Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

to make it understood to the people who might not be listening to the parliament every day, Senator, that the reality is that these projects that were invested in by Labor, created by Labor—happily some of them are continuing but many of them have been reduced in funding—are a vital part of our infrastructure.

Why does all of this matter right now? I alluded in my comments to the reality that construction activity is declining in the resource sector and there is a natural fit for jobs coming out of the resource sector to move into the infrastructure sector to do the job rather than the private mining companies to help build the vision for Australia's future. I often heard about the experience and the pride with which my father spoke about the work on the Bradfield Highway approaching the Harbour Bridge. To be part of building the nation is something that all people who have worked in construction, whether it is rail or whether it is road, find an edifying dimension to their working life.

Tony Abbott's decision to call himself the 'infrastructure Prime Minister' was an absolute joke. The only thing he really constructed, I suppose, was a great big hole for himself. He has also left a hole in the investment infrastructure that should have been going on. That hole could be attended to by the new Prime Minister. This is a challenge. He has an opportunity to do something new to reset the course. He could immediately restore the $4.5 billion cut from public transport projects. The projects that have suffered under the Liberal government are the Melbourne Metro, Brisbane's Cross River Rail link and Adelaide's Gawler line electrification. Also, another $500 million had been allocated by the former Labor government for heavy and light rail projects in Perth. That is a practical way that they could do something new and do something that would be different from the Abbott government.

Mr Turnbull loves to tweet those photos of himself—Malcolm the rider of the Sydney train network. Let us see if he has the determination for and the general appeal of rail under his belt. It is not just about Malcolm in the pictures; it is about the hard work, the resources, the materials and the people who need to build these critical rail projects in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. All of these projects were funded in Labor's federal budget. It was a choice by this government to remove them from our vision for the country.

The role of Infrastructure Australia in the former government in determining critical projects that were to be developed in the interests of the nation was a very significant change in the way public policy was being developed and the way in which infrastructure was planned to be delivered. As Senator Rice said, whether these projects are rail, which she acknowledged took a lot of time to plan, or road, which from my experience absolutely takes a lot of time in planning, you need to have a body that can look at the value of these projects, ensure that they are great value for the country and go ahead and make them happen. I found it amazing that Minister Albanese in the former government was the first infrastructure minister for the entire country and that historically things had been developed in such a haphazard way without that oversight. Since Mr Abbott came to power, the power of Infrastructure Australia to be an independent body that could talk about vision and ensure continuity across a range of different governments has been completely undermined. I think that is a great shame. Shame on this government, shame on Tony Abbott and his ministry, in whatever form it was, for making that decision. Again, there is an opportunity for the new-look Liberals and Mr Turnbull to do something about restoring the integrity and independence of Infrastructure Australia.

It is important to put on the record the very different view that Labor has about building for our future. Recently, Labor made a very big announcement regarding federal infrastructure and financing. That included getting moving very significant public transport projects in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast. For the great state of New South Wales, that I represent in this amazing parliament of our nation, the plan to link the west and the southern lines is a very significant decision; it is a very significant vision. People who are looking to get to work from as far away as the Central Coast and Newcastle will have a massive number of job opportunities opened up to them by that infrastructure. Labor has a vision for the west of Sydney. Labor has a vision of making it possible for workers to get to where they need to go in a reasonable amount of time rather than the current gridlock that is the life of so many people who work and live in the regions where I grew up—in Blacktown, Seven Hills, Toongabbie and the west, in Campbelltown, Camden, Narellan and all of the areas in the south-west of Sydney, and in the north on the Central Coast. This is a vision about making connections between all of those communities possible with the jobs growth that will naturally grow from that investment.

Labor will elevate Infrastructure Australia to be an active participant in the infrastructure market. We will mobilise private sector finance. We have determined that a transformation of the way in which infrastructure in Australia is funded is required. Infrastructure Australia has the potential under a Labor government to unlock tens of billions of dollars in capital investment for critical projects that every single state needs and, by doing so, create tens of thousands of jobs. That money will surface into the private market from what Labor built.

Another amazing piece of infrastructure of a different kind is the superannuation savings of this nation—an infrastructure for a dignified retirement for all Australians. With that $1.8 trillion that we have that is going to continue to grow, there is an opportunity for Australians, investing in themselves and their future, to have their superannuation funds invest in building infrastructure on the ground in this nation—rail, roads and ports. We can do that. We can do that because Labor had a vision and Labor delivered that vision. All the way those opposite resisted and said it would be impossible. They said businesses would fail across the country. They said the whole show would fall over. They said superannuation would never work. But here we are 30 years down the track with an entire capacity to build this nation on the back of Australia's savings by investing in ourselves and investing in our future.

There is a massive contrast between this government and Labor's capacity to see a vision for the future, to pull Australians together and to deliver a vision for the future that is rich, enabling and shared—advantaging all Australians. Labor absolutely is responsible for establishing of Infrastructure Australia. We need this nation-building body to make sure that we can get on with the job across periods of government—sadly, when the Liberals might be in charge. Without that independence, the future of this country is at risk from those who will just take the money and prop things up in certain spots where they want or, perhaps, do as Abbott did and completely remove funding from public rail.