Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I am a longstanding member of this House on the record as always congratulating any infrastructure spending, regardless of who it comes from or where it goes in Australia, because I believe in infrastructure, just like the Labor Party. I welcome this very belated commitment to infrastructure and, particularly to the Bruce Highway, regardless of who it is from. Even if it is from the LNP, even in Queensland, I still welcome it. It is just a pity they could not be bothered to do it when they were in government before.

The trend here is always the same: the coalition are only interested in roads and infrastructure when they are in opposition. In government they just talk about it. They have had plenty of opportunity. I recall when the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss, was the transport minister for a very long time. The Bruce Highway just happened to be the major road through his electorate, but of course it is only important when you are in opposition! Once they got to government and he was the minister, the LNP and the Liberals, and Warren Truss in particular, just ignored it. When they got to government, they slashed the infrastructure spending by $2 billion—very significant at the time—and it meant that nothing got done on the Bruce Highway, a great pity.

So now, when we get all these belated commitments and promises, I welcome them. I welcome them from Tony Abbott and the Liberals, but we are yet to see the colour of the money. Don't forget there are the slashes to come in the budget. Don't forget there is the Commission of Audit. So whatever they promise today, let's see what happens tomorrow. If it does come to fruition, I will welcome it. Why wouldn't you?

In government Labor delivered. This is an area where we spend. They can belly laugh—there is plenty of belly laughing on the other side—but the facts are the facts, not just what was in the last budget. We actually delivered over many, many budgets, unlike the never-never future commitments and promises from the Liberals. In fact, on the Bruce Highway, an unprecedented $5.7 billion was spent—more during the term of Labor than the whole term of the Howard government; real money spent on real projects.

Just in case people think I am making it up, let me list what we spent the money on: the duplication of the Douglas arterial at Townsville; the upgrade of the southern approaches to Sarina; construction of a new, higher bridge over the Isis River; duplication of section B between Cooroy and Curra; resurfacing of the Nambour bypass; elimination of 63 notorious black spots; 12 new and upgraded rest stops; and construction of 11 additional overtaking lanes.

Then there are projects currently underway, being done while we were in office when the changeover happened, though I am sure the LNP will try and take credit for them. The reality is that we funded them; they were started under us because we made the commitment. They include construction of a new interchange at the intersection between the Bruce and Dawson highways; the Calliope Crossroads near Gladstone; upgrade of the intersection between the Bruce and Capricorn highways, the Yeppen roundabout; upgrade of the southern approach to Mackay; flattening and straightening of the Bruce Highway over the Cardwell Range; projects associated with the Burdekin road safety audit, including the upgrade of intersections along Edward Street in Ayr between Queen Street and Jones Street and construction of two new overtaking lanes south of Home Hill; upgrade of the southern approach to Cairns; and strengthening of the bridge over the Burdekin.

I can imagine that on the other side they are getting tired and bored of me listing them, because it is a very long list of achievements under Labor. The list continues: straightening and widening of the Bruce Highway from Cabbage Tree Creek to Carman Road, and across Back Creek Range; straightening of the Bruce Highway just south of Gin Gin and upgrading of the intersection with the Bundaberg-Gin Gin Road; straightening and raising of the Bruce Highway between Sandy Corner and Collinsons Lagoon; upgrading of the Pumicestone Road interchange, including the construction of a new higher overpass over the Bruce Highway; and duplication of the Bruce Highway between the Cooroy South interchange and Sankeys Road, also known as Section A. The list goes on and on. These are the things that we did.

I am yet to see the list, the very short list, of the things that the Liberals are going to do, but I welcome it. I will not get political about it, I just want to see it done. I do not care who it comes from. The colour of your money is as good as the colour of anyone else's money. We want to see projects delivered. Please go ahead and deliver. I am from the western corridor of Brisbane, and we know roads, because for a long time the Liberals when they were in government refused to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway. They thought it was a project too far, too complicated, too expensive. It never would have been done. But the moment we got to government in 2007 we committed $2.5 billion to that road, and it was delivered under budget and under time—one of the best projects in Australian history, one of the biggest and most complex under full road conditions. We did that and I am really proud of that. It never would have happened under the Howard Liberal government. Today we would still be arguing over it. The reality is that Labor delivers on infrastructure; the Liberals promise it. (Time expired)

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