Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—At the last election, the coalition promised to scrap the carbon tax, stop the boats, get the budget under control and build the roads of the 21st century. We are honouring all these commitments—but my task today is to report on one of them, our infrastructure agenda. I said that I intended to be the infrastructure Prime Minister—and that part of that was delivering an annual infrastructure statement to the House of Representatives. So today I am pleased to report progress in building the modern infrastructure that our country needs.

Infrastructure does matter. It helps determine our quality of life as well as our country's competitiveness, productivity and living standards. Australia needs an infrastructure Prime Minister because for too long, infrastructure improvements have not kept pace with population growth or the needs of our people. Too many of us have painful, firsthand knowledge of the problems with our national infrastructure, particularly in our big cities. People leave for work earlier than they did a decade ago because the traffic jams just keep getting worse and worse. Parents rack up late fines at childcare centres when freeways slow to a crawl. Businesses see their costs rise when trucks idle in traffic. Air travel between our cities is actually slower today than a generation ago—because of clogged airports and surrounding road networks. And exports can be held up at bottlenecks in key freight networks, particularly, again, in congested cities. That is why building the infrastructure of the 21st century is an essential part of the government's economic strategy to build a strong and prosperous economy and a safe and secure Australia.

This budget committed $50 billion to infrastructure. It is the largest infrastructure investment in our nation's history—and the government's spend is forecast to generate a record $125 billion of public and private investment in infrastructure over the next decade.

To help the states and territories, the government has introduced an asset recycling initiative. It is an incentive for them to privatise existing assets and to reinvest the proceeds into new economic infrastructure. Asset recycling should reassure the taxpayers who paid for the assets in the first place that their investment is being preserved and their legacy built upon.

I am pleased to say that every state and territory has signed the National Partnership on Asset Recycling. That will help them to build the infrastructure they need, including, it should be said, public transport infrastructure. It is cooperative federalism at work—as is the National Partnership Agreement on Land Transport Infrastructure, which will make roads safer for truck drivers and for all the vehicles that share the roads with them. This is a five-year agreement and the funds will flow this year to the states that have signed up.

We promised that big new projects would be underway within 12 months of a change of government and we are delivering. In New South Wales, Australia's biggest urban road project, WestConnex, has begun, with geotechnical work underway across stages 1 and 2. Stage 2 of WestConnex, which duplicates the M5 East, will begin ahead of schedule because the Commonwealth will provide a concessional loan of up to $2 billion on top of the $1.5 billion we committed for stage 1.

WestConnex will create almost 10,000 jobs during construction and, when complete, it will bypass 52 sets of traffic lights. It will reduce travel times for the 100,000 motorists who use the motorway every day by up to 40 minutes and take 3,000 trucks every day off Parramatta Road.

As well, the Commonwealth and New South Wales government are working together to complete the Pacific Highway upgrade by the end of the decade; and, in just the past year, 32 kilometres of the highway has been duplicated, including the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade, and now 397 kilometres or 60 per cent of final highway length is complete.

The duplication of the Pacific Highway, combined with the NorthConnex project in Sydney, means that, by the end of the decade, at most there will be just two stretches of traffic lights between Melbourne and Brisbane.

In Victoria, the Commonwealth is investing $3 billion toward Melbourne's East West Link. The East West Link will create more than 6,000 jobs during construction and it will reduce travel time by up to 20 minutes for commuters travelling from Geelong to the city and beyond. Stage 1 alone is expected to allow 100,000 vehicles each day to bypass 23 sets of traffic lights, and on 29 September, the Victorian government signed contracts to build stage 1 of East West Link. The link has been inked, so there can be no turning back from this major project that will help tens of thousands of Victorians every day.

In South Australia, the Commonwealth has committed $944 million to upgrade the North-South Road Corridor. This project will create 1,000 construction jobs and early work is already underway on Ashwin Parade.

In Western Australia, the Commonwealth has committed $174 million to widen and strengthen the North West Coastal Highway, which is the main link between Geraldton, Carnarvon, Karratha and Port Hedland. Construction will commence in the next month.

The Gateway WA is on track. The Commonwealth is providing $615 million for the 40-kilometre Northlink WA project. Planning is underway and construction will commence in 2016. Planning is also underway for the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link project funded with $925 million from the Commonwealth.

In Queensland, five major projects have been completed on the Bruce Highway—at Gin Gin, Mackay, Cairns, Calliope Crossroads near Gladstone and at Burdekin. The last section of the Townsville Ring Road will start within 12 months. Early works have begun on the Gateway Motorway upgrade. And the procurement process is underway for the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, so that major construction works can start next year. The Commonwealth's commitment of up to $1.28 billion is the largest ever federal contribution to a single Queensland regional road project.

In Tasmania, the Commonwealth has committed $400 million to the Midland Highway and the Westbury Road Upgrade will be completed by the end of this year.

In the Northern Territory, the duplication of the first sections of Tiger Brennan Drive has been completed, and the Commonwealth has committed a further $77 million towards upgrading Northern Territory highways with planning already underway.

In addition to these major road projects, the government is spending $2.1 billion on the Roads to Recovery Programme and funding a $565 million Black Spot Programme to improve the most dangerous stretches of road throughout our country. Then there is the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme providing $248 million to increase the number of rest areas and improve connections to freight networks. There is also the $229 million National Highway Upgrade Programme for practical improvements such as shoulder and centreline widening, strips and wire rope barriers. And the government is providing $300 million for the Bridges Renewal Programme to upgrade deteriorating bridges across the nation.

Airports are our gateways to the world. For more than 50 years, governments have talked about a second airport for Sydney. Finally, and not before time, the talk is over. We have taken the final decision that Badgerys Creek will be site of Sydney's second airport—or, as I prefer, Western Sydney's first airport. The government has commenced consultations with the Sydney Airport Group. We are working up the commercial model and the airport concept designs and construction should begin in 2016. This airport is irrevocable. It is going ahead, and construction should begin in 2016. By mid-century, the new airport could generate a $24 billion increase in our gross domestic product and 60,000—60,000—new jobs in Western Sydney. It is the centrepiece of our long-term vision for Western Sydney.

And heeding past lessons, it will be a case of roads first, airport second: the roads will be built before the first plane has landed. A $3.6 billion, 10-year partnership with the New South Wales government is underway, starting with the upgrade of Bringelly Road. Together, our road package and the airport will give Western Sydney the modern infrastructure it deserves.

In Hobart, environmental and design studies for the extension of the runway at Hobart Airport are underway.

This $38 million upgrade will help Hobart to become the gateway to the Antarctic and give the potential for direct flights to Asia.

As well, planning work and consultations are currently underway on the Inland Railway between Melbourne and Brisbane which would significantly improve freight productivity compared to the coastal line via Sydney.

Importantly, the government is also getting on with the job of rolling out the NBN so that Australians will have access to very fast broadband as soon as possible, at affordable prices and the least cost to taxpayers. This government has connected more premises in just one year than the previous government did in five! An independent cost-benefit analysis of the NBN found that this government's multi-technology approach will deliver net economic and social benefits of almost $18 billion.

The government is determined to end the dam phobia that has largely stopped the construction of new dams for the past three decades. Water is a priceless asset especially when the vagaries of our environment make it so scarce. Strengthening our water storage capability is essential if our country is to grow. We do need to build the right dams in the right places. Most of these dams should be feasible without government support. But we are looking at some modest seed funding to help break the anti-dam mindset.

Just as we promised to end the analysis paralysis and get projects moving on the ground, we also promised a long-term vision for Australia's infrastructure needs and a comprehensive plan to deliver it. We have passed legislation to make Infrastructure Australia more independent, robust and transparent, with a board-appointed CEO, so that states, territories, industry and the community can be confident it is working in the national interest, and not just the Commonwealth's interests. And to see our nationally significant infrastructure needs more clearly, we have tasked Infrastructure Australia to develop a 15-year infrastructure plan. The plan will cover all economic infrastructure—transport, energy, communications and water. It will evaluate projects receiving more than $100 million in Commonwealth funding to help clarify our country's infrastructure priorities for the future. It is reform to build the right projects at the right time for the right price. The work done to make costs and benefits more transparent should build deeper engagement by private investors in infrastructure.

Australia is not alone in facing a greater need for infrastructure investment. Almost every country needs more and better infrastructure to underpin jobs and growth, and almost every government lacks the resources to underwrite that investment. Governments do not have the money to deliver on their own.

As this year's G20 president, Australia has made boosting private sector investment in infrastructure a priority. We are driving a global infrastructure initiative for quality investment across the G20 and beyond. Part of this initiative is a new global infrastructure hub that we hope will be based in Sydney.

This government is committed to building the infrastructure that we need to get products to market faster, to speed up the wait for freight and to get employees to work and home again with less time wasted in traffic. Nothing boosts confidence like cranes in the sky and bulldozers on the ground. It is an unmistakable sign of faith in our future. Next year, I look forward to reporting further progress in delivering the projects we promised in our plan to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia. I table a copy of my statement.

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