Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

In the other place during question time, in answer to a dorothy dixer the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mr Truss, claimed that I, as the opposition spokesman on transport, was the only person who did not support more money for roads, and suggested that I had some other stronger interest in referring infrastructure matters to some body to assess their worth. He did that apparently in response to a press release I issued in response to the budget.

His comments grossly misrepresent the comments that I made in that press release, and to demonstrate that I propose to read it. It was issued at about a quarter to one today. It is entitled Serious potholes remain despite overdue transport spending. It states:

Additional road and rail funding in Peter Costello’s 11th Budget is an acknowledgement that Australia’s road and rail network has been run down by the Howard Government over the past decade.

But serious potholes remain in the nation’s transport network.

AusLink is still a grab bag of funding promises, not a co-ordinated national land transport plan.

The Howard Government has yet to embrace Labor’s plan to create Infrastructure Australia and subject project proposals to a National Infrastructure Audit.

Once again Australians who live and work in our cities have been left out in the cold—record petrol prices and a pittance to fix up our urban road and rail mess. Alongside the road freight sector, commuters in our capital cities have very little to celebrate this morning.

Not even the major Budget transport promises live up to the hype.

The Hume Highway commitment will not realise the full duplication of the highway.

The Howard Government has not explained why the Pacific Highway promise is the only new major road commitment in the Budget that comes with strings attached. The people of New South Wales have no guarantee the promise will advance the upgrade of the Pacific Highway, and tolls are still on the government’s agenda.

Funding for local roads through the Roads to Recovery program is welcome but represents a one-off injection, not a long term commitment.

While more resources for the national road and rail system is a welcome Budget outcome, the government has not addressed the critical question facing the transport industry—the availability of skills to get the job done.

Labor is concerned the cost of road and rail infrastructure will be inflated by the Howard Government’s election-focused spending and continuing neglect of skills training.

Far from not supporting additional spending, we made some criticisms of the direction of the spending but made the note that additional spending was welcome. I am not sure what the minister’s English language qualifications are, but I am sure if he has difficulty with reading that there are places in this building and outside in the city of Canberra where he can equip himself with the skills necessary to understand the English language.