Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018 and particularly to use this opportunity to outline the Turnbull government's very substantial commitments to infrastructure investment. Indeed, a centrepiece of the 2017 Turnbull government budget is a $75 billion infrastructure funding and financing program, extending from 2017-18 through to 2026-27, to deliver critical infrastructure projects right across the country.

A key feature of this budget is a major commitment to rail investment. The new $10 billion National Rail Program will fund transformational rail projects so that people can move our cities and regions more efficiently and so that our cities are better connected to their surrounding regional areas. We are providing an additional $8.4 billion equity investment into the Australian Rail Track Corporation to enable the delivery of the transformational Melbourne to Brisbane inland rail project. Together with nearly $800 million for new rail projects in Perth, over $550 million for rail in Victoria and our $10 billion National Rail Program, the government's total investment in rail in this budget reaches some $20 billion.

Of course, there is investment in many other areas in this budget as well. We make a $5.3 billion commitment to an equity investment in Western Sydney Airport. This is part of our plan to have Western Sydney Airport operational by 2026. Our Western Australian package also includes some $800 million, in conjunction with the Western Australian government, for new road projects, including works on Armadale Road, the Kwinana Freeway and regional road projects to improve road safety in regional Western Australia. The budget contains funding for new road projects in New South Wales and Queensland, including $844 million towards priority projects on the Bruce Highway.

As part of this budget the government is establishing the Infrastructure Financing and Project Agency, to be set up as an independent authority to further explore ways to be innovative in our approach to funding and financing infrastructure. This is so we can drive the Commonwealth's taxpayer dollar further in delivering the infrastructure projects so vitally needed around Australia. This budget also sees a commitment to maintain the funding levels of Infrastructure Australia.

Let me speak in some more detail about the National Rail Program. The rationale for this program is a recognition that investment in public transport networks—in rail networks, in particular—is a critical part of easing congestion and boosting productivity, both in our cities and in their surrounding regional areas. The $10 billion National Rail Program aligns with the Turnbull government's broader cities agenda, because it recognises that urban rail projects can be truly city shaping. They provide opportunities for urban regeneration, to unlock land for affordable housing and to promote and stimulate better urban planning. The Turnbull government plans to work with state governments and to cooperate in the planning process, with a view to ensuring that Commonwealth funding is targeted towards projects that will have the biggest impact.

Of course, the investments we are making in this budget build on existing Australian government funding for a wide range of significant rail projects around Australia, including the Gold Coast light rail in Queensland, the Forrestfield Airport Link in Perth, Flinders Link in South Australia, planning work on Cross River Rail in Queensland and work underway as part of the joint scoping study between the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments to invest in rail options for the future of Western Sydney Airport.

As part of the Asset Recycling Initiative, the Turnbull government is providing $1.7 billion in funding for the Sydney Metro project, a transformational rail project that will connect Chatswood to south-western Sydney. There is a $98.4 million commitment for Sydney's Rail Future and $78.3 million for Parramatta Light Rail. And in the ACT there is $67.1 million for Capital Metro.

Let me speak in a bit more detail about some of the commitments in the rail area in this budget. We are going to provide $792 million towards rail projects in Perth, to help ease congestion and to improve connectivity across that city. This funding includes over $700 million for the Thornlie and Yanchep line extensions, subject to satisfactory business cases being provided to Infrastructure Australia. It includes $26.8 million for the development of those business cases, $49.6 million for the Denny Avenue and Davis Road level crossing removal and $15.6 million for the relocation of the Herne Hill Depot.

On the other side of the country we have made a $500 million commitment to regional rail in Victoria, designed to improve connectivity of regional cities to and from Melbourne. This includes upgrades to the North East line, the Gippsland line and the Geelong Line, and a study into future improvements to the Shepparton rail line. There is also a commitment of $30 million for the development of the business case for the Melbourne Airport rail link. There is a rail link between Sydney and Sydney Airport. There is a rail link between Brisbane and Brisbane airport. There is a rail link under construction between Perth and Perth Airport. A city of the size of Melbourne and a city with the growth prospects of Melbourne is a city which needs an airport rail link. Indeed, the corridor between Melbourne's CBD and Tullamarine airport has been identified by Infrastructure Australia as one of the most heavily congested in Melbourne.

I want to speak for a moment about one of the specific elements in the budget, which is a process to encourage ideas for faster rail connections between major capital cities and regional centres by committing $20 million to support private sector proponents and state governments for the development of project business cases. The Turnbull government intends to carry out a three-step process to identify projects to receive funding. It will start by issuing a prospectus describing the program and the opportunities and calling for initial proposals in response. We aim to have those initial proposals being sought by September this year.

Proposals could come from private sector proponents or consortiums, such as consortiums of property owners and developers and specialist high-speed rail companies. State governments might also bring forward such proposals. For example, such proposals might involve a proposal for a new stretch of line which would connect into an existing line into one of our big cities and provide rail access to new greenfields areas where a new town or towns would be built by a developer or consortium of developers. So that is one possible class of proposals which might be brought forward. Alternatively, another class of proposals might involve state governments bringing forward proposals to improve or to extend existing lines between one of our major cities and a surrounding regional area. Those proposals might involve improvements to bridges or tunnels or gradients which presently slow down trains. They could involve replacing stretches of winding or steep track which prevent trains running at high speed. They could involve the electrification of track which presently can only be used by diesel trains. The proposals could involve new-generation signalling and train control technology which would allow trains to be run more frequently on a given line.

The prospectus to be issued will specify the criteria that would be applied by the Australian government in selecting from the initial proposals a shortlist of up to three projects that would go forward to a business case development stage. Those criteria would include such matters as the time savings over existing means of travel to the regional locations, including both existing rail means of travel and other means of travel such as road, the extent of new housing opportunities that might be opened up and of course value for money, with the key factor to be the number of new users of the new or upgraded line delivered per million dollars invested.

The next stage of this process would be business case development, intended to be completed by the middle of 2018. The Australian government will be committing a total of up to $20 million for the development of up to three business cases, and the Australian government's funding would be intended to match funding provided by the project proponent, with the Australian government's commitment to any one business case capped at $8 million. Once provided, the business cases would be assessed by Infrastructure Australia. The final stage would be a decision by the Australian government as to whether it would provide funding to one or more of these business cases. The Turnbull government expects decisions would be made in relation to at least one business case in time to allow a funding commitment to be made by the end of 2018.

Another source of information that will inform decisions to be made about the allocation of funding under the National Rail Program will be the urban rail plans, which are presently under development through joint work between the Commonwealth government and state governments, for Australia's five largest cities and their surrounding regions. This initiative was announced in November 2016 in response to Infrastructure Australia's 15-year plan. The urban rail plans will consider global trends and drivers of urban rail, including technology developments and changing demographic patterns as well as linkages between rail and urban planning.

Let me turn to speak about the Turnbull government's commitment to Western Sydney Airport. After decades of indecision, the Turnbull government has committed to building a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek. Western Sydney Airport will be a major catalyst for the future growth and prosperity of Western Sydney. In this budget the Turnbull government has committed up to $5.3 billion to build the Western Sydney Airport through a new company to be established, WSA Co.

A new airport for Western Sydney will deliver the people of Western Sydney improved access to aviation services, it will deliver much-needed aviation capacity in the Sydney Basin and it will, very importantly, deliver significant new employment and economic activity in Western Sydney. Western Sydney Airport is expected to deliver around 20,000 direct and indirect jobs by the early 2030s and 60,000 over the long term. Initial works are scheduled to commence by the end of 2018, and the airport will be operational by 2026. Governments are able to take a long-term view when it comes to investing in major infrastructure assets. The business case for Western Sydney Airport has been assessed by Infrastructure Australia, and it has been found that this project would deliver long-term net benefits to the Australian economy.

Of course, it is also very important that, as we plan for Western Sydney Airport, there is extensive community consultation. That is why the Turnbull government has established the Forum On Western Sydney Airport, a community consultation mechanism with some 22 members included, as well as the chair, Professor Peter Shergold AC, Chancellor of Western Sydney University.

The airport is being supported through the $3.6 billion Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan, funded by the Australian government and the New South Wales government, which includes extensive upgrading of existing roads. For example, the Northern Road is to be upgraded to four lanes, Bringelly Road and Werrington Road are also being extensively upgraded, and there will be a new M12 Motorway that will run from the airport to the M7, connecting the airport to the Sydney motorway network.

In addition, the government is undertaking a joint study into the rail needs of Western Sydney and Western Sydney Airport with the New South Wales government. That study is looking at the question of what the right route should be, how much it will cost, when it should be built and how it should be funded. The scoping study is expected to report to the two governments by the middle of this year, and the two governments will have more to say about the way forward following that.

So this budget demonstrates that the Turnbull government is delivering on a significant infrastructure investment program. It was notable that, by contrast, in the Leader of the Opposition's budget reply speech, a speech of over 4,000 words, the word 'infrastructure' was used only three times. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition struggled to fill even a single paragraph with statements about infrastructure. That may be the approach that the opposition wishes to take, but the Turnbull government is very strongly committed to infrastructure. We have had a very strong program in infrastructure since the coalition came to government in 2013, and this 2017 budget sees a very significant extension of our commitments to infrastructure, with a $75 billion infrastructure investment program between now and 2026-27, supporting a very wide range of projects all around the country—road, rail, airports and others.

Infrastructure is vitally important to the economic performance of Australia and to being able to move people and freight quickly and efficiently around our cities and our regions. It is also absolutely critical to livability so that people can get from home to work and back quickly and efficiently every day. Infrastructure is one of the major responsibilities of government, and the 2017 budget contained a $75 billion commitment to infrastructure as one of its centrepieces. I very strongly welcome that and commend that to the House.

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