourne to Brisbane. It is going to be game changing for freight and all the economy that drives from it. There is the Moreton Bay Rail, the Gold Coast Light Rail and the Murray Basin Rail Project.

Dams have driven communities and civilisations since ancient Egyptian times. Australia has not had anything done on dams until this coalition government committed—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grayndler has had his turn.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Chaffey Dam has an extra 38 gigalitres. And there are the Tasmanian Irrigation Schemes, whether it is the Southern Field dam and the irrigation associated with that or the Swan Valley Irrigation Scheme with the Melrose Dam, or the Duck Irrigation Scheme at the Mill Creek Dam. In Victoria there is the MacAlister irrigation system, and there is the South West Queensland Pipeline. In my area on the mid-North Coast there is $34 million of infrastructure being built by MidCoast Water and $10 million from the federal government building hard infrastructure, for water, for Taree and Forster and the mid-coast.

Our airport commitment means that, in my area, the regional airport for Hastings and Macleay at Port Macquarie have $1¼ million committed from this coalition government. We finally made a decision on the Western Sydney Airport, and the planning and all the logistics that will lead to it are actually being done.

The NBN: that is another $30 billion. The trouble with the members on the other side is that they talked about it for six years and they spent $6 billion but there were only 50,000 customers. Now there are 1.75 million people who can connect to it. That is a lot better. Just look at the figures for last month: there were 50,000 premises passed. There are rubbery figures all over the place from the other side, so do not believe what they say; look what they do. In their last budget, in 2013-14, they promised $3.9 billion for this current year, but we are delivering $9.18 billion. In 2011-12, they promised $6.1 billion, but they only delivered $3.6 billion. So do not go on what they talk about or what they say, just look at what they do. We are actually delivering on infrastructure.

For aged-care infrastructure in my electorate we are getting extra nursing homes in Foster, Gloucester and down at Tea Gardens. We are actually building stuff and matching our rhetoric with delivering results.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call the member for Brand, I might just remind the members that we are getting into a free-for-all here and I will be evicting people if this continues. I call the member for Brand.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased today to get the opportunity to speak about this government's failure to properly invest in infrastructure. This government is failing to properly invest in infrastructure in Western Australia, and if the Prime Minister chose to visit Western Australia for once he would see this for himself. Should he consider coming out west to visit Perth, he could see for himself how this government is willing to waste $1.2 billion of government funds on a road to nowhere, a road that stops three kilometres short of the port it proposes to service. I urge my colleagues opposite to take a tour one day if you are ever in Western Australia—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member over there would know Fremantle well. It is only three kilometres of road, yet there is the Swan River to cross and there is a major artery of the Stirling Highway. These are significant barriers in those short three kilometres, but nobody is looking to address that.

In fact, I am finding it difficult to talk about the Perth Freight Link anymore. The whole project is just too dumb. It is $1.2 billion of funding for a flawed project made available to prop up a floundering state Liberal government. It is being made available only weeks out from the WA state election. It is not funding to secure the infrastructure needs of Western Australia; it is funding for a deal cobbled together by the former Prime Minister Abbott and WA Premier Colin Barnett.

We have all seen in recent days the deals that Premier Barnett manages to negotiate. In fact, his most recent deal with One Nation, in his own words, is, 'Basically, a mathematical exercise to maximise the Liberal Party vote.' As a Western Australian I can tell you this is not a reassuring sentiment to hear from the Premier of my state. And this federal government still has the nerve to tell the people of WA, as they face a state election, that the $1.2 billion promised in federal infrastructure funding is only available for this flawed project. So the will of the WA electorate will count for nothing when it comes to infrastructure funding. Minister Cormann has said as much—he will not make the funding available for anything other than the ridiculous Perth Freight Link.

This government, and Premier Barnett's Liberal government, has chosen not to invest in the outer harbour at Kwinana. They will not invest in the local, state and national economies. They will not invest in the creation of an estimated 25,000 new direct jobs. They will not invest in innovation through the application of modern technology to port operations. This government will not invest in a much needed public transport rail network across Perth. This government will not invest in linking the Mandurah Line, which takes the people of Brand either north to the city or south to Mandurah, to the Thornlie Line, which opens up many employment opportunities for people in my electorate. And this government, and Colin Barnett's government, will not invest in building a new train station at Karnup, again another much needed infrastructure project to enable people living in the fast-growing suburbs of the southern end of Brand to get to work without facing gridlock on the congested freeway.

If he chose to visit Perth, the Prime Minister might see how badly communications infrastructure is needed. This government is failing to invest in the NBN and all sorts of communications infrastructure. They might try to lift thousands of residents in Baldivis out of the nightmare of the communications black hole they find themselves in.

I am pleased to compare that record with that of Labor when we have been in government. In my electorate of Brand—this is but a small list, and I cannot repeat everything the member for Grayndler has said, but we know how much Labor have invested in WA—there has been more than $2.1 million to fix dangerous local roads; $5.4 million for the construction of a bridge over Mandurah Road; $6 million towards the Baldivis Library and Community Centre; $4 million for the Medina Town Centre Project; $3.3 million to construct the Community Resource and Knowledge Centre at Kwinana; $65 million for the Mandurah Entrance Road; and $160 million for the Perth-Bunbury Highway—fantastic projects that have all been delivered and which people of my electorate all enjoy.

We know that the Libs and Nats have never really had their heart in WA; it is just a honeypot from which to extract political donations. You rarely see a senior Liberal in Brand. I am not sure I have seen a Liberal minister in the suburbs of Rockingham or Kwinana, unless they are blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to unseat that great Western Australia, the Hon. Gary Gray.

I am proud of Labor's record in WA and in Brand. Labor ministers, Labor Prime Ministers and the Labor shadow minister for infrastructure have often visited Brand. Former Prime Minister Gillard would visit Rockingham, Brand, Kwinana and Calista twice every year. But you will not see Prime Minister Turnbull in Western Australia, and you certainly will not see him in Rockingham. As the local daily observed, 'Where is Malcolm?' Sucked into a vacuum of irrelevance, is what I would suggest.

When in government, Labor invested in roads, invested in rail and invested in public transport. In government, Labor invested in the infrastructure necessary for the future of this country. And, now, WA Labor is committed to invest in the future of Western Australia. In WA, only Labor and Mark McGowan are committed to the much-needed METRONET commuter rail plan and the future of a Kwinana outer harbour.

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This MPI gives me a great opportunity to stand up and talk about this government's infrastructure spending and to compare it to that of our political opponents. I spent a short time in Western Australia, and it is interesting that now, with an election looming, all of a sudden the Labor Party have got themselves all excited and all the Western Australians that you never hear from have finally taken to their feet to make a bit of a statement. It is great to see all of them finally having something to say when it comes to infrastructure. I am going through my check list to actually find out who these members are who have been so silent for all of this time and who now have actually found their voices with an election in Western Australia coming up next month.

Previous speakers have been talking about this $1.2 billion project in the west that somehow or other is a little bit incomplete. Where I come from in Victoria, we have a Labor Premier down there and he actually spent $1.1 billion to do nothing. He had a program on the books—and I am sure the shadow minister would be aware of this project. His good mate Daniel Andrews actually spent $1.1 billion of taxpayers' money in Victoria to scrap a road—a road that Infrastructure Australia and Infrastructure Victoria have now identified as an essential part of the infrastructure needs of the Melbourne network. It has to be built by a future government, but Mr Albanese's friend Daniel Andrews has actually spent $1.1 billion of Victorian money to not build a road at all.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What's Victoria's share?

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am not quite sure what that shout-out is actually supposed to mean. It is also interesting how someone would say that Victoria is not getting a fair share of the federal funds because they have 24 per cent of the Australian population. It is interesting when you get into Victoria and you see the spend between Melbourne and regional Victoria. Twenty-four per cent of Victorians actually live in the regions; yet, when they have a big windfall, they are prepared to spend three per cent of their money in regional Victoria. We have a Labor Party in Victoria that get a windfall by selling the Port of Melbourne for $8 billion and, out of that $8 billion, they are prepared to spend 97 per cent of it in Melbourne and they will spend three per cent in regional Victoria. The Labor Party are very, very selective when it comes to who they want to criticise when talking about certain jurisdictions not getting their fair share.

What I can see here is a government that is truly committed to an infrastructure spend from 2013-14 right through to the end of the decade in 2019-20. It is a $50 billion spend. This is something that is going to be very well received by the people of Victoria and by the people of Australia. On the project to widen the Tullamarine Freeway—apart from the Labor Party absolutely botching the arrangement with the contractors; however, we have got what we have got—the Commonwealth is putting forward 80 per cent of that money. For the M80 Ring Road, there will be a $500 million contribution from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth contribution to the Monash Freeway upgrade is 50 per cent of the total cost, which is $500 million. Then we have the Murray Basin freight rail upgrade—a long-awaited project to standardise that line so that the freight can get to Portland, Geelong or into Melbourne. The Commonwealth is contributing $220 million to that $440 million project. This is just a short list of projects around Victoria which are being funded by this government, and they are making a huge difference.

In my electorate alone, after 45 years, we have finally got the funding for the Echuca-Moama bridge. Minister Chester was there to announce that project, with $97 million from the Commonwealth. We have $20 million going into two roundabouts to make the arterial roads around Shepparton safer. We have $20 million of water infrastructure pipelines for the west Loddon project. We also have further projects. Critically, we have this government's continued investment in communications and mobile black spots—something which the Labor Party did absolutely nothing about in six years. (Time expired)

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My colleagues have already pointed out today's front page of The West Australian, asking the question that has been on the lips of many Western Australians for months now: 'Where is Malcolm?' It has been 186 days since the Prime Minister deigned to cross the Nullarbor and set foot in Western Australia. As TheWest Australian's Shane Wright so perfectly described it, he 'has become the Prime Minister of eastern Australia'. It is the re-emergence of the Brisbane Line. In fact, the Prime Minister has spent more time in Peru and Micronesia in the last six months than in my home state!

However, a bit deeper into The West Australian today, another story appears that would not come as news to many of my constituents. The RAC's Risky Roads survey has been released, and Western Australians have identified the Denny Avenue level crossing in my electorate as the most dangerous stretch of road in the state. There were 145 crashes at that rail crossing between 2011 and 2015, and the problem has only gotten worse since. Along with my fellow Labor members, I have been telling governments this for years, and so I was proud to secure a commitment from federal Labor during the Canning by-election to fund a solution at Denny Avenue; a commitment that was reaffirmed at the 2016 federal election—as was our commitment to a new Armadale Road bridge. Alas, those commitments were not matched by the Turnbull Liberal government, and they have not been considered worthy of the Barnett Liberals, either. Apparently WA's most dangerous road is not worthy of the attention of the Liberals. But there is good news: Mark McGowan and WA Labor have made a commitment that, if elected, they will remove the Denny Avenue level crossing and replace it with either an underpass or an overpass, as one of the top priorities of METRONET. They will finally see a solution to this dangerous traffic snarl, and they will get it underway in the first term of a WA Labor government.

I am glad that the member for Grayndler led off this matter of public importance debate today, because I distinctly recall standing with the member for Grayndler at Denny Avenue in September 2015, on the Prime Minister's first day on the job, calling on him to invest in new infrastructure that WA desperately needed—and still does. Needless to say, he has not. The great disappointment of the Turnbull government has utterly neglected the people of Western Australia, and nowhere is this more apparent than in his failure to invest in the infrastructure needed in my state. Perhaps this is why the Prime Minister has been avoiding WA. But I have a theory. Just days after the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, visited my region of WA during that by-election, he was knocked off by the current Prime Minister—could it be that this calls for neglect? Is the Prime Minister so afraid of his backbench that some superstitious fear of the West has overtaken him? Or is it just that the WA Liberal Party has realised that the Prime Minister is so on the nose that a visit during a state election campaign could do nothing but further hurt their cause? I compare this to the Leader of the Opposition, who has already visited our great state twice this year. The Leader of the Opposition knows that he is welcome in WA. But—after today's front page—we have heard Colin Barnett will invite the Prime Minister to WA, and that he will grace us with his presence this weekend. So I would like to extend an invitation to the Prime Minister: come on down to Denny Avenue in Kelmscott, WA's most dangerous stretch of road, and decide for yourself. And while you are in the neighbourhood, come on down and have a look at the chronic and growing congestion along Armadale Road—or come down to where Labor will extend the Thornlie rail line through Canning Vale to Cockburn Central. I will be able to tell you about the solution as well: the new Armadale Road bridge, which the Mark McGowan Labor government will start construction on in its first term—just as it will build METRONET. One day, the PM can even come, take a ride, and get a selfie on it! Forgive my lack of faith, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I doubt that the Prime Minister will take me up on my offer.

I also doubt that we will see much of the Prime Minister in WA before the state election—because the truth is, the Liberal Party takes WA for granted. The Turnbull-Abbott governments have not committed a single infrastructure dollar to a rail project in WA since forming government. They like to bang on about the Forrestfield line, but let me be very clear: that funding was GST compensation, brought on because the Liberals here have done nothing to fix the woeful and unfair share of GST going to Western Australia. The Liberals' 2016 budget makes it clear—it is right here in Budget Paper No. 3 on page 51: zero dollars for rail in Western Australia; and in fact, in Budget Paper No. 1 on page 538: zero dollars nationally for rail in 2019-20. They have done it for too long. It is an insult to every Western Australian for a Prime Minister of Australia to ignore our state. Whether it is his refusal to visit, or the Liberals' neglect of infrastructure spending, on 11 March Western Australians have a chance to kick out the hopeless, arrogant, out-of-touch Barnett government and to send a strong message to Canberra. (Time expired)

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am quite amused by the member for Burt's contribution today. He spoke of the Canning by-election. He seems to have forgotten that we actually have the member for Canning, who defeated him in that by-election, here on our side of the chamber. Clearly, he has not done a very good job in that by-election, and he has missed the point completely. And I have a message for the people of Western Australia: you vote a Labor government in at your peril—a $48-billion Renewable Energy Target—50 per cent—from Labor is coming your way. A mining tax, a carbon tax and, as for communications infrastructure, in six sorry years under Labor, not one dollar was spent on one mobile base station—not in Western Australia; not anywhere in Australia—under Labor. So shame on Labor! They have completely neglected the people of Western Australia and they have completely neglected regional Australia. Labor's track record on communications infrastructure is a national disgrace, particularly for the people of Western Australia—

Mr Keogh interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Burt is warned.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, it is my great pleasure to speak on this MPI and, in doing so, I make reference to the people's choice, the member for Grayndler. I am quite fond of the member for Grayndler but, unfortunately, in the six years that he was the infrastructure minister in a Labor government, he started off his time saying no to Avalon Airport. Avalon Airport is one of the wonderful regional infrastructure precincts in our country and in our region. When AirAsia X wanted to fly internationally between Asia and Geelong, opening up an international airport, Labor said no. And that is well on the record—

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will not take the member's interjection. That is well on the record that that was rejected by Labor.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Corangamite will resume her seat; the member for Grayndler on a point of order.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order on that!

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

I am allowed to intervene. I know the standing orders.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you raising a point of order, Member for Grayndler?

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

Yes; I am asking if I could ask a question—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

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

I can do that.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I decline.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Corangamite has declined to answer the question.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, Avalon Airport is still struggling from that terrible decision. We are very, very proud that we have now put Avalon Airport in the regional package—again, another decision that was not made—

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

She should withdraw. She can't just make stuff up!

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Corangamite will resume her seat. The member for Grayndler on a point of order.

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: I would ask that that statement be withdrawn. She has just made that up! That is just a lie.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not a point of order. The member for Grayndler will resume his seat and will not interfere anymore. I call the member for Corangamite.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would ask the member to withdraw that unparliamentary language. The fact of the matter is that under Labor they blocked AirAsia X flying in to Avalon Airport. It was a terrible decision. In fact, the member for Corio is on the record trying to justify it on national security grounds. To the member for Grayndler: you can check the records. That is one example of how the Labor Party have failed to stand up for very important infrastructure projects in our region. The Regional Rail Link, a $3.65 billion project—$2.7 billion from the Commonwealth, $1 billion from the state. We now have—

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a Labor project.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is. It is a Labor project. It is a Labor project and with the project it now takes longer for the people from Geelong to travel to Melbourne, and we now have an inferior rail connection between Geelong and Melbourne. I put on the table that we need a 30-minute fast-rail connection between the booming city of Geelong rather than the cumbersome and shocking Regional Rail Link, which is now taking longer. It is servicing the people of Western Melbourne, but it has completely failed the people of Geelong. We have heard some mention of the East West Link. My colleague here talked about the $1.1 billion that Daniel Andrews wasted. It has actually gone up to $1.24 billion. He said that scrapping that project would not cost a cent. That was absolutely untrue. Labor spent $1.24 billion not to build that road, supported by Infrastructure Australia, supported by Infrastructure Victoria and previously supported by the member for Maribyrnong— (Time expired)

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As my colleagues on this side from WA have said before me here today, Western Australia is in a recession. We are facing record debt and deficit at the hands of eight years of the LNP state government and record unemployment, and all of this is the result of consistent neglect by both the Turnbull and the Barnett governments. Western Australia has been ripped off by the Turnbull government with just three of 78 infrastructure projects promised during the election campaign being located to my state. Despite promising $860 million, which was announced during the federal election campaign—and, let me remind you, that was less than a year ago—for road and rail projects in Western Australia, the government will instead dedicate just over $40 million. That is just 4.6 per cent for those much needed projects.

During the election campaign last year, the government came out with some very extraordinary promises in what can only be described as an unashamed and crude exercise in pork-barrelling, not just in Western Australia but all around Australia. Seventy-six out of their 78 projects were in seats held by the coalition before the 2 July election. In the marginal seat of Swan in Western Australia, the government pledged $20 million for an on ramp from Manning Road to the Kwinana Freeway in the seat—

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's already one there.

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is one there. Make another one! Why not? In the seat of Hasluck, another marginal seat, $300,000 was promised to upgrade the Hale Road and Woolworths Drive intersection in Forrestfield. And in my seat of Cowan, previously held by the Liberals, they promised $20 million for an overpass at Ocean Reef Road and Wannaroo Road. Wannaroo Road in my electorate—which the member for Grayndler is very familiar with, having visited me there, as is the WA leader, Mark McGowan—has been identified by Infrastructure Australia as one of the top 10 most congested roads in Australia by 2030.

On 21 December, the WA Liberals announced $30 million to duplicate Wannaroo Road to deal with some of this congestion, and less than 24 hours later, on 22 December, the midyear review revealed that only $10 million was actually allocated to what they touted as a fully funded project. It took less than a day to break a fully funded promise to deliver key infrastructure in WA that would have created jobs and would have eased the strain on families. The government do not care about that. They do not care about families or jobs in Western Australia. They have some of their most senior politicians from WA, including some of their frontbenchers—Curtin, Pearce, Stirling, Hasluck, and more: Tagney, Canning and Swan. But where are they? Where are their voices when it comes to getting a fair share for the people who elected them—the people that they are elected to represent?

Instead of speaking up and getting a better deal for them, the Liberals are too busy making deals with One Nation to keep their jobs and keep Barnett in power. Instead of standing up for the people of WA, they are too busy rubbing shoulders or, rather, rubbing tin hats with their wacko coalition candidates. Where are they? Where are the Western Australian members of this government? Where are they on that side? Where are they to speak up for Western Australians? They are nowhere to be found. Instead, they allow this government, their government, to continue to snub and rip off the very people who elected them. Where is their conscience as they allow their government to skew spending towards Liberal- and National-held seats in the eastern states? They are nowhere to be found. Instead, they are complicit in the great GST rip-off of Western Australia.

The member for Canning is wondering where all his mates are. Where are all the Western Australians? They are not around you. They are not here. They do not care about Western Australia. All they care about is Barnett keeping his job. They are nowhere to be found. Is it any wonder that the federal Liberal Party has been perfectly happy with the state Liberals? They are all in it together. They are all in it for themselves to save their jobs and— (Time expired)

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was thinking, as I was listening to the last honourable member's speech, of that great classic movie, Wag the Dog.

Mr Keogh interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Burt will remove himself for one hour under 94(a). He had been warned.

The member for Burt then left the chamber.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Wag the Dog, you might remember the comment being made that every good campaign deserves a good song. I do not know whether today is, in fact, the campaign efforts of the member for Grayndler—the people's choice to knock off the Leader of the Opposition—or it is just the WA Labor team, who are here today not to talk about a topic specific to WA but are here in force. We only have one member over here in the House, and he is already worth 10 times that of the members opposite. You see, those who wish to have a Labor Party running WA need only look at my state of Queensland, as Labor in Queensland are as daft as Labor in WA in this unbelievable pixies-from-the-garden vision of a 50 per cent renewable target.

I have to say, as much as I think the Labor Party in Queensland are ludicrous in this regard, in WA they are even more foolish, especially when you consider the relative isolation of the West from the grid. But here we are again. Every good campaign deserves a song, and the only song I could think of when listening to the last couple of speakers is that classic Bee Gees song—remember that? It says—and I cannot sing—'It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away.' That is all it is from the Labor Party; it is just words. Nothing more. No delivery; absolutely zip.

The member for Grayndler, and it could be part of his campaign to take the leadership of the Labor Party, loves to beat the chest and talk about how every piece of infrastructure in this country was done under his leadership. Being a good Queenslander and a very proud citizen of the Sunshine Coast, I will give us a look at that track record in the context of the seat of Fairfax and the Sunshine Coast. The member for Grayndler, in his opening remarks, tried to suggest that the government had cut funding to the Bruce Highway in Queensland. That was what he said. When he was at the last election—actually, no, it was in 2013—what he and Labor committed to the Bruce Highway in Queensland was $4.1 billion. The coalition committed $6.7 billion. At the end of the day there is only one party that is delivering on the Bruce Highway, and that is the coalition.

In my patch alone on the Sunshine Coast we will see construction beginning this year on a $929 million spend on the Bruce Highway from north of the Caloundra Road turnoff to the Sunshine Motorway. Go up another seven kilometres and $187 million is being brought forward to be spent on the Maroochydore interchange. That is already over $1 billion. What is interesting about the member for Grayndler is that he is complaining about a cut. That first project I mentioned, the $929 million to be spent just north of the Caloundra Road turnoff and six-laning, is costing us $929 million instead of $1.1 billion—for better quality, faster delivery and cheaper delivery. It is only the Labor Party that starts complaining when less government money is needed to deliver a better job.

But let's go away from roads and highways; let's look at the airport. The Sunshine Coast international airport announced their new private partner only last week, and we are very excited about this. What did Labor do for that project? Nothing. What has the coalition done? Delivered a $181 million concessional loan so that the airport can be upgraded. Of course, in my beautiful electorate I also have a hinterland. There are lots of black spots—three, possibly four—and we already have investments in mobile towers for three of those. How much did Labor give to mobile black spots? Zero. Not a cent. It is only words. That is all they have to take the hearts away, but the problem is that the Australian public are too smart to buy into that. They want to see outcomes and they want to see delivery, and I can tell you that, from my point of view, for the Bruce Highway, the airport and communications, it is the coalition that will do that.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has concluded.