Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

In true Labor style, the government believe that the process of governing is just about spin, announcements and taking credit for whatever good things might be happening in the country. They give themselves credit or they give credit to their economic stimulus package for almost anything that has been constructed or built in this country over recent months or years. But when the Coordinator-General released his first progress report on Labor’s nation-building and economic stimulus package he showed how seriously flawed Labor’s rhetoric actually is on what they are achieving by way of infrastructure. Of over 33,000 approved projects, only 370 have been completed—only one per cent. When you look at some of the major projects about which the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government—the captain of spin—likes to boast, you see that only four out of the 14 major road projects that have been announced have even commenced. Ten out of 17 major rail projects have commenced, and the credit for that belongs to the ARTC, a body set up by the previous government to manage the rail track infrastructure. There are 607 black spot projects announced, but only 88 have been commenced and only five completed—five out of 607. Thirty-seven of the 292 boom gate projects have been completed, and most states have not completed a single one.

And this is the stimulus package that we are told is rescuing Australia from the global recession. Only one per cent of projects have even been completed. With Labor, it is all spin. It is about pretending that they are achieving things, they are doing things, when it is all empty talk.

We had another example this morning of this government being caught out trying to revel in the majesty of everything else that is good in Australia. At question time last week the minister for infrastructure said:

We have completed 32 large-scale infrastructure projects within our first two years in office—32 projects announced, built, completed.

That was the minister’s boast, that the government had completed 32 infrastructure projects.

This morning the Labor government was caught out. When the minister was asked to provide a list of these 32 projects, he could provide only 29 and some of those are a bit indecisive. Of those 29 that he has listed, at least 22 of them are not projects that were announced, built and completed by the Labor government at all. At least 75 per cent of them were not announced, built and completed by the Labor government. In reality, very few of the projects were announced by Labor at all, very few of them were funded by Labor, very few of them were built by Labor and quite a number of them had actually been completed before Labor even came to government, before they were even elected; yet we have the minister including on his list of achievements projects that were completed before he even came to office.

I drew attention to one in question time today—stage 1 of the four-lane road upgrade through Gympie. This was a project that was not announced by Minister Albanese; it was announced by the then Minister for Transport and Regional Services, John Anderson, in 2004. It was funded under AusLink 1 by the previous government and the official opening on 5 October 2007, which I had the honour to perform, was almost two months before the election. In fact, I have brought along a picture of the official opening and I cannot see Mr Albanese there anywhere. The mayor is there. The contractor is there. The engineers are there. You can see in the back of the picture that the road is already completed. There are cars driving on it and it is all landscaped. This was two months before Labor came to office, yet this is a project they are taking credit for. I have brought in another picture of me as a local member announcing stage 2 of the project. That also happened before Labor were even elected. So before the minister starts to claim credit for stage 2 of the project I would remind him that he did not announce that either.

That is not the end of these projects that he claimed to be Labor’s projects but which he did not announce and in many cases he did not build or complete. Let us go through a few of them, such as the Pacific Highway upgrade between Karuah to Bulahdelah. Section 1 of this particular road was completed in December 2006. The project received initial funding of $131 million for sections 2 and 3 in the 2006 budget. So the previous government not only announced this project but did the design and provided the funding. Yet this is top of the list of projects that the minister is claiming as Labor’s achievement.

Let us move to the Hunter Valley and the Maitland to Branxton rail project. This project was announced, designed and funded by the previous government. Indeed, work started on that project only a couple of days after the election before the minister was in his plush chair, yet he is claiming that this is a project that helped Labor save the nation’s economy through their stimulus package. The Coolac bypass is another one featured on his list. This is a project north of Gundagai that was also announced, designed and funded by the previous government. The tender for this project was awarded to Abbey Group in February 2007. The contract was let 10 months before the election, yet Labor are asking us to believe that this was one of their triumphal projects that helped save the national economy.

I move now to the Hume Highway safety works. Both sides of politics committed to the duplication of the Hume Highway. We actually provided $800 million for this in our 2005 budget, yet it is one of the projects the minister puts on his list as part of Labor’s achievements in government. Let us move to the Sheahan Bridge, a single-lane bridge at Gundagai which has been duplicated. Construction of this duplication project commenced before the election in October 2007. It was announced, designed and funded by the previous government, yet Labor are claiming it on their list of achievements. Moving on to the Trewilga realignment project, this is actually only a design project. The minister included this on his list of big picture construction projects. This is on his list of the 29 projects out of the 32 that he was referring to in question time last week, but it is actually only a design and planning project of $1 million. The $1 million was actually flagged in AusLink 1 and the funding was provided in the 2006 budget by the previous government. Yet this is one of Labor’s great achievements.

There was a package or works on the Newell, Sturt and New England highways. Again, funding for this was provided in the 2006 budget by the previous government. The Donnybrook Road grade separation was announced, designed and funded by the previous government. The funding allocation was in the 2007 budget. I move to the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Arcadia section project, which was a $30 million contract to construct the duplication of the Goulburn Highway. The contract for this project was awarded on 18 May 2006. That was a year and a half before the election, yet this is one of Labor’s great triumphs, one of the things that it has done in its infrastructure package. The Deer Park bypass on the Western Highway was a 9.3 kilometre project announced, designed and funded by the previous government. The first contract for the project was signed on 19 July 2006 and the project commenced. The second two contracts were signed in early 2007. Labor had no role in devising and dreaming up this project. The contract was signed by the previous government and it was designed, funded and delivered by the previous government.

Moving on to the Calder Highway, there are two projects—Kyneton to Faraday and Faraday to Ravenswood. Again, these are more coalition projects. Construction started on the Kyneton to Faraday section in November 2005. That was two years before the election and Labor is taking credit for the project. The construction started on the highway between Faraday and Ravenswood in October 2006, yet Labor is claiming credit for it. Some of these projects were actually completed before Labor’s stimulus package was ever even invented. In fact, Labor was still telling us that the inflation genie was out of the bottle; we could not spend money. These projects were completed during that era and now Labor is claiming them as a part of its response to the stimulus package.

And the list goes on. There is the Geelong bypass. All three stages of the Geelong bypass were announced and funded by, and construction commenced under, the previous government. The first stage commenced on 17 February 2006. Stage 2 commenced on 27 September 2006, and stage 3 on 14 September 2007. All three projects were designed, funded and announced by the previous government. Yet the minister says that he announced these projects. He built them. He completed them. The answer was simply dishonest.

Let us move on to the Dynon intermodal precinct, the grade separation in Melbourne, of Footscray Road. I remember this project very well because I had turned the first sod in June 2006. Yet Labor claims that it is its project. I was there with the Victorian minister and together we turned the first sod. But this minister claims it as his own project.

Let us move quickly on to a couple of the other projects. I have already mentioned the Gympie four-laning. Let us move further north into Townsville in Queensland and the Townsville ring road, extended from Shaw Road to Dalrymple Road to Hervey Range Road. It opened in 2005 and yet it is on the minister’s list of his achievements. It was opened two years before the election and yet he is taking credit for it. Then there is the Douglas arterial, the precursor to the Townsville ring road. This project commenced in September 2005 and was finished in April 2009—but the work commenced in 2005 and this minister thinks that it is his project.

What about the Great Eastern Highway in Western Australia? This project involved the realignment of 1.5 kilometres of the Great Eastern Highway and was another project that the coalition had designed, announced and funded. Indeed, construction commenced in January 2007, a year before the election, and finished only days after the election. Yet Labor thinks that this was one of its great achievements. There is the Great Northern Highway from Leonard Street to Muchea—another coalition project that Labor has taken credit for. There were three stages. The first stage was completed in June 2005, the second stage in July 2006, and construction began on the final stage in November 2006. It was a year before the election and Labor claims it as its project.

What about going to South Australia? There is the Sturt Highway, a five-year program which commenced in 2005, and Labor claim credit as though that was one of their brilliant ideas. In Tasmania, on the Bass Highway, there is the duplication, stage 2. A $42 million project, the first tender to construct the second bridge over the Leven River, was awarded in July 2006, and the second contract for the roadworks, awarded in August 2006. Labor takes the credit for that project as well.

This is the list of 29 projects that the minister announced as Labor’s great achievements in road building. The reality is that Labor has always been about spin and no substance. This time the minister has been caught out. The projects he is taking the credit for were not his. They were not announced by Labor. They were not built by Labor, and very few of them were completed during Labor’s time. This government cannot run away from the fact that it has actually cut expenditure on road and rail and will spend $5 billion less on road and rail infrastructure over the next five years than the coalition had committed before the last election. That is a clear fact. Labor talk about being the big spenders on infrastructure but in reality they are spending less than the previous government. They cannot boast about their achievements. They have been caught out, dishonestly claiming credit for projects in which they have had no role whatsoever. (Time expired)

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