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 plan for the future by investing in nation building infrastructure.

I call upon those 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

I will give the member for Bradfield credit for one thing: chutzpah! Coming in here, when Victoria is getting 8c in every dollar of the national infrastructure budget, when it got zero dollars this year, zero next year, zero the year after, zero the year after that and zero the year after that, right through to 2021, in this budget, he comes in here and speaks about Victorian infrastructure.

Of course this is a budget which cuts $1.6 billion from infrastructure investment this year. In last year's budget they said it would be $9.2 billion; instead it is $7.6 billion, but after that it falls off the cliff: It is cut of $7.4 billion in actual infrastructure investment over the forward estimates, down to $4.2 billion. This is what the peak industry body, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, say: 'The budget confirms the cuts to the real budget for capital funding to its lowest level in more than a decade, using a mix of underspend, reprofiling and narrative to cover this substantial drop in real capital expenditure.'

There is no new money in the budget—just cuts: cuts to road funding, cuts to the Black Spots Program, cuts to the Bridges Renewal Program, cuts to the Bruce Highway, cuts to the Pacific Highway. The fact is that this budget is a con. One of the biggest cons is their so-called national rail fund. This is a budget where they have tried to get the areas where they were behind Labor off the agenda, but when you look at the actual substance, it is not there. They know they have a problem on public transport—the fact that they cut public transport funding from every project that was not under construction. So what they said was, 'We'll create this $10 billion national rail fund.' It sounds great, except when you look at the detail. Zero dollars this year; zero dollars next year; zero dollars the year after that; and $200 million the year after that. Not a single dollar between now and the next election.

Two years ago they created the NAIF. Zero dollars has gone out of the NAIF. It has just paid for the members of the board to float around and have meetings. In this budget they created another NAIF—the No Actual Infrastructure Fund. That is what they created in this budget, because there is only one new project in this entire budget over the forward estimates: the Far North Collector Road near Nowra—$13.8 million.

The local paper, the South Coast Register, said in their editorial that they had not even heard of this road. The government failed to fund the Nowra bridge—not a dollar. Have a look at the Cross River Rail project. It was approved by Infrastructure Australia in 2012 and funded in 2013. Last night I did an interview on a television program with a fellow called Campbell Newman—he used to be the Premier of Queensland. I said last night, 'We were ready to go.' Campbell Newman said: 'Well, we were actually. I think the history of it is pretty accurate.' It was ready to go way back when it was approved in 2012. It was funded in 2013 and it was cut in 2014. Now, all these years afterwards, those opposite say, 'We still need more information.' Well, here it is—a letter from Scott Emerson, Minister for Transport and Main Roads, signed on 30 April 2013. He was a minister in the Campbell Newman government. He said that he was writing to seek confirmation of the funding principles and that the project would be delivered through an 'availability payment Public Private Partnership'. The letter states:

… construction period (2013/14 to 2019/20) … The contribution is estimated to be in the order of $715M each;

It was ready to go. I seek leave to table that letter from Minister Emerson.

Leave not granted.

They do not want to see the details of where it was ready to go. No wonder they are embarrassed by the fact that projects that were ready to go were stopped by the government. Years later, they are still prevaricating.

Let us have a look at Inland Rail. They had a little committee, chaired by John Anderson, which said this:

Hence a substantial public funding contribution is required to deliver Inland Rail.

So how is it that they are contributing to this project $8.3 billion of equity? You can only deliver equity injections rather than actual cash funding if a project is going to produce a return. Their own documents say it will not produce a return to capital in more than 50 years. So this is a fix by those opposite that is just embarrassing, because it does not stack up.

When we asked about this in Senate estimates last week, the secretary of the department indicated that the rate of returns on equity were for the ARTC, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, as a whole rather than for the Inland Rail project. So they are going to take the fact that the coal lines in particular in the Hunter Valley produce a return for the ARTC and roll that in and pretend the Inland Rail can be funded without a dollar contribution, because there is no cash contribution from those opposite. Then they reduce the costs by having an inland rail line that does not go anywhere, because it stops 38 kilometres short of the port. You are going to have these double-decker trains with two lots of containers stacked on them that are then going to be put on trucks to go through the most congested areas of the suburbs of Brisbane—just like the Perth Freight Link stopped three kilometres short of Fremantle port and the WestConnex project goes nowhere near the Port of Botany, which was the original idea of Infrastructure New South Wales under Nick Greiner.

The fact is that the government simply cannot get any infrastructure projects right. They have done all this with the idea of good debt, bad debt. The rhetoric in the lead-up to the budget was designed to create a smokescreen for the fact that they were actually going to cut funding. That is why they have established this so-called infrastructure financing unit in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. This is what the peak industry body have to say about that:

We cannot identify any currently proposed infrastructure projects which are commercially viable and not already attracting finance; therefore we cannot see how the IFU will increase the pace of infrastructure project delivery; …

Indeed, this is a solution looking for a problem, because there is not a lack of capital available in this country. We have almost $2 trillion in superannuation funds. We have private capital, from here and overseas, that is interested in investing in nation-building infrastructure. If you actually fund Infrastructure Australia properly—and get the projects right and establish the pipeline of projects—capital is available. But what this government has done is gut Infrastructure Australia and side-line it, establishing its own little unit in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is not nation building; this is empire building by those opposite—and by the Prime Minister in particular.

If you look at the details of the budget, you will see that there is no new money for cities, no new money for public transport, no new money for major road projects—no vision whatsoever from those opposite. The fact that you had Campbell Newman there last night conceding the fact that the reason the Cross River Rail Project is not now almost completed is because of the attitude of the former Prime Minister that is being carried on by the current Prime Minister. It is all rhetoric and no substance. (Time expired)

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

The shadow minister began by accusing me of having 'chutzpah', that fine Yiddish word. That really is a remarkable example of the pot calling the kettle black, if I may say so. He had the temerity to lecture the government about the consistency of our treatment of the WestConnex project, and this is the man who in 2014 was proudly beating his chest and claiming credit for having funded WestConnex with $1.8 billion. Let's remind ourselves what he said to Ellen Fanning on the ABC. He said:

Well that’s not right Ellen. 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.

So in 2014 the shadow minister proudly claimed credit for WestConnex. But by 2016 he could not run away from it fast enough. In 2016 Fran Kelly asked him: 'Did you provide that money?'—that is, money to fund WestConnex. His answer was:

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.

If that is not a world-class, olympic-grade backflip, you will never see one in this House—and you do see them from time to time. That is a remarkable backflip from the man who has just presumed to lecture the government about consistency when it comes to infrastructure.

Let's look at the facts. The proposition before the House this afternoon is that the government, in the words of the shadow minister, 'has allegedly failed to plan for the future by investing in nation-building infrastructure'. Let's just have a look at what was in the budget that has just been brought down: $8.4 billion for the inland rail project, a transformational freight rail project that will bring together our three eastern seaboard states, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It will equip exporters in each of those states to better address export markets.

There could be no better definition of a nation-building project. This is a project that by definition no one state government can ever carry forward. If there was ever a project that required the leadership, the commitment and the direction of a national government, it is inland rail. This is an $8.4 billion commitment designed to increase, markedly, the share of the freight market taken by the rail mode on the north-south corridor. Mr Deputy Speaker, as you know, on the east-west corridor—Perth to Melbourne and Perth to Sydney—rail takes the lion's share of freight. On the north-south corridor rail has the capacity to do the same, but you need to have a reliable, 24-hour end-to-end journey time. Inland Rail will deliver it and will transform the way freight is moved up and down the eastern seaboard between those two critical markets of Brisbane and Melbourne.

This is nation-building infrastructure. The deeply misguided premise of the matter before House this afternoon is that in some way there has been a failure to address nation-building infrastructure. Let me take another example: $5.3 billion in equity investment for Western Sydney Airport. For 40 years governments have failed to take a decision which has been crying out to be taken. It took a coalition government to make the decision to commit to proceed with a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek. Let's remember that Sydney is Australia's international aviation gateway; 40 per cent of international traffic comes into Sydney. Let's also remember that the joint study into the aviation needs of Sydney which reported in 2012, commissioned under the previous government—I want acknowledge the work of the shadow minister, who was then the minister, in commissioning that study—found that Kingsford Smith Airport would run out of slots by 2027 and that by the mid-to-late 2030s there would be no additional capacity, even with so-called upguaging by replacing smaller aircraft with larger aircraft in existing slots. So it is critical for the aviation capacity of Sydney and of the nation that we build this piece of vital nation-building infrastructure. It will deliver better service for people in Western Sydney. Some two million people will be closer to Western Sydney Airport than to Kingsford Smith. It will deliver some 20,000 direct and indirect jobs by the early 2030s. Deputy Speaker, you could not find an example of nation-building infrastructure more clear than Inland Rail and Western Sydney Airport.

What about the package we have committed to in Western Australia? There is some $2.3 billion jointly between the Commonwealth and the McGowan government. There is a $792 million commitment to rail for projects like the extension of the rail to Yanchep and the Thornlie to Cockburn line, subject to satisfactory business cases being assessed by Infrastructure Australia. There is major funding for road projects.

In Victoria there is over $1 billion, including $500 million for regional rail and $30 million for a business case for a rail link between Melbourne and the Tullamarine airport. There is rail from Sydney to Sydney Airport, there is rail from Brisbane to Brisbane Airport and there is rail being built from Perth to Perth Airport. Yet Melbourne, this enormous, critical city does not have a rail link between the city and the airport. We want to fix that and that is why we have committed $30 million for a business case for planning on this. We want to work to deliver. We want to work with all of the stakeholders to take this critical issue forward.

Around Australia a wide range of infrastructure projects is underway. A $3 billion package was announced in November last year of fifty-fifty funding from the Commonwealth and the Victorian government for infrastructure in Victoria, including a $1 billion package to upgrade the Monash. In South Australia there is a $1.6 billion investment in the north-south corridor. There is the $3.6 billion Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan. The new M12 will connect Western Sydney Airport to the M7 and to the Sydney motorway network. The Northern Road is being upgraded to four lanes all the way. This is vital infrastructure to support and to leverage Western Sydney Airport.

Mr Deputy Speaker, you cannot help noticing that there is a strong focus on rail in this budget. There is new funding for rail projects. I have talked about the $792 million for the Yanchep extension and the Thornlie to Cockburn line in Perth, subject to satisfactory business cases being assessed by Infrastructure Australia. I have talked about $500 million for regional rail in Victoria. Of course, that builds on an impressive track record of rail projects already funded by the Turnbull government. There is $490 million for the Perth to Forrestfield Airport rail link. There is the Flinders Link project in South Australia, for $43 million. The Sydney Metro City and Southwest, this transformational metro rail project, is $1.7 billion. That will be a 'turn up and go' service every five minutes with driverless trains—a transformational approach to rail.

In Queensland, we have committed $10 million for business planning for the Cross River Rail project. In this budget, we have included the $10 billion National Rail Program, with funding to flow from 2019-20. This is designed to support the major city-shaping rail projects around the country which are at various stages of development.

We heard the various speaking points—the standard talking points—from the shadow minister. He made a series of disappointingly false and inaccurate claims about infrastructure spending. The facts are very straightforward. Over the period of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, Commonwealth spending on infrastructure averaged just over $6 billion per year. Between 2013-14 and 2020-21, the average is $8.1 billion. Compare and contrast: under Rudd-Gillard-Rudd, just over $6 billion; under the coalition, $8.1 billion.

You are seeing from the coalition, from the Turnbull government, a strong commitment to infrastructure, infrastructure planning, infrastructure investment and nation-building transformational projects like Inland Rail and Western Sydney Airport. We are proud of these commitments. These are significant. These are major commitments about delivering infrastructure that the people of Australia need.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a pathetic performance from the junior minister for infrastructure. It is clear that they have hidden the senior minister. He cannot even get a question up most days in question time.

Opposition members: Who is it?

Who is it? I think he has gone back to Gippsland. But I would suggest that after that performance they need to hide the junior minister, as well. He questioned our facts. Well, let us quote from Infrastructure Partnerships Australia. They are no friend of Labor; they claim to be balanced. This is what they said about this budget. 'Foremost, the budget confirms the cut to real budgeted capital funding to its lowest level in more than a decade, using a mix of underspend, reprofiling and a narrative to cover the substantial drop in real capital expenditure.' There you have it. It is not from a Labor mouthpiece. It is from Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, saying this budget cuts infrastructure funding to well below the decade average. That is a real pity because infrastructure is critical to our economic future and our quality of life. It is critical to our economic productivity and growing this economy.

Unfortunately, this budget is all smoke and mirrors. It is the equivalent of the Prime Minister—it is all talk and no action, massive expectations and zero delivery. In fact, in the current financial year they have cut funding by $1.6 billion. In the last budget, they were supposed to spend $9.2 billion. They have only been able to spend $7.6 billion. What is worse is that it falls to $4.2 billion in 2021. That is a great disgrace. In fact, the only new on-budget infrastructure investment is $14 million for a project that not even the locals have heard of, as the shadow minister alluded to. Not even the locals knew of the project which is the single new on-budget expenditure from the government. There is no new money for urban rail. The government's $10 billion National Rail Program delivers nothing before the next election, when this mob will be turfed out. They have again dudded Victoria and they have dudded the Hunter Valley, which I will get to in a minute. They have sidelined Infrastructure Australia and created an infrastructure financing unit, which not even Infrastructure Partnerships Australia can see the point to. To fund it, they have cut $17 million out of real road and rail budgets. They have cut funding to announce a new bureaucratic unit in the Prime Minister's department. Clearly, it is their version of The Hollowmen.

The truth is: this mob just loves announcements—so much so that the previous infrastructure minister spent $3,000 on props and $2,000 on high-vis vests and hard hats. So God knows what the senior minister does when he comes out of hiding.

Honourable members interjecting—

Maybe he will invest in some Nescafe ads! The truth is: this budget is all smoke and mirrors on infrastructure, just like the Prime Minister.

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's Nespresso!

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am reminded it is Nespresso. I am too down market for the senior infrastructure minister. This budget is all smoke and mirrors, just like the Prime Minister—a Prime Minister who, when he knifed the member for Warringah in the back and became Prime Minister, announced that he wanted to be the infrastructure Prime Minister. It was his big claim. He wanted to be the infrastructure Prime Minister. Guess how many times he has mentioned 'infrastructure' in the House since he became the infrastructure Prime Minister? How many times? A hundred?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fifty?

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

No.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two! We have a win over there. The member for Lyons is right. He has mentioned it twice since he has become the infrastructure Prime Minister.

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

His attack on me doesn't count!

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exactly. What else has he mentioned twice in this parliament? He has mentioned Cristal champagne twice. He has mentioned 'luxury' twice and he has mentioned 'wine', 'rugby' and 'cafes' three times. This is the quality of the contribution of the infrastructure Prime Minister. We have an infrastructure Prime Minister who does not talk about infrastructure. We have an infrastructure cabinet minister who does not even turn up to question time anymore. We have a junior infrastructure minister who folds his dixer answers into tiny pieces of paper in his exercise of origami. They deliver freight announcements like Freight Link, Inland Rail and WestConnex that do not even connect the ports. They have devoted money to the East West Link, which, for every dollar of public investment, delivered an 80c return—

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

Forty-five.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is 45c. I am corrected by the shadow minister. This is the quality of this government. All smoke and mirrors—zero delivery. It has a budget that cuts $7.6 billion compared to the forward estimates average for infrastructure investment. The great pity is that infrastructure is critical to our economic future, it is critical to our quality of life, but this mob just want announcements where they can turn up in their high visibility vests and get a headline. (Time expired)

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

It is always great to get a lecture from the Labor Party on infrastructure. Where I come from in Victoria we had to put up with a Labor premier there, who stood on the corner of one of the main streets and just threw away $100 bills until he had run out of $1.2 billion. He decided not to build a road and it cost him $1.2 billion. The Labor Party in this great Australian parliament are fully supportive of this Premier's decision to spend $1.2 billion of taxpayers' money not to build a road. Then he put that project over to Infrastructure Victoria, and they threw it straight back at him and said, 'It's one of the three most important projects that we need to build, and we have thrown that project away.' Every time you get stuck in the traffic in Melbourne, you can thank Daniel Andrews and the Labor Party people here who refuse to take up the challenge to him for that deplorable act, that deplorable effort, on infrastructure in the great state of Victoria.

When those opposite say that this budget is all smoke and mirrors on infrastructure, I do not know what planet they have come from. We are going to get the Inland Rail project started. It is going to connect Melbourne through to Brisbane, with an offshoot at Parkes to connect Sydney. It is going to be built; it is going to get started this year. I do not know where the problem is in relation to understanding that this government is getting on with the job. If you are still not convinced, you can come to my electorate and I will take you over to the City of Echuca and show you the bridge that is being built. It was a National Party in the Victorian government that put $95 million on the table. The Labor Party have been in government—and they are back in government now—and they did not want to know about this bridge. The community have been fighting for it for 50 years. There was the $95 million that went to Victoria, and when we had the opportunity with Darren Chester, as the National Party minister, we put $97 million on the table from the federal government, and then we got the National Party in New South Wales to commit their $90-odd million. It is a $280 million bridge. The drilling rigs are there now and the bore samples are being taken. The bulldozers are moving round the roundabouts. We are building the bridge that has taken 50 years of the Labor Party doing absolutely nothing. The bridge is getting built. When you get the Inland Rail—

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

Daniel Andrews is the Premier, you fool!

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

You can support him all you like; I am just saying to you that I think you all have to question yourselves if you think that it is good economics to spend $1.2 billion to do nothing on a project that has now been put forward.

The Inland Rail will not only connect these great cities with each other by a freight lane but also take all of these trucks off the main roads of Australia. The area around the Goulburn Valley, which I represent, is one of the biggest food producing regions in Australia and, with that, comes an incredibly large fleet of trucks. The biggest number of truck registrations outside of Melbourne and Sydney exists in the city of Shepparton. We will now see many of those trucks being able to do their work locally and regionally and they will not have to go interstate in the way that they used to. Apart from the road safety component, this will drive down the cost of getting your product from the farms to the market and from the processors to the market.

In relation to infrastructure around the seat of Murray, this budget provides for $100 million to be committed to the North East line. Under the Labor Party in Victoria, the North East line, along with the Shepparton line and the Gippsland rail line, have been left to deteriorate where we have a situation where the services are inconsistent. The services are always late. They are slower than they were 40 years ago. The $100 million is going to be spent to fix the North East line. There will also be $10 million to be used to ensure that we do a comprehensive plan for transport right throughout the Goulburn Valley. It will take on board freight needs, passenger rail, road transport and what we need to do to have a decent airport—similar to the way that Wagners have got their airport up and running in southern Queensland.

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the eve of the biggest clash, it appears that in this place we will have our own state of origin showdown as well, because that is exactly what the Turnbull government have created. The Turnbull government have delivered absolutely nothing in the budget for North Queensland but have instead made massive cuts across the state for roads and infrastructure. Meanwhile, although a dismal amount, the only new funding the government have announced is for none other than New South Wales. It is abundantly clear that the Turnbull government are not supporters of Queensland. They have made this into an origin showdown—and, as a proud Queenslander, I say, 'Bring it on'. Just like the State of Origin tomorrow night, where the mighty Queensland Maroons will fight and win, I too will fight this out-of-touch Blues Turnbull government for Queensland, and I am determined to win. We will win.

In the current financial year alone the government have cut infrastructure funding by $1.6 billion. Then funding continues to drop off over the cliff for another four years and, by 2021, infrastructure spend will have dropped to $3.4 billion. And guess which state bears the brunt of most of the Turnbull government cuts? It is none other than cane toad country Queensland. Almost a quarter, 21 per cent, of the infrastructure cuts in 2016-17 are to Queensland. Of the $1.6 billion of cuts to national infrastructure, more than $345 million of those cuts are to Queensland.

At budget time last year Queenslanders were promised $2.2 billion in infrastructure funding. However, the 2017 budget revealed that the state will actually only receive $1.8 billion. The government have absolutely let Queensland down. They have cut funding for fixing dangerous blackspots on local roads by $17.3 million. They have cut funding for major road upgrades by $276.5 million. They have cut funding for upgrading the roads the cattle industry rely on by $20.2 million. And they have cut funding for upgrading roads that connect communities and regional towns across northern Queensland by $50.7 million. And then we have the poor old Bruce Highway. The Turnbull government have not invested one extra dollar. In fact, the government will spend $6.1 million less on the Bruce Highway next year than this year.

Funding for Queensland will continue to fall over the next four years, dropping by almost a quarter. These numbers clearly speak for themselves, and they tell a story—a story of how the Turnbull government do not care about Queenslanders and especially do not care about North Queensland. When North Queensland has been screaming and yelling for action on our water and energy issues, there can be no other reason for the Turnbull government blatantly ignoring us. In fact, they have only proven just how out of touch they really are. There is no other reason why this government has not matched Labor's $300 million commitment to deliver vital water and energy infrastructure. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in this budget to address North Queensland's water and energy crisis.

Whilst companies like Sun Metals and, as we have seen today, Glencore are threatening to leave the north due to skyrocketing electricity prices, the Turnbull government have not committed one cent to a hydropower station on the Burdekin Falls Dam.    Sun Metals, to their credit, have taken matters into their own hands. What have this out-of-touch-with-the-north government done instead? They have committed to none other than a hydro project for the south of Australia. It is only Labor and it will only ever be Labor that will stand up for vital infrastructure in North Queensland. That is why Labor committed $200 million towards the construction of a hydropower station on the Burdekin Falls Dam and $100 million towards water security infrastructure. This will create hundreds of jobs, alleviate skyrocketing electricity costs and get Townsville off level 3 water restrictions. That is how you invest in North Queensland. That is what the Turnbull government should be doing, but instead they are doing nothing.

Then we have the City Deals process, which does not do anything—it does not deliver any new money and does not do anything other than match Labor's $100 million commitment for a stadium. The City Deals plan mentions water and energy infrastructure; meanwhile, there is no funding allocated for any water or energy infrastructure. It mentions a defence hub; meanwhile, there is no money for any defence hub. The list of wishes and the list of items with no funding or action by this government continues. With an 11.3 per cent unemployment rate in Townsville, North Queensland cannot afford the Turnbull government's cuts to infrastructure. Infrastructure will create jobs and revitalise our local economy.

So, to the Turnbull government, if you want a state of origin showdown then you've got one. I will continue to fight for cane-toad country until our community sees some real funding and real action by this out-of-touch Blues Turnbull government. The people of Townsville and the north deserve so much better. (Time expired)

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand as a proud Queenslander from our side of politics. We represent the bulk of our state in this House. I am astounded that the member for Grayndler would even raise infrastructure as a matter of public importance given the undoubted embarrassment that those opposite have in relation to their record of failure in securing decent infrastructure for Australia. Contrast that with the proven and magnificent efforts of the Turnbull government in relation to nation-building infrastructure. This discussion provides the ideal opportunity to shine a light on those nation-building efforts of our government. We need only refer to the unprecedented commitments in the 2017-18 federal budget just handed down—$10 billion over the next decade for the National Rail Program for passenger projects, important for our cities, suburbs and regional centres, among many other urban and regional initiatives being played out throughout our country. In Queensland the Bruce Highway, Warrego Highway and Pacific Motorway upgrades are the result of continuing increases under the coalition government, together with significant regional commitments.

In our electorate of Groom the coalition government initiated and is funding the vast majority of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. It is a project worthy of particular note—it is the largest inland project in Australia being delivered by the Turnbull government. It is a project, importantly, that will provide benefits not only to Toowoomba and the Darling Downs but to our entire nation given its linking of the busy freight routes of the Warrego, New England and Gore highways, providing above all else safety to road users in our region and efficiency for freight networks across the country. It is a project that had to fight its way through the hurdles of bumbling and indecisive state and federal Labor governments that simply had no vision and certainly no regard for regional Australia and the catalytic role that significant infrastructure development projects can play. It took the alignment of forward-thinking coalition governments in Queensland and in Canberra, together with local government, to finally get it off the ground. We will see it completed late next year, and it will involve 1,800 jobs.

In this budget the Australian government allocated an additional $8.4 billion in equity to the Australian Rail Track Corporation to construct Inland Rail in partnership with the private sector. This is in addition, of course, to the almost $900 million previously allocated for preconstruction works.

This project will support up to 16,000 jobs during construction, and an average of 800 new jobs per year. When operational, Inland Rail will create an average of 600 jobs per year through its lifetime. We are getting on with it, whereas Labor was prevaricating and ignoring its features and benefits, such as the following. It will be 1,700 kilometres long, with over 500 kilometres of new track. It will create, as I said, 1,600 construction jobs. It will be a $16 billion economic boost—and they were dragging the chain! Two hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of CO2 will be taken out of the atmosphere. It will save lives. It will reduce congestion, with thousands of trucks off the road.

It must be noted that Labor made no allowance for extension in 2010 to the Port of Brisbane. We have capacity on that line for 10 to 15 years. So we are working with Queensland on future options for port connections.

Moreover, industry representatives that I speak to understand and support this approach. Third-party endorsements of the Turnbull government's commitment to regional infrastructure in particular abound, and they abound in relation to the approach that we are taking to nation-building infrastructure—for example, from Australian railway, automobile and trucking associations; the Australian Logistics Council; and Pacific National, who said:

Inland Rail is a true game-changer and we commend the Government for its commitment to such an important nation-building project.

So the coalition government is justifiably proud to be the nation-building government that the budget proves it is and that our country knows it is.

David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those of us who served in the last parliament will remember how the member for Warringah, when he was the Prime Minister, used to enjoy the ludicrous custom of describing himself as the infrastructure Prime Minister, and we used to watch the obsequious ministers of the time slither to their feet and refer to the Prime Minister in their questions as their 'infrastructure Prime Minister'. Sadly, this Orwellian distortion continued after the honourable member who is presently Prime Minister seized the throne, because we have learnt through bitter experience that, when this government starts talking about an issue, we can all be certain that that issue is set for neglect, for underinvestment and for mismanagement. That has been our experience with respect to schools. That has been our experience with respect to universities. That has been our experience with respect to a government that used to talk about debt and deficit—and yet, today, the deficit is 10 times greater than what they predicted it would be in 2014.

So, too, it is with infrastructure, because they would be better to describe themselves as 'no infrastructure prime ministers' than as 'infrastructure prime ministers', given the sad record they offer the people of Australia. The most recent budget cut $1.6 billion in this financial year alone. But it gets worse, because funding then drops off over the next four years, falling to $4.2 billion in 2020-21. This will be the lowest level of infrastructure funding for more than 10 years, according to Infrastructure Partnerships Australia. Over the forward estimates, funding will collapse from something like $8 billion to a mere $4 billion. The only new on-budget investment is a measly $13 million for a little road near Nowra—a little bit of pork-barrelling for the marginal seat of Gilmore. And how typical of this lot that the only thing they offer at the end of producing this vast bureaucracy is a little boondoggle for their mate in Gilmore.

The government's infrastructure funding announcement is a hoax. It delivers less over a longer period, and it demonstrates this government's unwillingness and inability to invest in real nation-building.

As a Victorian, the allegation that we have a Sydney-centric Prime Minister is made out absolutely when one looks at infrastructure spending, because Victoria is once again dudded by this government. Despite the dishonest claim in his budget speech that the government is delivering an extra billion dollars in funding for the regional rail and infrastructure in Victoria, Senate estimates has revealed that the 2017 budget does not include a single extra dollar of funding for my state. Victoria's share of federal infrastructure funding remains well below 10 per cent, some 8c in the dollar. We are 25 per cent of the nation's economy. We are 25 per cent of the nation's population. Yet we attract only eight per cent of infrastructure funding. How could it be so?

It has often been said that this budget was the government inoculating itself against its greatest weaknesses. We have seen them fain compassion in the field of education; we have seen them try it on in Medicare. How can it be that a budget of inoculation offers nothing for my state of Victoria? Sadly, the answer is: because this government has given up on the state of Victoria. As far as they are concerned the state of Victoria is to be punished for committing the sin of not voting for them. The state of Victoria is being punished for not voting for this government.

Our Victorian members in this House—even those Victorian members who are in the government—say nothing about it. It is a disgrace. They are cutting funding for major roads and rail projects. They are cutting funding for fixing dangerous black spots on local roads. They are cutting funding for building new roadside facilities, such as rest stops for truck drivers. But, of course, why would they care? These things do not only endanger Australian business and economic life; they endanger the actual lives of drivers. We know that fatalities among articulated truck drivers rose by 7.2 per cent last year. But this government does not care.

All up, federal infrastructure spending per Victorian has more than halved; from some $201 under the former Labor government to a mere $92 under the Turnbull government. They have even refused the Victorian government's request for regional rail funding from the Asset Recycling Fund. This is an outrage. This federal government signed up to providing the Victorian government with monies under its asset recycling program, an obligation that it has walked away from. This is proof that this government regards COAG processes—and its own word when given to a premier—as nothing compared to its own political interest.

Treasurer Tim Pallas has said the only reason they would not support this project would be in circumstances where they just want to find another excuse— (Time expired)

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish I had more than five minutes because I was just making a note to myself of all the infrastructure projects that I could list, not only across the nation—I could spend more than five minutes on just the infrastructure projects that we have begun, that we are building and that we are delivering just in my electorate of Page. But I will have to contain myself to the five minutes that I have. Let me start with one of the biggest infrastructure projects in this country, the Pacific Highway upgrade.

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

And who did that, you clown?

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler interrupts. I remind the member for Grayndler that before the 2013 election he publicly said that his federal government was going to stop funding the Pacific Highway at 80 per cent and put it back to 50 per cent. You are on the public record saying that. But what did we do? We maintained the funding of the Pacific Highway at 80 per cent, and that is what we did. So we are delivering the Pacific Highway at 80 per cent funding. Direct jobs are involved in this. And obviously, with indirect jobs, you are probably talking about 7,000 to 8,000 jobs in my community, because we continued. We delivered at 80 per cent not at the 50 per cent funding that the member for Grayndler wanted. We do this for a number of reasons. Firstly, it reduces and has reduced fatalities on the highway and that is very important. Obviously it is a job boost in the building, but there is also the tourism activity and the better transport facilities. We will deliver this by 2020. It was in stark contrast with what the Labor Party wanted to do with it.

Some of my fellow colleagues have very articulately spoken about the inland rail and the billions we are spending on that. That will take traffic off coastal roads like mine. There is the Western Sydney airport, which Labor could just never get its head around and deliver, but we are. And there is obviously Snowy hydro—not only important in infrastructure, but we are obviously also focused on delivering, not intermittent—

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Snowy hydro has doubled in cost!

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad the member for Shortland interjected. I understand why the member for Grayndler has deserted labourers, because he represents inner-city latte drinkers, but the member for Shortland actually still represents labourers and he has deserted them with his attitudes, and that is a disgrace. But on Snowy Hydro: obviously, that is going to deliver not only a great infrastructure project but it is also going to give us a renewable energy source that is not intermittent. That is very important.

I could go on about nation-building projects, but I just want to cover a few in my own electorate. Locally we have a program that of course was begun under us—and I know you would know the program well, Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton. Labor would never introduce a program like the Bridges Renewal Program. We understand that the first mile bridges are very important for regional communities. Regions like mine are very productive. We produce a lot for this country, especially in agriculture.

It has been a great pleasure of mine to work with some of my local councils to deliver bridges under this program. One of the more significant is the Kyogle Council. They do not have many ratepayers as their base—they are not a large council—but they have nearly 300 wooden bridges. It is a very productive area; they have a lot of produce, whether that is blueberries, cattle or many other things. Helping them to maintain the infrastructure through this program is very important. We have done 14 of these bridges already, and I am sure there will be more to come.

We also have what was previously called the Stronger Regions Fund. It is now changing its name to the Building Better Regions Fund. I am very proud of some of the infrastructure that we have under that. This is all job producing and all helping local industry. There are things like the Casino saleyards, a very important part of our local economy; the Lismore Quadrangle project; and the Harwood sugar mill, down on the Lower Clarence—that is an important project. We are also delivering the Ballina Marine Rescue tower and the Kyogle-Toonumbar Dam road—that is also an important tourist road in our area.

Another thing we have done which, again, the other side did nothing about for the six years they were in, is to help to build mobile phone towers in regional areas. I think that Paul Keating is famous for saying that if you do not live in Sydney you are camping out! He probably used to think that was funny or witty, but underneath that there is a subconscious belief by the other side that they neglect. They do not believe in it. I am proud to say that we are building 22 of these stations—22!—in my region, which are going to cover more than 100 black spots.

I knew I would run out, Mr Deputy Speaker! I could keep going—I have pages of infrastructure spending to go here! (Time expired)

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a government keen to remake its image after four years of vacillation, policy cul-de-sacs and less-than-masterful inactivity. In the lead-up to this year's 'Lazarus rises' attempt at a budget, the government did what many had been calling for over many years: it sought to distinguish between good and bad debt. It finally accepted that borrowing for infrastructure that would last for many decades and be enjoyed by multiple generations was not the same as borrowing to pay for recurrent costs.

Many hoped—and I was one of them—that that would mean the government would drop its deficit fetishism and start investing again in the public goods and services that our regions and cities desperately need.

Government Member:

A government member interjecting—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, the government would, particularly in respect of rail and public transport—it would be playing catch up. But at last we will be moving beyond the realms of endless announcements and re-announcements about the next study, or the next scoping study or indicative planning. The hope was that we would finally be seeing some action.

Such action was not only overdue but desperately needed to boost economic activity and to deal with what for too long has been euphemistically described as 'spare' or 'excess' capacity in our economy. For 'spare or excess capacity' read 'entrenched and unacceptably high levels of unemployment and underemployment'.

Whilst the Australian economy has continued to grow, notwithstanding the end of the mining boom, unemployment and underemployment rates have remained above those recorded during even the GFC. It is now widely agreed that Australia will soon need another economic stimulus as post-GFC investment in the property sector winds down. We are already seeing a slide in both retail sales and building commencements.

The time to act is now, not when the rot has well and truly set in. Much could be done by simply ramping up existing projects and giving them a kick along, such as some in my electorate of Macarthur. We already have proposals such as the rebuilding of Appin Road and the rail line to the Badgerys Creek airport that could be fast tracked, as well as the north to South West Sydney rail line.

At the last election, both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party committed $50 million to begin the upgrade of Appin Road. Labor had a proper funding proposal with proper plans for this very vital piece of infrastructure—almost 30 people have died on that road in the last 15 years. While Labor's funding specified the building of a dual carriageway, the government's funding was very vague and came with no specifications.

In the budget this year the $50 million has shrunk to $5 million—what for, we do not know—which will not even get the project started. And then we have the rail line to Badgery's Creek airport. The minister, Mr Fletcher, talks about Western Sydney Airport. Every transport expert that I speak to says it must open with a rail line there when the first plane lands. We want a train to meet our plane. But nothing from this government. It really beggars belief that they would even consider having the Western Sydney Airport without proper transport infrastructure. It remains unclear to me why the government refuses to have a train line built in. But that is this government: it talks but it does not act.

In addition, not only would the north-south rail line take people from western and south-western Sydney to and from the airport; it would be totally life-changing for the more than two million people who live in Western Sydney. It would provide jobs, it would stimulate business and it would truly be an act of nation-building.

There is scope for some modest projects. The southern rail corridor from Sydney, through Campbelltown and Goulburn, to Canberra could be improved dramatically at very little expense. The member for Fenner and the ACT Chief Minister have highlighted an option for enhancing rail services that would almost halve the travel time. The Spanish company involved in that project has offered to bring some of its rail infrastructure over here free of charge and show us how it could be done.

The government does not talk much about unemployment, and you need look no further than the budget papers to see why. Despite talking a lot about mutual obligation this government has put in place precious little infrastructure in social security. They talk about a 'pee for the dole' program—an attempt at blaming people without putting anything in place to help them. This government has no vision. It is interested in pork-barrelling projects and has been very destructive of social infrastructure—such as the Australian veterinary medicines laboratory, which is being destroyed. Our medical infrastructure is also deteriorating, with increasing hospital waiting times. (Time expired)

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I saw the member for Grayndler's motion I thought it was a joke. I thought he surely could not be serious given his own performance and the performance of this government.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

I know the member for Grayndler is doing it tough; I know he is not getting much airtime on that side of the fence; I know that is pretty hard for him. But he is actually not a bad bloke; he is just somewhat mistaken on many things! The Turnbull government is desperately planning for some terrific infrastructure projects—projects that the member for Grayndler did not deliver for the Sunshine Coast. The Turnbull government in September last year very proudly announced a $929 million upgrade for the Bruce Highway between Caloundra Road and Sunshine Motorway. On the Sunshine Coast, when I was driving to the airport on Sunday on my way here—I hope the member for Grayndler does not leave, because this is very important for him to hear—

Mr Albanese interjecting—

Please don't go, member for Grayndler; please stay! On my way to the airport, on a 110-kilometre-an-hour stretch of road, we ground to a measly speed of around 20 to 30 kilometres an hour. When the member for Grayndler was the infrastructure minister, what did he do for the Bruce Highway on the Sunshine Coast? Zip, nothing. Since the Turnbull government came to power, it has put $743 million into a $929 million program to increase the highway from four lanes to six lanes between Caloundra Road and Sunshine Motorway and provide brand-new interchanges at Caloundra Road and Sunshine Motorway. The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads tells me that, all up, 100 kilometres of road will be set up in that new section. These are very expensive works to be done, but they will be fantastic for the Sunshine Coast.

On top of that, the Treasurer announced in the budget another $650 million for upgrades to the Bruce Highway, south of Caloundra. All those opposite have gone very quiet all of a sudden. I understand why: they are embarrassed by the fact that this government is getting on with infrastructure, particularly in my home patch on the Sunshine Coast. I want to thank particularly the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, who is sitting in front of me here, and the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, because these two gentlemen have the led the way. They have been terrific leaders and proponents for infrastructure in the great state of Queensland. But we have not stopped there. On top of the $743 million that the government is putting in for the Bruce Highway upgrade—Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway—and on top of the $650 million upgrade for the Caloundra Road to Pine River Bruce Highway upgrade, we also have $182.6 million for critical safety upgrades and $180 million for the Nambour roundabout. That is $1.6 billion worth of critical infrastructure for my home patch on the Sunshine Coast.

But we understand that upgrading the Bruce Highway is not going to be the panacea for the people of the Sunshine Coast. That is why the government has provided a $10 billion national rail program—so the Queensland state government can bid for the North Coast rail duplication between Beerburrum and Nambour. It is very sad to see those opposite leaving as they hear these great stories about infrastructure. It is very upsetting to me and it will be upsetting to Sunshine Coast residents to see that the man who put this motion forward has departed the scene, because he knows that this government is absolutely rock-solid committed to providing infrastructure for the great state of Queensland, for this country and, in particular, for my home patch on the Sunshine Coast.

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

The discussion has concluded.