Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of this damning Auditor-General's report. Whilst I appreciate Senator Henderson's wonderful advocacy for regional Victoria, I want to talk about Queensland's infrastructure needs. My office is based in the Ipswich region in South-East Queensland, which has been crying out for additional infrastructure to accommodate the tens of thousands of new residents who are moving to that area. It's one of the highest growth areas in the whole of Australia—the south-west corridor—crying out for the roads, rail and bridges that the greater Ipswich region needs. Here we have this travesty of $2.2 billion of federal government funds being directed to the mendicant, bankrupt Victorian government for a—is this serious?—$216.7 billion project. This is nonsense. I can hardly believe it. That's unbelievable. And they haven't got a business case. There's no business case.

There's no business case—absolutely no business case at all. I'm going to ignore you, Senator Shoebridge. There is no business case and no confidence in deliverability. Well, how could you come to a conclusion otherwise when you've got a mendicant state government proposing a $216.7 billion project? When they've capped out in terms of revenue- and taxation-raising measures in Victoria and businesses are looking to close up shop and move to Queensland or South Australia, how in goodness's name can they afford $216.7 billion?

Let me tell you what we could do with that $2.2 billion in my state of Queensland in the greater Ipswich region: we could build a second river crossing over the Bremer River, which is absolutely fundamentally needed for Ipswich—and it has been recognised by independent stakeholders as a priority project—so that when floods do occur on the Bremer River there's a second river crossing to enable the people of Ipswich to have connectivity. That's what we could do with far less than $2.2 billion. We could then move to Amberley Air Force base, which has an absolutely disgraceful issue in terms of traffic management. Former Deputy Prime Minister McCormack tried to sort that out with the then state Labor government, but the state Labor government failed to come to the party. It's still a deathtrap. We have thousands of people at Amberley Air Force base, and in peak hour it's just about impossible to safely get to Amberley Air Force base, one of our key Defence installations. We could fix that for the $2.2 billion. We could fix the Mount Crosby interchange as well, which is another deathtrap in the greater Ipswich region. We could fix that for $2.2 billion. We could also progress the Springfield-to-Ipswich public transport corridor, which would provide a loop in terms of the railway or public transport options that would go from Brisbane around to Ipswich and then back to Springfield and to Brisbane. We could do all of that with that $2.2 billion.

This is the opportunity cost. Every single dollar of taxpayers' money is crucial. When you direct $2.2 billion of taxpayers' money to a dodgy—listen to this figure—$216.7 billion project, it's madness. What about the rest of the country? Confidence in deliverability? There could be no confidence in deliverability. So I congratulate Senator Henderson on her advocacy for regional Victoria, but what about Queensland? What about the people of Ipswich, the greater Ipswich region, where they've been taken for granted by the Labor Party for years and years and years? The people of the greater Ipswich region deserve their roads. They deserve their rail. They deserve their bridges.

Yet the Albanese Labor government is directing $2.2 billion—which could be spent in one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia, in the greater Ipswich region—down south. Albo, or, I should say, the Prime Minister, is sending that $2.2 billion down south to Victoria to assist in a $216.7 billion project, where there's no confidence in deliverability—in fact, there's probably confidence that it can't be delivered—and no economic or business case. Madness! Absolute madness! This is unbelievable. It's just staggering. And the Labor government should deeply reflect on this.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.