Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. He is always on the side of his community. He is a tireless worker for better infrastructure in his community, particularly projects like the Monash Freeway upgrade. And the Turnbull-Joyce government is delivering for infrastructure in Victoria. We are planning to reduce congestion, to improve productivity and also to save lives on our roads. We saw that last year, with the $3 billion deal we announced for Victoria and the package which will include $1 billion for the Monash Freeway. That package will include $690 million for rural and regional roads. It has been welcomed in the seats of Corangamite, Wannon, McMillan, Murray, Flinders—right across Victoria, in fact. And this year we announced another $500 million under our regional rail package. We are looking to do more. We are looking to do more longer-term projects in Victoria.

But, in our efforts to build more infrastructure, help create more jobs and deliver more value for money for Australians, we are being blocked. We are being blocked by the Labor Party and the unions. They are standing in our way.

The member for La Trobe asked about threats to the delivery of infrastructure projects here in Australia. There is a big threat, and we have heard about it today. It is called 'the construction division of the CFMEU'. It is called 'John Setka'. Speaking of that, earlier this week John Setka said that 'people might have to wait longer than they think' for infrastructure projects in Victoria.

Member for Grayndler, your party has got to get 'better than this'. Don't talk to me about 'better than this'. Your party has got to get better than this.

The Productivity Commission report into public infrastructure in 2014 found:

A prominent concern is that union and employer behaviour is not only fuelling unlawful conduct, but also frustrating productivity and raising costs.

As I said earlier—

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