Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It makes sense now, Senator Nash. It is clear now. I would like to go back and talk about what the Rudd Labor government has done for road infrastructure for regional communities. I think it is very important that the Prime Minister has made it very clear to all and sundry—and I cannot tell you how many times he has said it, I am sorry, Senator Nash—that in our first budget we have provided a record $3.2 billion for road and rail projects across the country. There could be an argument that it is not all regional. No, it is not all regional but there is a heck of a lot that is regional. I would like to add this: as demonstrated in my previous life, I do hold the importance of roads in regional Australia closely to my heart—because there is not one committee in Western Australia I have not been on and I have been on a lot through the Northern Territory, Queensland and a sprinkling through Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.

So road infrastructure is very important not only to the communities that rely on those roads for safe travelling but also to those communities that rely on good transport infrastructure, whether it be the agricultural industry, or the mining industry from that great state of Queensland, where Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce come from, or Western Australia, where I come from. So it is all intertwined. It is very important and, sadly, it is very easy to talk about what you are going to do through election periods and make all sorts of commitments but it is there in the budget, $3.2 billion.

I will talk about some of the major projects that I believe will deliver fantastic outcomes for all industries and communities in rural and regional Australia. If I may, I will talk about your home state, Senator Nash. In New South Wales, work has started on the Ballina bypass on the Pacific Highway. I have travelled the Pacific Highway. As part of our record $2.45 billion upgrade program, we will soon be calling for tenders for the Alstonville bypass. We are spending $2.45 billion.

In Victoria, we will start the planning to upgrade the Western Highway and the Princes Highway and do preconstruction work for the Nagambie bypass. I have travelled the Western Highway and the Princes Highway. They are two very important arterials, with goods going to and from those rural and regional communities.

In Queensland, the Townsville port access road will be delivered up to two years early—we are talking about two years here. I might sound like a broken record, but I went to the Port of Townsville with one of our committees a couple of years ago. They desperately needed that upgrade. When I visited the Port of Townsville, the Rudd Labor government was not in power. Senator Nash, it was your side of politics—well, it was the Liberals, and you guys were sort of agreeing with everything they did and rolling over to get your tummies tickled.

We are also doing up the Bruce Highway, which is probably one of the worst. The last time that I travelled it, it was probably the worst highway in Australia. In fact, I went out to Warburton once, which is 600 kilometres out of Leonora, on a dirt road. I have to tell you that the Bruce Highway, even though it was bitumen, was a lot worse than that dirt road. We are moving on. That will be finished two years early. We are doing that for Queensland. In South Australia, safety upgrades have started on the Dukes Highway.

I want to touch on a few projects in that fantastic state of Western Australia. Let me confirm for the Senate that it will not be long before we finish the new Perth-Bunbury Highway. That is a massive infrastructure project, and it is long overdue. There is also planning for the Bunbury port access road. The city of Bunbury—for those senators who have not been there—is integral to Western Australia’s productivity, whether it be in agriculture or mining in that part of the world. Sadly, infrastructure has been lacking over the last decade or two.

While we listen to senators opposite bang on and give us a dusting-up about what we have not done or what we have said we are going to do, it is there: $3.2 billion in the budget. That is not a bad start.