Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much to the member for Forde, who has been a very strong advocate for the needs of his community when it comes to public transport—as indeed have been the member for Moncrieff, the member for Fadden and the member for McPherson. It was wonderful to see all of those members—along with, of course, the member for Wentworth—riding the Gold Coast light rail yesterday morning, along with the Premier of Queensland and the Mayor of the Gold Coast. There was quite a collection of politicians on the Gold Coast light rail yesterday, and that was appropriately marking the fact that the fact that the Turnbull government has made a commitment to invest up to $95 million to ensure that the Gold Coast light rail stage 2 will be delivered in time for the Commonwealth Games. It is very important to see that all three levels of government are coming together in relation to this vital infrastructure project. It is tremendously important for the Commonwealth Games and therefore, of course, to this project of national significance.

But beyond its importance to the Commonwealth Games is the importance that this piece of infrastructure will play in the connection to the existing heavy rail network with the 7.3-kilometre link from the Gold Coast University Hospital through to the existing heavy rail network at Helensvale. This is a capped grant from the Commonwealth and subject to an assessment of the final business case by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.

This important piece of national infrastructure is vital to the Commonwealth Games transport task. It will connect five competition venues and nine events to accommodation and public transport interchanges. It will also be an important boost for the local economy, supporting more than 1,000 jobs during construction. As the Prime Minister said yesterday in his remarks at this announcement, we do need to look creatively at how we capture the value that arises from the increase in property values and whether this can be a means of providing additional funding for infrastructure. And, of course, it is noteworthy here that the Gold Coast regional council successfully introduce a betterment levy to assist in funding stage one of the Gold Coast light rail project.

The coalition government's $50 billion infrastructure investment commitment is being invested in the right infrastructure, not just any infrastructure, and this will leverage some $125 billion in investment in total. So the Turnbull government is investing in this public transport project, which is of national significance, and we are very pleased to do so, working cooperatively with the state government and the local government.

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