Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Hansard source

Words fail me. When you cannot call a clear strategy or pathway from the opposition, do not be concerned that it is a temporary state of affairs. In government, the opposition certainly was not demonstrating any sort of foresight about how this country might look in 10, 20 and 30 years time. That was just never on the radar of the previous government.

What we saw for 11 years was the failure of the Howard government to invest in infrastructure. They sold more than they built. Thank goodness for the nation their reign has come to an end. We in the Labor government, given the trust of the Australian people, have inherited the consequences of these long years of mendicant investment in Australia’s infrastructure. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia—again, not another left-wing think tank—has estimated that there was a $25 billion underinvestment at the national level in pretty much everything from roads to sewage—everything from the letter A to the letter Z. That has been costing us around $6.4 billion each year in lost production.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has said over and over again—20 times in the last three years—that capacity constraints are constraining our exports and economic growth. In fact, Rupert Murdoch—not a notorious Fabian—kindly pointed out to us last year that the broadband services in this country were a disgrace. Australia has one of the worst telecommunications infrastructures in the Western world, and it has been left to our own minister for telecommunications, Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy, to fix these problems. It has taken a while, and the release of a great Labor policy, for the former government to discover broadband, even though they went for an inferior option. They have been short-sighted.

I think Reg Ansett, talking about the 727s that he brought back from the United States in the late 1960s, spelled out the sorts of aspirations and dreams that we should have for our infrastructure. He said about these planes he purchased in the late 1960s:

They are the best technology (or planes) in the world so they are just good enough for Australia.

Reg Ansett understood that we should be ambitious for the best infrastructure in the world. We need the best in the world in order for Australia to be competitive and to drive growth and productivity. We are a small nation of 21 million people on the edge of the fastest growing economic miracle in the world—Asia—but the rest of the world does not owe us a living. We have to make our own future. Indeed, this bill is the start of the process of having a national voice and direction in terms of infrastructure. The new Labor government understands the need for Australia to have the best.

The reception of this bill outside of this place speaks volumes for the wisdom of this legislation. The chairman of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Mark Birrell, formerly Liberal leader in the Victorian upper house, in January this year hailed the creation of Infrastructure Australia. I must acknowledge that I have not always quoted what he said with approval in previous debates but in this one we are of one voice. He said:

The creation of Infrastructure Australia is the most important reform this sector has ever seen when it comes to having much-needed national leadership to meet Australia’s critical infrastructure needs.

Mark Birrell also applauded Labor’s inclusive approach. He said:

The Government’s infrastructure plan had been well communicated to construction and finance companies over the last year and there has been a detailed dialogue between business and the Government on how to deliver Australia’s next round of infrastructure.

Mitch Young, from Lighthouse Infrastructure, has called the plan ‘logical, necessary and politically courageous’. Engineers Australia called it a ‘long needed link to form a true partnership between the three spheres of government, business and the community’.

I served on the board of the second-largest superannuation fund in Australia—AustralianSuper—for 10 years and I know that the superannuation industry is excited about the prospect of investing in this nation’s infrastructure. Currently just 3.1 per cent of superannuation funds are directed at infrastructure but little of this, tragically, is spent in Australia because under the previous government there was no big picture to invest in. Sid Bone, CEO of a fund that I was formerly a director of, the Victorian Funds Management Corporation, says that he would like to invest in more Australian projects. We just need the opportunity.

This bill is an important part of our fight to try and recork the Liberal genie of inflation, carelessly and recklessly released over the last number of years. I believe this is a fiscally responsible bill; I believe it is a visionary bill. It is going to be good for the workers who build the great infrastructure projects of Australia. It is good for business, it is good for the economy and it is good for the future of our nation. It is good at last to see a Commonwealth government re-assuming its true leadership role in infrastructure. For me, this bill and all the discussion on infrastructure drill down to capacity building—to building Australian capacity for this 21st century.

When I think about capacity building, I think of physical infrastructure, of people, of generating ideas and innovation, of dealing with the current rigidity between the three levels of government, of education and skills, of public transport and health, and of reforming the regulatory frameworks, which should be a source of innovation and competition, not a dead hand to resist development. But when I think about this bill and about capacity building, I think about the encouragement of private investment. The private sector is the doing arm of the Australian economy, but what it needs is regulatory certainty, the reward of encouraging competition and long-term thinking. I understand that change not only comes from within this place; it also comes from outside this place. But, with this infrastructure bill, I think we are seeing politics catching up to where the community and business already are.

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