David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKenzie for the question and for her longstanding interest in infrastructure matters, particularly regional infrastructure matters. The coalition government has committed to a record $50 billion infrastructure package in the 2014-15 budget. The government investment in infrastructure across Australia will play a major role in building a strong and a prosperous economy, boosting productivity and creating thousands of new jobs. We have announced an $11.6 billion Infrastructure Growth Package, which is focused on delivering new infrastructure funding, including funding to expedite much needed projects like WestConnex, providing the infrastructure to support an airport in Western Sydney. The government's infrastructure package ensures that communities not on major highways also see the road upgrades they so desperately need by boosting funding to local roads through Roads to Recovery and the Black Spot Program and the commencement of the new Bridges Renewal Program. This is record-breaking, unprecedented infrastructure investment by an Australian government.

On top of the previous Labor government reducing infrastructure spending during their time in government, the six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments saw productivity decrease by an average 0.7 per cent per year, after increasing by a very similar amount every year under the Howard government. So, in short, under Labor we went backwards.