Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on recent announcements of nation-building, job-creating infrastructure? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm for her advocacy for nation-building infrastructure right across Australia. The Liberal and National government is investing more than $75 billion, a record, through a 10-year infrastructure pipeline. Victorians will benefit from our commitment of $12.9 billion to key projects, including $5 billion for the Melbourne Airport rail link, linking Tullamarine to the CBD; $235 million towards North East rail; $1.75 billion towards the Victorian North East Link; and $475 million towards planning and preconstruction work for Monash rail.

We are investing everywhere, including a little further south, in Tasmania, building on our prior commitments such as a $400 million investment in the Midland Highway upgrade. This budget provided an additional $920.8 million to major projects in the Apple Isle, including $400 million under the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative to fund works, including the Bass Highway; a further $59.8 million to deliver a second tranche of the Freight Rail Revitalisation Program; and $25 million for the Scottsdale irrigation project. I was there just the other day. Those farmers are delighted. Additional investment through programs such as Roads to Recovery and the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages have seen electorates such as Braddon receive millions of dollars in additional funding thanks to the Liberal-National federal government and the state Liberal government. This creates more job opportunities and improves road safety. Premier Hodgman said:

The Tasmanian Government welcomes the Federal Budget, which will boost our Plan to take Tasmania to the next level.

We believe in stronger regions. When our regions are strong, so too is our nation. When Tasmania is strong, it makes for a stronger Australia. A Liberal-National government is the only one capable of delivering for all Australians in our cities and in our regions.

I'm also asked what stands opposed to our investment pipeline. The Australian people know they cannot trust Labor and the Leader of the Opposition. We mightn't be rolling out gold on our roads, but we're certainly rolling out a lot of bitumen. He said he had a rolled-gold process for preselections, and look what happened. Labor's numbers are shortening by the day. The member for Maribyrnong's support is shortening by the day. He said he'd back coal workers in Queensland; he said a completely different thing in the Batman by-election. What on earth will he say in the by-elections he now faces? He can't be trusted with citizenship or with government, and the people know it.