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

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

The Government's cuts to infrastructure spending and its failure to deliver on its promises.

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—

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week's budget was a perfect example of everything wrong with this government's approach to infrastructure investments: big, overhyped announcements and a desperation for newspaper front pages. After eight long years in government, that is all they think infrastructure is good for. In Labor, though, we know that infrastructure isn't about the photo-op. It isn't about news packages or splashy, misleading front pages. It's about delivery.

Infrastructure is about connecting Australians. It's about connecting people within cities, within states and across the nation. It's the road that gets our kids safely home from school. It's the train line that gets us quickly and efficiently to work in the morning, and home in time for dinner. It's the airports and the flight routes that allow us to visit our loved ones in distant corners of this vast country. It's the highway that allows truck drivers to safely transport our goods across the nation. It's the worksite where young apprentices learn their trade. It's the driver of growth where government investment is harnessed to grow Australian industries and to create new ones. It's about creating jobs in local communities. It isn't the photo-op that is important; it is the delivery. The announcement should be the smallest part of the infrastructure process, and it should be the least important, but it's the only part for which this government cares, and it's the only part that this government puts any effort into.

On average, the Morrison government break their infrastructure promises by $1.2 billion each and every year. Last year, they broke their promise by $1.7 billion. In a year where hundreds of thousands of Australians lost their jobs, the Morrison government reached new heights in their failure to deliver. At least in previous years they have waited a bit longer to disappoint Australians; this year, it was only 36 hours. On Monday, the Prime Minister and his ministers told every Australian who would listen that the budget would include a new $10 billion commitment to infrastructure projects across Australia. It all sounded good—it made for great headlines on Monday—but it simply wasn't true. The government wasn't investing an extra $10 billion in infrastructure. In reality it was delivering $3.3 billion less—a cut to infrastructure spending over the next four years. Not a boost but a cut. The government might try to deny it, but it is right there on page 84 of Budget Paper No. 1:

No amount of weasel words can hide this multibillion-dollar cut that sits at the heart of the infrastructure budget.

Neither can the government hide that over half the funding for the new projects supposedly announced on Monday wasn't included in the budget at all. Monday's announcement, frankly, was a fraud. For the Northern Territory, for example, 99 per cent of the money promised on Monday is not in the budget. Only one per cent of the money promised in the budget will go to the Northern Territory in the next four years. How much do you think that might be, given the government's claim of $10 billion? It is $4 million out of the budget for the Northern Territory over the next four years. Instead of getting highway upgrades, now they are being pushed off into the never-never. Claiming that all this money is for gas roads is nothing more than hot air from this government.

For Victoria, 87 per cent of its promised money isn't in the budget. The $2 billion commitment for the new intermodal freight hub in Melbourne's west is off-budget; it is not in the budget papers at all. We even know that the government is planning to fund it through equity investment, when or if it funds it at all. There is no location selected, and it isn't even expected to begin until 2027 at the very least. It is a mirage.

In New South Wales, well over half the newly announced funding isn't in the budget. The biggest ticket item for New South Wales, the $2 billion for the Great Western Highway upgrade, is off in the never-never. It isn't expected to be completed until 2028 at the very earliest. In New South Wales, not a single cent of new money has been committed to public transport projects, despite public transport being a major priority for the state Liberal government.

In South Australia, over a third of the money promised isn't in the budget. The biggest promise, the North-South Corridor project, is nothing more than a reheated announcement of a project that had already been announced in 2019 and won't start until 2023. Even the South Australian government has admitted that. It has been announced twice, and it got two headlines, but the government still hasn't done any work on building the thing.

When it comes to Tasmania, I think I will do best to borrow the words of my colleague the member for Lyons, who told his local paper that the promise to upgrade the Midland Highway 'has been reheated more times than a dodgy takeaway'! Good on you, Member for Lyons!

Queensland certainly got dudded. Not only is Queensland receiving less new infrastructure funding than any other state or territory per capita; Queenslanders will be left waiting years for any substantial money to flow to the projects they need. It's the same story for Western Australia, where only $81 million of new spending will go out the door next year.

For the ACT, here in Canberra, it was good that the government remembered they actually exist. But they're going to need far more than the $123 million announced to complete the Canberra light rail.

All this adds up to longer commutes, fewer safe roads, more crowded and inaccessible public transport and fewer jobs for Australians who need them now. After eight long years this government has no ideas left beyond making announcements it knows it won't deliver on and writing checks that will never be cashed. If you want to look for a really clear example of this, look no further than the Urban Congestion Fund. It is a $4 billion fund that was announced in the 2018 budget, and only $284 million has been spent. All the congestion across the country, and only a fraction of the money has gone out the door.

Of the funding announced, 83 per cent has gone to Liberal or Liberal-targeted seats. In the Treasurer's own seat of Kooyong nine projects were announced—he must have been a bit worried that election year!—dating back to the 2019 election. I'm sure he had some fun with those announcements, but not a single one of those nine projects is actually under construction—in the Treasurer's own seat. This wasn't about getting Australians home quicker and safer. It was just about making the announcement. It wasn't about putting shovels in the ground or creating jobs. It was about grabbing a headline.

Labor has a proud record on infrastructure. We didn't just announce things. We actually got on with the job of building them. Under the now Leader of the Opposition, our first-ever infrastructure minister, we delivered Tiger Brennan Drive and the Arnhem Highway in the Northern Territory. We invested a record $7.9 billion in the Pacific Highway and we built the Hunter Expressway. We doubled the federal infrastructure spend per Victorian and invested in the Regional Rail Link, benefiting my own hometown of Ballarat. We upgraded the M80 and duplicated long parts of the Princes Highway, east and west. In South Australia, we built the Northern Expressway, upgraded South Road and built new public transport, including the Noarlunga to Seaford rail extension and the Gawler line upgrade.

We didn't break our promises by over $1 billion each and every year. We actually built things. We didn't have to make up announcements, because we had achievements to be proud of. Australians don't need more cuts and more delays when it comes to infrastructure. We need infrastructure delivery now. We need those jobs now, in every town, in every city and in every region across our community. Infrastructure boosts productivity. It improves public transport. It gets people home quickly and safely. It gets our agricultural goods to market, into our supermarkets and onto our tables. As we recover from COVID, we need more jobs. When it comes down to it, that is what these failures mean: fewer jobs, longer waits in traffic, more crowded trains and fewer safety upgrades—less time at home and more time behind the wheel.

Infrastructure is important because it connects us. That is why governments absolutely must deliver on the promises they make when it comes to infrastructure. But this government doesn't deliver. It overpromises and underdelivers. In this week's budget, it cut $3.3 billion from Australian infrastructure. When it comes to infrastructure, as it is on every single front, this government is all about the photo-op and never about the follow-up.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak on this topic. I want to start by reminding the House of this government's record on delivery of infrastructure. Let's look at the projects delivered just in the last 12 months. The Pacific Highway, Woolgoolga to Ballina, $3.745 billion—delivered in full. NorthConnex, running from the M1 at Wahroonga to the M2 at Pennant Hills, a $3 billion project with $412 million from the Commonwealth—delivered in full. The Mackay Ring Road stage 1 in Queensland, $398 million—delivered in full. Let me particularly acknowledge the local member there and his compelling video advocacy urging us 'to put a ring on it'. That was a shocking image, but it certainly produced the funding and the outcome. The Bringelly Road upgrade, $407 million—delivered in full. The Great Northern Highway Muchea to Wubin upgrade in Western Australia, $276 million—delivered in full. The North-South Corridor Darlington upgrade in South Australia, $210 million—delivered in full.

In fact, since we've come to government, 440 projects have been completed and delivered by this government. We hear this ludicrous argument from the shadow minister that an underspend is somehow problematic. I'll tell you something that these guys on the other side of the chamber, who have zero experience of business, do not understand: if you announce a project, estimate it's going to cost X and it turns out to be delivered for less than X, that's not a bad outcome. That's a good outcome. Saving taxpayers' money is a good outcome, but this incompetent, commercially illiterate rabble simply would not understand this. We had the complaint from the shadow minister that somehow it's problematic if some of what is announced is beyond the forward estimates. We're running a 10-year pipeline. It's about long-term systematic planning, something that this hopeless rabble have no idea of. Let's look at the 2013 budget delivered by the then minister for infrastructure, now the Leader of the Opposition. What percentage of that was in the forward estimates? Thirty per cent. Seventy per cent of it was beyond the forward estimates. These people are completely inconsistent in the contradiction between what they're now complaining about and what they actually did when they were in government.

While we're talking about contradiction, we had the suggestion that there's political bias in what we're doing on this side of the House. Political bias—this is from somebody who's on the most valuable players list as far as the Auditor-General is concerned. Remember her great performance in administering the Regional Development Australia Fund? What did the Auditor-General have to say about the member for Ballarat? He said:

He said:

… the recording of reasons for funding decisions did not adequately explain how the preference evident for projects located in Australian Labor Party (ALP)-held electorates had resulted from a merit-based process.

That's what the Auditor-General said about you. The suggestion from the shadow minister that she is some kind of authority, some kind of paragon of virtue, when it comes to the basis for making decisions—this is a shadow minister who has absolutely no credibility on that subject.

What have we committed in terms of spending? We've committed in this budget $15.2 billion of infrastructure spending, including $2 billion for the Great Western Highway from Katoomba to Lithgow; $2 billion for the Melbourne intermodal terminal; $400 million for the Bruce Highway, that's additional funding in Queensland; $237.5 million for METRONET in Perth; $161 million for the Truro bypass in South Australia; $250 million for the Monash roads upgrade; $380 million for the Pakenham roads upgrade; $178 million for the Gold Coast rail line from Kuraby to Beenleigh. That's $15.2 billion, part of a forecast $70 billion over the next four years.

Now let's have a look at what Labor spent when they were in government and what's happened since we've come to government. Labor's average spending over the years they were in government was $5.2 billion. It turns out that, under the coalition government, actual spending is 15 per cent higher: almost $6 billion. The entire premise of this ludicrously misconceived matter of public importance debate this afternoon is completely without foundation, but where we find the absolutely yawning gap—the gap between the fantasy world that the shadow minister lives in and the reality—is when we go back and have a look at the record of Labor on delivery and infrastructure when, of course, the infrastructure minister was the man who now holds himself forward as an alternative Prime Minister of Australia, and what a chilling prospect that is. This is the man who committed $91 million to Sydney west metro in the 2009-10 budget. What happened? This project was cancelled by New South Wales Labor: Commonwealth money committed, project cancelled. In the 2009-10 budget, Commonwealth Labor provided $61 million to the Adelaide O-Bahn: also cancelled. What kind of record of delivery is that? It's a hopeless record of delivery.

Let's not forget that the man who is presenting himself as the alternative Prime Minister of this country also has his fingerprints all over the hopeless failure of this lot when it comes to the implementation of the National Broadband Network. Here's what the then minister had to say. On 4 September—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause for a moment. The level of interjections from members on my left is far too high. There will be no more interjections from members on my left. That is the last warning. The minister.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is what the then minister had to say in September 2013:

We are rolling out the NBN as fast as it can be rolled out. This is the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history [and] you can't click your fingers and just get it done.

Of course, they'd had six years in government by that point. Do you know how many residences they'd managed to connect to the fixed-line network by the time they left government? Barely 50,000. Do you know how many are connected now? Some eight million. So 11.9 million are able to connect; 8.3 million are connected to the NBN. To add insult to injury, do you know how many were connected in the now Leader of the Opposition's electorate as at September 2013? There were zero premises connected to the National Broadband Network. He described it as the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history, and Labor's record of implementation was beyond chronically incompetent. They'd spent $6 billion and barely 51,000 premises were connected.

Let's look at Western Sydney Airport. Just for context, where are we on Western Sydney Airport? Right now, after we announced it in 2014, we are up to the point where half of the earthmoving has been completed. Thirteen million cubic metres of earth have now been moved. We are halfway through the earthmoving part of the project, and before too long we will be in a position to announce who has been chosen to build the new terminal. We are making systematic progress. We're on track to get the project delivered by 2026. What did the then minister for infrastructure say in December 2009? He said:

The simple fact is that the Sydney region will need a second airport.

I can announce that the Australian and NSW Governments have today established a joint planning taskforce which will identify strategies and locations to meet the additional aviation capacity which the Sydney region needs.

I want to be clear: the current Leader of the Opposition has always been committed to Western Sydney Airport. I don't doubt that for a second. But I will tell you the difference between Labor and the coalition when it comes to delivery of this very significant infrastructure project. In six years, when it came to Western Sydney Airport, Labor delivered nothing. We are getting on with the job. There are 270 pieces of earthmoving equipment at work right now.

It is a remarkable piece of delusion for our political opponents to bring up the issue of delivery and implementation when it comes to infrastructure. The reality is that Labor's record on delivery and implementation of infrastructure is hopeless. Ours is substantial. We're getting on with the job and we're happy to talk about infrastructure every day of the week.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Remarkable delusion'—nothing could sum up the contribution of the minister more than those two words. It was a remarkable performance. I'll give him chutzpah, though, because how could anyone who's been a minister for communications in this government talk about the NBN and compare our record to the record of this government? That is a remarkable thing to have done. We heard a lot in question time about going further. I don't know which focus group produced that slogan, but I think it must have been inspired by the pen of the minister for urban infrastructure, as he then was—and as he is now again, for reasons I just don't understand—when he described the decision to purchase the Leppington Triangle land as 'very sensible'. Seriously, this is the bloke who puffed out his chest about his commercial nous and poured scorn on that. What amazing commercial nous to purchase land for 10 times its worth! The minister was again showing more front than Myers when he talked about the Auditor-General, who will move into his department because of all the rorts that are buried within it. He didn't talk about the Urban Congestion Fund. I can't put my finger on why it might have been so. It's about to deliver a report. It's not the last damning report it will deliver, but one of many.

What we've seen under this government are cuts to infrastructure, dressed up with language that persuades the front page of a newspaper one day but always falls apart soon thereafter. The member for Ballarat set this out effectively: $3.3 billion in underspends. In his parallel universe, the minister seems to think this is something he should be congratulated for. Now, an underspend might be fine if it meant delivering projects on time and under budget, but is that what he meant? No, it is not, because nothing is being built. It's moneys that were promised to puff up a headline, that make a claim but that don't see anything being realised.

Speaking of things that aren't being realised, let's talk about the Commuter Car Park Fund. Let's talk about that signature project in the lead-up to the last election. Two years ago it was announced. Two of the car parks have been completed. Others, including the one that was promised at South Morang in my electorate, have been abandoned on the quiet. It, like so many others, could never have been built. Two are under construction. Forty-three are still only being planned. Less than 10 per cent of the moneys committed have been acquitted. Six of the projects haven't even been scoped. This is another underspend that, presumably, he wants to claim credit for. It is absolutely extraordinary. This government treats infrastructure simply as an election-claiming device in its marginal seats—or even its not-so-marginal seats, as when the Treasurer was clearly very, very anxious about his own seat in the lead-up to the last election.

In Labor, we see things differently, and we always have. It was 50 years ago that Gough Whitlam said that a national government that has nothing to say about our cities has nothing to say about our national life. He was right then and he'd be even more correct now, because now even more Australians than then live and work in our cities. But the Treasurer and this government are blind to this reality. There were lots of words said by the Treasurer on Tuesday night, but he couldn't bring himself to say the word 'city' or the word 'suburb', nor could he talk about any agenda to boost productivity and employment in our cities—in particular, in our city centres, which need help to get our economy back and moving and to get people back into jobs, and good jobs. There isn't a word or a line item in the budget that deals with CBD recovery, despite the urgings of just about everyone.

The other things that are missing in the budget are City Deals. Saturday 15 May will be the second anniversary of the then minister, Minister Tudge, announcing the north-west and south-east Melbourne city deals. It has been two years, and what has happened since then? Nothing. Like the Hobart City Deal and the South East Queensland City Deal, it is more announcement and no delivery, which is their signature. I wonder if this is another underspend that Minister Fletcher, with his commercial nous, can claim credit for.

Around the world we are seeing governments, whether it's Joe Biden in the US or even Boris Johnson in the UK, take infrastructure seriously, underpinning recovery. Here it is nothing more than a slogan to wrap around more empty promises from a tired government with no vision for jobs or growth. (Time expired)

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As much as I like the member for Scullin, typically of those on the other side, it's about actually looking at what they do, because, if you listen to what they say, you'd think they were going to pave the world in gold, but they never actually do that. They never actually deliver on anything. But I'm pleased to say that, in my time in office since 2010 and while in government since 2013, this government has actually delivered for its communities.

The subject of today's MPI is infrastructure. I'm pleased to say that there is a whole lot of infrastructure that this government, over the last seven or eight years, has actually delivered for the electorate of Forde and, more broadly, for South-East Queensland and across the country. But that is just one aspect of the many things that this government, over the past eight years, has delivered each and every day to make the lives of Australians better, and that's what we're focused on doing. We are focused on making the lives of Australians better each and every day, and I'm proud of this government and what it has done in that space.

Locally, as I said, we have delivered on infrastructure, starting with exit 54 at Upper Coomera. A $10 million investment was the final bit of the funding puzzle needed to get that duplication project underway and built. I can tell you that the residents in Upper Coomera and in Coomera, on the other side of the highway in the member for Fadden's electorate, are extraordinarily pleased at the success of that intersection upgrade. Being able to traverse the highway from either side has made life much easier for them. But, importantly, it has also contributed to tourism traffic going to Dreamworld. If anyone is going to Dreamworld, they use that exit.

I can also report to the House a $16 million upgrade to the service road and intersections at North Maclean on the Mount Lindesay Highway. The member for Wright would well know that piece of road because his electorate is on the other side of that. This was a vital piece of upgrade for this community to improve the safety along that stretch of road on the Mount Lindesay Highway, which, as many in this place would know, is a road that is increasingly busy and, sadly, increasingly accident-prone, with people losing their lives. This upgrade has made a substantial improvement to that section of road.

In addition to that, work is now well underway on the next major upgrade of duplication on the Mount Lindesay Highway between Stoney Camp Road and Chambers Flat Road—another piece of the Mount Lindesay Highway that was increasingly subject to accidents. I was out there recently to check the preliminary works. Given the fabulous weather we have in Queensland, work was proceeding apace, and I will be pleased to see the completion of that over the next couple of years.

Another very important project that members of this House and certainly the member for Moreton would be aware of and very pleased that it's been finished is the Gateway merge to Springwood upgrade on the M1—a $115 million investment by the Commonwealth government in partnership with the state government, who put in another $90-odd million. It's made an enormous difference travelling from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast. We are now working on the bit from Daisy Hill or Slacks Creek north to the Gateway, which is a $375 million investment by the Commonwealth government. Work is well underway on that, particularly through the Springwood stretch where the M1 will be widened out to six lanes and there will be a new merging lane from Compton Road onto the M1, which will make that whole intersection a lot safer and a lot easier.

They are just some of the practical examples of this government's delivery of infrastructure projects in and around the electorate of Forde. It just shows how nonsensical the motion from those opposite is, because this government is actually delivering for my community. I would add the $1 million investment in conjunction with the Gold Coast City Council for work along the Williamson Road and Days Road intersection, installing traffic lights at a very busy intersection that services a number of schools. I spoke to Principal Mark Sly, from Coomera Anglican College recently, and I know how pleased he was about the delivery of that intersection upgrade. This government is delivering every day for Australians right across this country. (Time expired)

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to speak on this MPI about infrastructure. It's quite an exciting week for me, because I am going back to Brisbane tomorrow, and there is a very big weekend for rugby league in Brisbane. It is the Magic Round. Every game of rugby league will be played at Lang Park. So you will be able to see all the teams that you want to see at Lang Park. I'm sure most Queenslanders will be excited about that, as will a lot of New South Wales people. But there will be one team missing. That team won't be playing. It has gone missing. It went missing on Tuesday night. It is 'Team Queensland'.

Mr Ted O'Brien interjecting—

There is an interjection from the captain of Team Queensland. Remember when it was announced in February by the member for Bonner in the Sunday Mail that there was a coalition of federal MPs from Queensland lobbying their caucus to get infrastructure and jobs for Queensland. There was a big write-up—Team Queensland and the captain, the member for Fairfax, speaking. But, unfortunately, it is not a very good team at all. When it is setting out defence they have no-one at all on the left wing, one person in the centre and all of the rest of them over on the right fighting to stay on the right. And what happened? Their caucus colleagues ran over the top of them.

I listened on Tuesday night for the Treasurer to announce all of these things for Queensland after Team Queensland want into bat for them. I thought they were going to have all of this stuff handed down because Queensland needs so much infrastructure. But what did we actually see in terms of announcements? Well, we really good dudded. In terms of new infrastructure funding, we are worse off than any state or territory per capita. Queensland—the state that delivered government for the Morrison government—is worse off than any other state or territory. So, Team Queensland, you're not fit to peel the oranges and be Team Queensland. That's ridiculous: you went into bat and we went backwards! Unbelievable!

Queenslanders have been left waiting for years for any substantial money to flow. There was $1.6 billion promised—worse than Victoria and worse than New South Wales—but when you look through it we're only actually getting $18.8 million flowing in the next 12 months. That wouldn't even buy the ornamental gates on the Leppington Triangle—$18.8 million in 12 months. And over half of the new money promised for Queensland won't be delivered in the budget. It's unbelievable!

Let's look at the $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund. It was announced in 2018, but only $284 million has actually been spent. Where were Team Queensland? Where was the member for Bonner? Where was the member for Bonner, going in there and saying all the things that he promised in the Courier Mail? They said they were going to have some tunnels from Acacia Ridge through to the Port of Brisbane. There wasn't even money in the budget for a shovel! That's what they delivered for that project, which is going to put trucks, trains and coal into the middle of my electorate in that disaster called Inland Rail. They somehow think that Inland Rail is going to go to the Port of Brisbane, except Acacia Ridge is where it stops, 37 kilometres from the Port of Brisbane. I need to give the Deputy Prime Minister an atlas or something.

He promised that he would actually come to my electorate and look at the Coopers Plains rail crossing project, which has been a bane of my electorate's existence for 50 years. We really need to get the Coopers Plains rail crossing sorted out—

A government member interjecting—

Well, your government made a commitment to it, Queensland captain!

Government members interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my right will cease interjecting.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Your minister actually made a commitment to fund it, as did the Brisbane City Council and the state government. But the Deputy Prime Minister promised that he would come. He stood at that dispatch box and promised that he would come. He said in question time on 24 July 2019 that he would come to Moreton to look at the Coopers Plains rail crossing. I'm still waiting for him to come. He doesn't know where Queensland is. Obviously, Team Queensland hasn't told him where Queensland is—

Mr Wallace interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fisher will cease interjecting.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

when it comes to actually sorting out projects that will save lives. The Coopers Plains rail crossing has been announced by the RACQ as being the most dangerous crossing. People have lost their lives at that crossing. The Queensland government has committed $66 million towards the crossing removal and Brisbane City Council—a Liberal city council—has committed $40 million, but still the Deputy Prime Minister hasn't arrived.

So we have lots of concerns about Team Queensland. They should be sacked! (Time expired)

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm actually delighted to speak on this subject of infrastructure and absolutely refute the suggestions of the opposition that the infrastructure development put forward by this government and implemented by this government over years are not substantial. I would like to say that in Mallee in particular we have done incredibly well, and this budget is further evidence of the work that is being done by this government to value regional communities, particularly the community of Mallee.

In this budget, Mallee has received $37.7 million in local roads and community infrastructure—$37.7 million! That will make a huge difference to our local councils, and I have spoken to some of the leaders in our councils about this incredible announcement. The Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Fund, a regional fund, means that councils can choose which projects they want to do. They listen to their communities, they listen to their local voices and they respond. Over the past two phases, significant works have taken place, whether they were roadways, streetscapes, buildings or upgrades to halls. This particular announcement is even more funding than the combined value of phases 1 and 2. My electorate is very excited.

In addition to that, we have the Building Better Regions Fund. Mallee actually did very well out of round 4 of the Building Better Regions Fund. In Mildura we have $17.6 million dedicated to the Mildura South Regional Sporting Precinct. It is growing by the day. It is up in the sky now on, obviously, its foundations. The ovals are being built. It is a magnificent structure. From there, we move on to other projects around the electorate such as the livestock exchange down in Horsham and other worthy projects.

The Building Better Regions Fund round 6 is now going to be implemented at a higher rate. It is something that I have lobbied the Deputy Prime Minister for, because the Building Better Regions Fund is fundamentally fabulous. Everybody in Mallee enjoys and benefits from the work that is being done with these funds. Not only are we seeing buildings, not only are we seeing roads; we are seeing people employed. There are jobs happening around the electorate. It is such an incredible thing for our regions to thrive and to see them thrive through this particularly difficult year.

I have spoken about the Mildura South sports precinct and the Horsham livestock exchange. The Mallee Accommodation and Support Program in Mildura received $2.6 million for their hub. It's a magnificent building. They provide incredibly essential services for the homeless and those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable in Mildura. I was particularly thrilled that the Woodbine disability accommodation project in Warracknabeal received the money it did. We have done the sod turning for that project, and I am looking forward to seeing that project completed. It has boosted morale in Warracknabeal and will continue to boost the jobs in the region for trades and those who are providing the materials to build those buildings.

The regional funds for infrastructure are incredibly important for every small building and every small road that is built. We are committing, in addition, $15 million to the Calder Highway, between Melbourne and Mildura, arguably the most important road in Mallee, on top of the $60 million that is already committed for this corridor. This is without doubt the most important road in my electorate. We are also committing an additional $1 billion to what is now our $3 billion Road Safety Program. This additional investment will deliver thousands of kilometres of upgraded roads in regional Australia.

This government's infrastructure investments mean safer and more liveable communities for the people in Mallee. But they also mean jobs—thousands and thousands of them. The Road Safety Program alone is expected to create 4,500 jobs, while the government's entire infrastructure package will create an estimated 30,000 jobs. That is extraordinary. The Morrison-McCormack government is securing Australia's recovery with a record investment in infrastructure as part of the 2021-22 budget. We are supporting jobs, driving growth and helping to rebuild Australia's economy from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Yesterday I was asked what I thought of the government's budget that was delivered on Tuesday night. Like many people, I spent a lot of time trawling through the budget papers with a highlighter in hand, specifically looking for areas of interest where people in my electorate have raised issues with me and looking for funding for Western Australia, for the northern suburbs and for the electorate of Cowan. After that lengthy and, I must admit, at times unpleasant exercise, an analogy came to my mind. That analogy was that, if you were to take your kids grocery shopping and you were to say to them, 'Okay, you guys fill up the trolley,' at the end of it you would have spent $100—or, in this case, $100 billion—and all you would have is sweets and lollies but nothing to sustain you through the week. That's what this budget reminds me of. It reminds me of a trolley full of sweets and lollies and empty wrappers with nothing of substance, nothing to sustain you—no actual reform and no actual fixing of any substantive issues, whether it's around wage stagnation and wage growth or around poverty and social housing. It is, as the shadow Treasurer said yesterday, bereft of vision. There is nothing to address the fact that Australia is behind Senegal in the complexity and diversity of our economy. It purely is a budget of announcements and tinkering around the edges. This is no more evident than in the area of infrastructure.

When you look at the budget, it's all in the detail. There is a real caveat emptor—buyer beware—that comes with this government. As the member for Sydney said earlier today, it's all in the Ts and Cs. It's in the Ts and Cs that you find the real budget. That's where you find it—in the fine print. That's where you find the truth about infrastructure. You find that 55 per cent—more than half—of the spend in the big shiny infrastructure announcement is actually beyond the forward estimates. In WA, just 15 per cent of the infrastructure spend is allocated beyond the forward estimates.

On all the promises that this government makes the caveat emptor—the buyer beware—is don't hold your breath on the delivery. As members before me have said, over the eight long years that we've endured this government, the modus operandi of this government has been all about the announcement and not about the delivery. My good friend and neighbour the member for Perth, the shadow assistant minister for Western Australia, raised this earlier this year when the member for Stirling put out an advertisement that claimed that planning was underway and construction was starting on the Reid Highway-Erindale Road interchange. That was the claim made by the member for Stirling that was boldly announced in a newspaper advertisement.

In Senate estimates, when questioned about this interchange that has supposedly been funded or is supposedly underway for construction, the department official actually said:

… the … government has only made a commitment to the business case. The business case has been approved. It should commence later this month. The business case is due to be completed around September-October this year …

Hello? There is currently no funding for construction—no funding. Wait a minute! There was a big ad in the paper that said it was already underway or starting soon. That's what happens when you look at the Ts and Cs and the fine print with this government. (Time expired)

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Fairfax—sorry, the member for Fisher.

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I'll take that as a Freudian slip! This budget has been fantastic from an infrastructure perspective. Those on the other side of this chamber mustn't communicate with their state colleagues, like the Labor state government in Queensland, because if Mark Bailey, who's the Minister for Transport and Main Roads in Queensland, knew that they were going to put this up as an MPI, he would have said: 'Stop! Don't do it to us. They're going to cane us.'

The federal government is spending $110 billion on infrastructure. During the week, $15.2 billion was announced in the budget. From the Sunshine Coast perspective, since I was elected in 2016, $3.5 billion has been spent on road and rail infrastructure benefiting the good people of the Sunshine Coast. Mr Deputy Speaker, you are a very worthy recipient of that. It's like the road from Cooroy to Curra is paved in gold! It's such a good quality road. It is a real exemplar. No doubt the good people of Gympie and beyond to the north think that that road is absolutely fantastic as well.

Locally, from the budget, there's $172 million in road and rail infrastructure. Of that $172 million, $160 million is going to be spent on totally redesigning and rebuilding that deathtrap that is the Mooloolah River interchange. I can hear members on this side of the fence thinking and saying, 'But that can't be right, Andrew, because the Mooloolah River interchange is a state government controlled road. It's a state road. Why would the federal government be putting $160 million into a state road?' Let me tell you why we're doing that. The federal government, once again, is having to put $160 million into the redesign and reconstruction of the deathtrap of the Mooloolah River interchange—a road that is 100 per cent the responsibility of the state government—because the Labor state government are so incompetent and so inept, ruled and led by an absolutely incompetent transport minister, Mark Bailey.

The federal government has one responsibility when it comes to infrastructure and roads and that is funding 80 per cent of the Bruce Highway, but, unfortunately, more and more money of federal government funds is having to be spent on state government infrastructure. It's like rewarding the poor behaviour of a child that is having a tantrum. You give them a lolly and, guess what, they will throw another tantrum. Every time we offer them more money to build state infrastructure what do they do? They complain.

A couple of years ago we offered them $390 million to duplicate the North Coast railway line. What did they say? 'It's not enough. We want more.' I know why they're doing this: because they are broke. They are so broke. They are beyond broke. They are spending money. They are borrowing money to pay their public servants' wages. That's why they can't invest in infrastructure. That's why they had to come, cap in hand, to the federal government every day saying, 'Please, sir, can I have some more?' It's a really difficult position because the more we give them the less they spend. We just can't let the good people of Queensland suffer because of this incompetent state government.

We saw an article in the Courier Mail just a couple of days ago about this incompetent state Labor government wanting to increase the costs of infrastructure through union sweetheart deals, to the cost of an additional 30 per cent, to look after their CFMEU mates. So not only are we paying an extra 30 per cent now—that's not good enough—they want to charge an additional 30 per cent premium. We are going to be right on top of this. If we win the Olympic bid we are going to make sure damn sure the Australian people get value for money.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the next speaker, I acknowledge the presence of the students up in the gallery from Catherine McAuley Catholic Primary School in Orange.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's why I've got this tie on, to acknowledge that mob up there. As the shadow minister, the member for Ballarat, mentioned earlier, Tuesday night's budget was not a great one for the NT going forward. Once again the Territory were left behind by this government in terms of infrastructure. As she mentioned, over the next four years, over the forward estimates, only one per cent of funding. So 99 per cent of the infrastructure funding in the budget on Tuesday night was four years hence. So that led to a quick calculation of about $4 million dollars for roads funding—new funding. Four million dollars over four years in new roads funding. That's $1 million a year, a kilometre a year, in new roads funding from those opposite for the Northern Territory, which is one-sixth of the Australian land mass and has the ability to feed a big chunk of our near neighbours, has the ability to produce all sorts of energy and has the ability, and indeed the responsibility, to defend our nation. That's not much in roads funding, to say the least.

That 99 per cent of the funding that was in the budget that is four years hence—there could be a couple of elections between now and then, so we're supposed to trust those opposite that, in the very unlikely case that they will still be in government after the next election and the election after that, they will be good for some roads funding for the Northern Territory. It's an utterly shameful figure. Yesterday, when I asked the Deputy Prime Minister to confirm that, because I was still a little bit in disbelief, he just talked about old spending, when we wanted to know about new spending for the next four years. He even started talking about defence spending, which is obviously different from infrastructure spending for roads for the agriculture industry, for the pastoralists out there and for economic development in the Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory. The Prime Minister did much the same when he came to Darwin a couple of weeks ago and was re-announcing defence spending. I know as well as anyone how important defence spending is. It is important, but there is a lot more to the Northern Territory than the defence of our nation. As important as it is, as focal as it is and as needed as it is, there is a lot more going on, and that needs infrastructure like roads to unlock the potential.

Don't take just my word for it, Louise Bilato, the executive officer of the Northern Territory Road Transport Association said, 'It's the Commonwealth's responsibility to maintain and upgrade the national highway network. Yes, it's very unfortunate that $150 million over seven years commencing in 2024 isn't really an exciting conversation for the road transport industry.' That $150 million would be welcome if it were in the next financial year, but it's not. It's well down the road, in 2024. The time is now for developing the Northern Territory and northern Australia in general, but unfortunately—well, the time was eight years ago, really. It is eight years that those opposite have been charged with the responsibility of running the country, and we're still waiting. There were promises made in the last federal election about Kakadu, and that Kakadu funding is still nowhere to be seen. These are really important economic development opportunities for the north, and they're being left to languish by those opposite. It's not good enough, and we expect better.

Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise to speak on this MPI today. I thank the Labor members for bringing it forward, because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the most important thing for my electorate of Ryan, which is infrastructure and tackling congestion, which is what this government is all about.

I have considered that, in fact, the most important issue for the Labor members is not anything that they have raised throughout this debate but is what occurred in question time, when the Leader of the Opposition was caught out blatantly recycling and plagiarising a previous Labor election commitment that the people of Australia have already thoroughly rejected twice. If that's the best that Labor MPs can do, then you know that they're not far away from recycling some of their other policies, such as the retiree tax, the property tax and the reckless spending they undertook during the GFC. That is of particular concern to my electorate because, at the end of the day, if you can't manage money, if you can't manage the budget, then you can't deliver infrastructure, and this is the pitfall that befalls every Labor government at every level. They simply cannot manage money, and that is the brick wall that we in Queensland are butting our heads up against with the Queensland Labor government.

The member for Ballarat said something that I actually agree with. It was the only thing that she said that I agree with. She characterised this government's infrastructure spending as 'writing cheques that will never be cashed'. Well, that is the problem that we have in Queensland. We keep writing cheques to the Queensland state Labor government and they keep refusing to cash them. It is unbelievable. What do you have to do to get a Labor MP or a Labor government at any level to actually build infrastructure? Right now the Morrison government and the Queensland MPs are doing the heavy lifting. They are certainly putting the money on the table when it comes to projects—and I'll take you through a few projects in my electorate where we have done exactly that—but we can't get Mark Bailey to stop playing politics and simply cash a cheque and put a shovel into the ground.

I do take umbrage with some of the comments from the Labor MPs that Queensland hasn't done well out of this budget. Queensland has done exceptionally well out of this budget, particularly—not only but particularly—because Queensland is the only state with a signed-up federal agreement to fund 50 per cent of an Olympics bid for our city and our region in South-East Queensland—50 per cent of the vital infrastructure that we will need to deliver. There is $5.8 billion waiting in the wings of this budget if Brisbane and South-East Queensland can be supported by the Labor state government to win the 2032 Olympic bid. That will see a new infrastructure boon for my city of Brisbane and my electorate of Ryan. It comes on top of a $110 billion infrastructure pipeline that the Morrison government is already investing in Queensland. It is significant. It is part of our road to recovery, it's part of creating jobs and it's part of reducing congestion.

But what I expect to hear from the Leader of the Opposition tonight—and what we have been hearing from Mark Bailey and the Queensland Labor government for years and years—is the Albo 'go slow' on our roads. They will hold up the 'go slow' sign and they will just refuse to get on with putting a shovel in the ground, despite the funding that has been put forward and continues to be put forward by the Morrison government. For example, the last two years that I have been elected to this place has seen $230 million—in the space of two years—be committed to my electorate to fund the upgrade of local roads. Yet one of those commitments, $12.5 million for the Kenmore roundabout, is entirely a state responsibility. The federal government need not have got involved. The only reason we are involved is that the state Labor government has committed no money to the western suburbs of Brisbane for over a decade. We got involved and put $12.5 million on the table, and it took two years just for Mark Bailey to issue a press release to say that he had matched the funds. It took two years just to acknowledge that the funding was there. How frustrating! What a frustrating way for the Labor Party to treat the residents and the people of my electorate in Ryan and the Brisbane western suburbs.

That is not how this government behaves. This government is about successfully managing our finances. We will keep pouring more money into infrastructure and we ask for Albo and the Labor Party to get out of the way and let us get on with the job.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.