Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I have no reason to disagree with the comments that are in the Herald Sun today about that issue. But let's not forget the reason why we need this review in the first place. That is that we inherited an infrastructure program that had blown out from 150 projects of national significance to over 800, a program that was littered with projects that were all about pork-barrelling—it didn't matter whether they could be delivered—and that was grossly underfunded and unable to be delivered. There's Inland Rail, that signature piece of the National Party at work. I mentioned yesterday that the National Party was full of economic illiterates, and, if there is one example of that better than any other, it is Inland Rail, where the project has blown out in cost from—is it $15 billion to $31 billion or $32 billion, $33 billion or $34 billion? It doubled in cost. We're not talking about small beer here. We are talking billions of dollars. There's the Urban Congestion Fund and the Commuter Car Park Fund. We are cleaning up the mess, and we're going to have an infrastructure program we deliver. (Time expired)