Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Cairns Southern Access Corridor will not receive a cent of the promised $180 million during this term of parliament?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I'll invite the minister for infrastructure to add to my answer. The issue that is being raised is the follow-through on investments made by the government. I note that, when the Leader of the Opposition was the infrastructure minister, of the $6.2 billion that Labor allocated to urban transport in the 2013 budget, just $1.9 billion, or 30 per cent of that, was in the forward estimates.

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker. You won't be surprised that it's on relevance. It's about the Cairns Southern Access Corridor. Will it receive a dollar this term of parliament?

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

It was a very specific question. The Prime Minister's entitled to briefly give some context to it. It wasn't a question that asked about alternative policies that would enable a long period of time, but, as I've said before, both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition do get some tolerance to compare and contrast. I think the Prime Minister's either moving to that point or he'd indicated he was going to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to answer the question. The Deputy Prime Minister.

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

The member for Leichhardt knows full well how important these projects are. He knows how important projects are to make sure that we get the freight line supply chains right, make sure that we enhance that productivity and make sure that we increase road safety options. And, if Mark Bailey, the Queensland minister, can get his people organised, we will certainly look at any road project—indeed, any infrastructure project—in Queensland. If any other state wants to come to the table and work cooperatively with the Commonwealth, we've got $100 billion of infrastructure that we're rolling out across this nation. I know. I've actually been to Cairns. I've actually—

Opposition members interjecting —

Thank you for the cheer. The member for Leichhardt was returned because he talked about our $100 billion infrastructure plan. Cheer that, too, because it's well worth cheering about! I know the people of Cairns, the people of North Queensland—the people of that fine state of Queensland—indeed, people of every state and every territory in and across Australia, were cheering us home on 18 May because they knew that we were building the infrastructure that Australians need, want, expect and, most of all, deserve.

Whether it's Roads of Strategic Importance, whether it's the beef roads, whether it's the northern roads, they are all making sure that we get the infrastructure that Australians want. Whether it's getting the Cairns Southern Access Corridor, whether it's getting the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, whether it's getting the Rockhampton Ring Road—all those projects are of critical importance. The Outback Way starts in Winton, Queensland, and goes through to Laverton in Western Australia. They're all important projects. We're getting on and we're building them. What those opposite who go to the dispatch box and ask those questions should do after question time is ring up their Labor state ministers and say, 'Look, if there are projects that are in my electorate, and indeed other electorates, get on board with the Commonwealth and help build them.'

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton is warned!

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

Mark Bailey has worked with us in good faith, but there are a lot of projects. Particularly when it comes to Queensland, we'd like to build dams, but unfortunately Rookwood is being held up by the Queensland state Labor government. That's why there was a huge protest the other day in the seat of Capricornia. This is of critical importance to the seat of Flynn—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We built dams!

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

'We built dams,' the member for Watson says. What a joke! (Time expired)

Mr Keogh interjecting—

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

The member for Burt is warned, and I'm pretty sure that the member for Scullin should be as well, but I couldn't quite see.