Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the first two questions that were asked by the coalition in question time today. I note that they were about the suburban rail project. I don't think any of the contributions of the Labor senators on this take-note motion have made even a glancing reference to those particular questions. I could have taken a point of order on that, Mr Deputy President. I didn't, because I thought it would be interesting to see whether they would continue to avoid the point made in those questions. Of course, that point is all about integrity, transparency and sound economic management.

The Andrews Labor government's Suburban Rail Loop is just another example of the government's failed budget and their utter hypocrisy. Whenever Labor are in political trouble they look to rail to haul them out of a fix. They're at it again. The Suburban Rail Loop's estimated spend of $125 million is the price tag of just two legs of the project, and it won't even be completed by 2050. Yet the Prime Minister had to step in and help out his old mate the Victorian Premier. The federal government committed to a $2.2 billion spend in the October budget, almost a quarter of their infrastructure spend. This is pork-barrelling at its absolute finest.

As usual, Labor are putting their priorities over Australians' priorities. Never mind the cost-of-living crisis, the energy crisis and out-of-control inflation that we're experiencing right now in this country, Labor is happy to scrap excellent programs such as the Building Better Regions Fund. But, of course, that is only so that they can afford to commit to a project that hasn't even had its business case approved by Infrastructure Australia. As reported by the Australian Financial Review:

… Victoria's Auditor-General has criticised the Andrews government's 400 page business case—which it declined to submit to Infrastructure Australia—for failing to demonstrate that the economic costs and benefits of the project justify the investment.

In my home state of Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan's signature Metronet project, which he committed to at the 2017 election, it is also facing major cost blowouts and significant delays. Senator Brockman, who is here, knows about the delays that have been experienced right across the Metronet project. What we're seeing is that the Albanese Labor government has ripped out $1.2 billion from the budget that had been earmarked for a very important project, which was determined by Infrastructure Australia to be one of the key infrastructure projects for the driving of productivity in my home state of Western Australia, and that was the Roe 8, Roe 9 project and the freight link that was earmarked in the budget for quite some time. It was waiting for a government in Western Australia to commit to it, but sadly that has not happened. In fact, they've ripped it out of the budget, and it's no longer available for a government in Western Australia to choose to build. Instead, we have these ridiculous projects up and down Leach Highway that are not actually resolving the traffic congestion and, importantly, taking heavy freight off suburban streets. Roe 8 and 9 would have created a thoroughfare for heavy freight on large trucks.

In Victoria, obviously, the election will be held this Saturday, and the Victorian people have a big decision to make about who will lead them. What we see is that federal Labor is doing everything it can to help to protect the Victorian Premier and make sure that he wins back government. We know that the only real way that that state can move past the situation that they find themselves in and that was exacerbated during the COVID period is by having a Liberal government elected there. A Liberal government would help them to fix their budget mess and help them to fix their infrastructure projects.

Question agreed to.