Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Prime Minister, I table a ministerial statement on infrastructure and seek leave to incorporate the statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

Madam Speaker, At the last election, the Coalition promised to scrap the carbon tax, stop the boats, get the Budget under control and build the roads of the 21st century.

We are honouring all these commitments—but my task today is to report on one of them, our infrastructure agenda.

I said that I intended to be the Infrastructure Prime Minister—and that part of that was delivering an annual infrastructure statement to the House of Representatives.

Today, I am pleased to report progress in building the modern infrastructure that our country needs.

Infrastructure matters.

It helps determine our quality of life as well as our country's competitiveness, productivity and living standards.

Australia needs an Infrastructure Prime Minister because for too long, infrastructure improvements have not kept pace with population growth and the needs of our people.

Too many of us have painful, first-hand knowledge of the problems with our national infrastructure, particularly in big cities.

People leave for work earlier than they did a decade ago because the traffic jams just keep getting worse and worse.

Parents rack up late fines at child care centres when freeways slow to a crawl.

Businesses see their costs rise when trucks idle in traffic.

Air travel between our cities is slower today than a generation ago—because of clogged airports and surrounding road networks.

And exports can be held up at bottlenecks in key freight networks, particularly in congested cities.

That's why building the infrastructure of the 21st century is an essential part of the Government's Economic Action Strategy to build a strong, prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia.

This Budget committed $50 billion to infrastructure.

It's the largest infrastructure investment in our nation's history—and it's forecast to generate a record $125 billion of public and private investment in infrastructure over the next decade.

To help the states and territories, the Government has introduced an Asset Recycling Initiative.

It's an incentive for them to privatise existing assets and reinvest the proceeds into new economic infrastructure.

Asset recycling should reassure the taxpayers who paid for assets in the first place that their investment is being preserved and their legacy built upon.

Every state and territory has signed the National Partnership on Asset Recycling that will help them to build the infrastructure they need, including, it should be said, public transport infrastructure.

It's cooperative federalism at work—as is the National Partnership Agreement on Land Transport Infrastructure.

This Partnership will make roads safer for truck drivers and for all the vehicles that share the roads with them.

It's a five year agreement and funds will flow this year to the states who've signed up.

Madam Speaker, we promised that big new projects would be underway within 12 months of a change of government and we are delivering.

In New South Wales, Australia's biggest urban road project, WestConnex, has begun, with geotechnical work underway across Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Stage 2 of WestConnex, which duplicates the M5 East, will begin ahead of schedule because the Commonwealth will provide a concessional loan of up to $2 billion on top of the $1.5 billion for Stage 1.

WestConnex will create almost 10,000 jobs during construction and, when complete, by-pass 52 traffic lights.

It will reduce travel times for the 100,000 motorists who use the motorway every day by up to 40 minutes and take 3,000 trucks a day off Parramatta Road.

The Commonwealth and New South Wales Government are working together to complete the Pacific Highway upgrade by the end of the decade.

In the past year, 32 km of the highway has been duplicated, including the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade, and 397 kms or 60 per cent of final highway length is now complete.

The duplication of the Pacific Highway, combined with NorthConnex in Sydney, means that, by the end of the decade, at most there will be just two stretches of traffic lights between Melbourne and Brisbane.

In Victoria, the Commonwealth is investing $3 billion toward Melbourne's East West Link.

The East West Link will reduce travel time by up to 20 minutes for commuters travelling from Geelong to the city and beyond.

Stage 1 alone is expected to allow 100,000 vehicles each day to bypass 23 sets of traffic lights.

On 29th September, the Victorian Government signed contracts to build Stage One of East West Link.

The link has been inked.

There can be no turning back from this major project that will help tens of thousands of Victorians every day.

In South Australia, the Commonwealth has committed $944 million to upgrade the North-South Road Corridor.

This project will crate 1,000 construction jobs and early work on Ashwin Parade is already underway.

In Western Australia, the Commonwealth has committed $174 million to widen and strengthen the North West Coastal Highway, the main link between Geraldton, Carnarvon, Karratha and Port Hedland.

Construction will commence in the next month.

The Gateway WA is on track.

The Commonwealth is providing $615 million for the 40km Northlink WA project.

Planning is already underway and construction will commence in 2016.

Planning is also underway for the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link project funded with $925 million from the Commonwealth.

In Queensland, five major projects have been completed on the Bruce Highway – at Gin Gin, Mackay, Cairns, Calliope Crossroads near Gladstone and at Burdekin.

The last section of the Townsville Ring Road will start within 12 months.

Early works have begun on the Gateway Motorway upgrade.

And the procurement process is underway for the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, so that major construction works can start next year.

The Commonwealth's commitment of up to $1.28 billion is the largest ever federal contribution to a Queensland regional road project.

In Tasmania, the Commonwealth has committed $400 million to the Midland Highway and the Westbury Road Upgrade will be completed by the end of this year.

In the Northern Territory, the duplication of the first of the sections of Tiger Brennan Drive has been completed.

The Commonwealth has committed a further $77 million towards upgrading Northern Territory highways with planning already underway.

In addition to major road projects, the Government is spending $2.1 billion on the Roads to Recovery Programme and funding a $565 million Black Spot Programme to improve the most dangerous stretches of road throughout the country.

Then there's the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme providing $248 million to increase the number of rest areas and improve connections to freight networks.

There's also the $229 million National Highway Upgrade Programme for practical improvements such as shoulder and centreline widening, ripple strips and wire rope barriers.

And the Government is providing $300 million for the Bridges Renewal Programme upgrade deteriorating bridges across the nation.

Madam Speaker, airports are our gateways to the world.

For more than 50 years, governments have talked about a second airport for Sydney.

Finally, the talk is over.

We've taken the final decision that Badgerys Creek will be site of Sydney's second airport – or, as I prefer, Western Sydney's first airport.

The Government has commenced consultations with the Sydney Airport Group.

We are working up the commercial model and the airport concept designs.

Construction should begin in 2016.

By mid-century, the new airport could generate a $24 billion increase in our gross domestic product and 60,000 new jobs in Western Sydney.

It's the centrepiece of our long-term vision for Western Sydney.

And heeding past lessons, it will be a case of roads first, airport second: the roads will be built before the first plane has landed.

A $3.6 billion, 10 year partnership with the New South Wales Government is underway, starting with the upgrade of Bringelly Road.

Together, our road package and the airport will give Western Sydney the modern infrastructure it deserves.

In Hobart, environmental and design studies for the extension of the runway at Hobart Airport are underway.

This $38 million upgrade will help Hobart Airport to become the gateway to the Antarctic and give the potential for direct flights to Asia.

Planning work and consultations are currently underway on the Inland Railway between Melbourne and Brisbane which would significantly improve freight productivity compared to the coastal line via Sydney.

The Government is also getting on with the job of rolling out the NBN so that Australians will have access to very fast broadband as soon as possible, at affordable prices and the least cost to taxpayers.

This government has connected far more premises in just one year than the previous government did in five!

An independent Cost-Benefit Analysis of the NBN found that the Government's multi-technology approach will deliver net economic and social benefits of almost $18 billion.

Madam Speaker, The Government is determined to end the dam-phobia that has largely stopped the construction of dams for the past three decades.

Water is a priceless asset especially when the vagaries of nature make it scarce.

Strengthening our water storage capabilities is essential if our country is to grow.

But we need to build the right dams in the right places.

Most dams should be feasible without government support.

But the Government is looking at some modest seed funding to help break the anti-dam mindset.

Just as we promised to end the paralysis and get projects moving on the ground, we also promised a long-term vision for Australia's infrastructure needs and a comprehensive plan to deliver it.

We've passed legislation to make Infrastructure Australia more independent, robust and transparent, with a Board appointed CEO, so that states, territories, industry and the community can be confident it is working in the national interest, not just the Commonwealth's interest.

And to see our nationally significant infrastructure needs more clearly, we've tasked Infrastructure Australia to develop a 15 year infrastructure plan.

The plan will cover all economic infrastructure – transport, energy, communications and water.

Infrastructure Australia will evaluate projects receiving more than $100 million in Commonwealth funding to help identify the infrastructure priorities for our future.

It's reform to build the right projects at the right time for the right price.

The work done to make costs and benefits more transparent should build deeper engagement by investors in infrastructure.

Australia is not alone in facing a greater need for infrastructure investment.

Almost every country needs more and better infrastructure to underpin jobs and growth, and almost every government lacks the resources to underwrite that investment.

Governments do not have the money to deliver on their own.

As this year's G20 President, Australia has made boosting private-sector investment in infrastructure a priority.

We're driving a Global Infrastructure Initiative for quality investment across the G20 and beyond.

Part of this initiative, is a new global infrastructure hub.

Madam Speaker, this Government is committed to building the infrastructure that will get products to market faster, that will speed up the wait for freight, and will get employees to work and home again with less time wasted in traffic.

Nothing boosts confidence like cranes in the sky and bulldozers on the ground.

It's an unmistakable sign of faith in our future.

Next year, I look forward to reporting further progress in delivering the projects we promised in our plan to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.