Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

(a) item (4) be deleted, and

(b) the following be inserted:

(4) the former Labor Government quadrupled funding for the Bruce Highway, and

(5) that the Member for Herbert stated in 2011 that 'I'll give Labor a pat on the back and say they have spent more in their four or five years on the Bruce Highway than we did before'.

I do that in order to put some reality into this debate. The reality is that, under the former federal Labor government, we increased infrastructure spending for Queenslanders from $143 per capita to $314 per capita. We quadrupled the amount of money that went to Queensland for infrastructure, and nowhere benefited more than the Bruce Highway.

The Bruce Highway is a critical highway. It is the main artery for traffic movement up and down the Queensland coast, serving dozens of dynamic towns and cities over the 1,650 kilometres between Brisbane and Cairns. It is important because Queensland is the only state in this nation where more people live in regional areas than in the capital. Because the Bruce Highway travels all the way up the coast, serving all of these coastal regions, it is surely the state's most important piece of infrastructure. That is why we prioritised it. We need this road to be safe. We also need it to be efficient, because the efficient movement of people and goods adds to economic productivity, which creates jobs.

For years, the Bruce Highway has been a critical political battleground, so today let us cut through to the facts. During the almost 12 years of the Howard government, the Commonwealth spent $1.3 billion on the Bruce Highway. During the six years of the Rudd and Gillard governments, the Commonwealth created investments of $5.7 billion. That is the undeniable truth. Despite the big-talking promises of the now Prime Minister ahead of last year's election, the record of what has actually been spent or committed rather than what has been promised proves that, while the coalition talks about the highway, it has failed to follow through.

During its time in office, the coalition slashed federal road funding by $2 billion. The fact is that actions speak louder than words. When it comes to the Bruce Highway, we certainly delivered, which was acknowledged by the member for Herbert on 5 March 2011. Indeed, in the unamended clause 4 of this motion as moved by the member for Herbert, it makes it clear, because he says:

… the Government is already delivering on its commitment to upgrade important sections of the Bruce Highway.

All of those sections that are underway are sections that have been underway as a result of the investment of the former government, investment of which I am extremely proud. Let us have a look at Townsville roads: $95 million for the port access road, completed; $55 million to duplicate the Douglas arterial, completed; $160 million to complete the fourth and final section of the city ring road; and $110 million to duplicate the Bruce between Vantassel Street and Flinders Highway. That comes on top of other investment into Townsville, including $16 million for the redevelopment of Flinders Street.

When it comes to other projects on the Bruce Highway, there are the upgrade of the southern approaches to Sarina; the construction of the new higher bridge over the Isis River that the former member for Hinkler regarded as the No. 1 priority. The former member for Hinkler acknowledged that it was the federal Labor government that delivered what the previous coalition government had not. There was duplication of section B between Cooroy and Curra, described by the former transport minister, who was also the local member, the member for Wide Bay, as the worst section of highway in Australia. It was fixed by Labor. There was a resurfacing of the Nambour bypass, elimination of 63 notorious black spots, 12 new and upgraded rest stops and construction of 11 additional overtaking lanes. That is what you can do when you quadruple the budget.

Projects underway include the construction of a new interchange at the intersection between the Bruce and Dawson highways; the Calliope crossroads project near Gladstone; the upgrade of the intersection between Bruce and Capricorn highways, known as the Yeppen roundabout; the upgrade of the southern approach to Mackay, flattening and straightening the Bruce Highway over the Cardwell Range; projects associated with the Burdekin road safety audit; upgrade of the southern approach to Cairns; strengthening of the bridge over the Burdekin; the straightening and widening of the Bruce Highway from Cabbage Tree Creek to Carman Road and across Back Creek Range; the straightening of the Bruce Highway just south of Gin Gin and upgrading the intersection with the Bundaberg to Gin Gin road; straightening and raising the Bruce Highway between Sandy Corner and Collinsons Lagoon; upgrading the Pumicestone Road interchange, including the construction of a new higher overpass over the Bruce; duplication of the Bruce Highway between the Cooroy South interchange and Sankeys Road, known as section A of that area.

Then there is further funding which has been committed in the budget: the Mackay northern access upgrade, the Mackay ring road, the Rockhampton northern access corridor, the North Queensland flood immunity package, Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway, Gateway Motorway to Caboolture, the pavement widening from St Lawrence to Bowen, the Cairns southern access corridor, the Bruce Highway south of Home Hill to north of Ingham, Cooroy to Curra sections C and D and the Black Spots Program.

These are projects Labor delivered, completed, projects underway and projects that were in the budget. There were no additional commitments from the former opposition, now the government, during the election campaign. The fact is that we quadrupled funding for the Bruce Highway, and that is consistent with what the Labor Party does in government. The Labor Party government is prepared to get on with the business of nation building. Those opposite last time they were in office cut the budget by $2 billion. This time around they are saying that new infrastructure spending will be dependent upon state governments privatising assets; that is what they are saying. They should listen to the Treasurer, but of course they tend not to listen to each other; they tend to engage in PR exercises. Yesterday we saw the extraordinary performance of the Prime Minister, with the New South Wales Premier, standing in front of a banner. The only thing that was new about that project was the banner. It was an old project that had been fully signed off by the former Labor government, the New South Wales government and Transurban for a road project in Sydney, the F3 to M2.

I am very proud of the work that we put into the Bruce Highway. A quadrupling of funding needs to be acknowledged as a major benefit to road safety and to improving productivity and the freight network. Yes, there is more to be done because the Bruce Highway is a very long arterial and it cannot be completed in a short period of time. There is no doubt, in my view, having travelled without media on the Bruce to have a look for myself, that there are major problems that require further upgrades. This requires the Commonwealth government and the state government—and the Newman government talked a big game prior to the election but have delivered nothing in terms of additional funding for the Bruce Highway since they were elected. They need to be held to account rather than let off the hook by the federal government, regardless of the political party in government federally. If you let state governments off the hook, you will see less investment overall.

We inherited a substantial infrastructure deficit. We set about ensuring that that deficit was dealt with, and that is why I am moving an amendment to the member for Herbert's motion, in order to make the motion more accurately reflect what has been the recent history regarding investment into the Bruce Highway.

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