Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the tabling of this report, Building up & moving out:inquiry into the Australian government's role in the development of cities. My electorate of Moreton is on the south side of Brisbane, less than 10 kilometres from the CBD, and, like all urban areas in Australia, the population is growing. It is getting busier and more congested. The national population is growing by about 1.4 per cent a year, so it's essential that governments invest in infrastructure. We need to be connected, and the people who live in Moreton need to be able to access the CBD quickly and easily.

Investment in infrastructure is vital, and so is planning for the residents of the future and their future needs. That is why crucial infrastructure like Cross River Rail is so important for the residents of Brisbane and those who visit. It is why the Queensland Labor government is proceeding with the Cross River Rail link, which will dramatically increase the capacity of the network, which is currently approaching bottleneck status. Six years ago, in 2012, Infrastructure Australia, an independent body, approved the Cross River Rail and rated it the No. 1 infrastructure priority in Australia. But, sadly, the Abbot, Turnbull and Morrison governments have refused to back this decision.

A Shorten Labor government will help end the gridlock in South-East Queensland by investing $2.24 billion towards the congestion-busting Cross River Rail project. In Moreton, this will mean more trains, more often. It will take cars off the road and get traffic moving. Commuters living on the south side of Brisbane will spend less time in transit and more time doing the things that are important to them. The immense benefits of this project include faster, more reliable travel times across South-East Queensland, including to and from the Gold Coast and north to the Sunshine Coast. It will also be a major boost to the economy, with 7,700 jobs in the construction phase and 550 ongoing operating jobs, as well as the productivity boost that comes with it.

But it's not just commuters who rely on our rail networks to be efficient and fit for purpose. The Inland Rail project, when it is completed, will comprise 1,700 kilometres of freight rail line that will service some of our nation's most important agricultural precincts. It will eventually be one of our most important pieces of infrastructure. Labor supports the Inland Rail project. It is a classic nation-building project, but we do need to get it right. Getting goods to port more quickly reduces costs. Producers will be more competitive. They will be able to invest in increased production, which will create more jobs and economic growth in the community.

But, sadly, Inland Rail is already well behind schedule. Construction was meant to commence more than two years ago. The project route is still to be aligned, and environmental approvals are miles away from being finalised. Of concern in my electorate is that Inland Rail, which starts down in Melbourne, stops in Acacia Ridge in the middle of my electorate, 38 kilometres from the Port of Brisbane. It wasn't until this year's budget that the coalition government turned its attention to the problem by jointly funding a $1.5 million study with the Queensland government. I guess late is better than not at all. But south-side residents are still in the dark about how Inland Rail will proceed from Acacia Ridge to the port. Will it need to pass through the existing tunnels, which would not allow double stacking, or under the existing overpasses? They don't take double-stack trains. Will it impact on some of the green spaces that we treasure in our area?. We just don't know.

A community consultative committee is being formed to gather and disseminate information regarding Inland Rail and to bring the community's representative views to the committee. The views of the community are always important. They are the people who will use this rail transport system. For the passenger train network, if part of the network is in need of an upgrade it can make the daily commute a nightmare. There is one level rail crossing in my electorate. That is not only frustrating to commuters, including pedestrians, using the rail and roads around it but also extremely dangerous. South siders know that it is long past time to find a solution to this dangerous level crossing at Coopers Plains. The Liberal National Party-led Brisbane City Council has previously funded half the cost of two crossings on the north side of Brisbane. But, strangely, they will only commit—not 50 per cent—15 per cent to this extremely dangerous Coopers Plains Crossing. It's one rule for north of the river and another for the south.

Labor at both the federal and state level is prepared to sort out the mess. How? We'll fund it fairly: one-third from the federal government, one-third from the Labor state government—and we just now need the Liberal National Party's council government to stump up their share. I'm not even asking for 50 per cent, just one-third, just like he did on the north side on two separate occasions. Then south-side residents won't have to take their lives into their own hands when they use the Coopers Plains railway level crossing.

I held a community barbecue last Saturday at Tarragindi, just a few suburbs away, but even there residents were outraged about this crossing. They were fed up. One resident told me she needed to use the level crossing to take a family member to respite care for her husband. They were held up for ages by the boom gates at this crossing. She was so fed up and frustrated that she was tempted to park on one side and try to walk through with her husband, who has some incapacity. She wanted to risk walking across the level crossing rather than wait an eternity for the trains to pass. She ended up giving up. He missed out on the care and she missed out on the respite. This crossing at Coopers Plains is putting lives at risk. It's time for the Liberal National Party's lord mayor, Graham Quirk, to treat south siders the same as those on the north side and fund the council's fair share of this crossing. How could it be any fairer than a third, a third and a third?

Infrastructure investment should not stop with rail. Major roads in south-east Queensland are becoming like parking lots during some peak commuting times, with urban areas expanding out from the CBD, Brisbane's urban suburbs now stretched almost uninterrupted all the way from the CBD to the Gold Coast. A Shorten Labor government will invest $1 billion to widen the M1 from Eight Mile Plains on the eastern edge of my electorate down to Daisy Hill. They'll widen it to eight lanes as well as widen the M1 to six lines from Varsity Lakes down to Tugun. These critical roadworks will get the cars moving on the M1 again. For too long, the Gold Coast has been ignored by the Liberal National Party members of parliament that represent it.

The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison, ATM, governments have had no plan to make our cities and urban fringes well-connected liveable spaces. The ATM project has failed. We need to encourage diverse, vibrant communities. What have they done? Let's look at the ATM government's record. They've abolished the Major Cities Unit. They've disbanded the Urban Policy Forum. They've failed to produce an annual State of Australian cities report. They failed to appoint a minister for cities until 2015, and even then it wasn't a cabinet position. They have no national urban policy. The Morrison 2018 budget had no real investment for policies or programs for Australian cities. They failed to allocate a single dollar of new investment for public transport, despite expert warnings that traffic congestion is acting as a handbrake on economic and jobs growth in our cities.

Labor understands the infrastructure needs of Australians. The former Labor government has invested more in urban public transport than all previous governments combined since federation. Labor created the Major Cities Unit and produced annual State of Australian cities reports, which were downloaded millions of times and were a great blueprint for progress. We established an Urban Policy Forum and created the Australian Council of Local Government. In opposition, Labor has committed to funding public transport projects in cities around the nation. A Shorten Labor government, if lucky enough to be elected, will invest in properly integrated transport systems involving public transport and roads; invest in active transport solutions which connect with public transport, education and employment hubs closer to where people live; improve housing affordability through the use of urban planning, land supply and other incentives; drive the alignment of funding for smart and sustainable urban infrastructure; align greater housing density with public transport corridors; promote jobs growth in outer and middle ring suburbs through direct investment—for example, through investing in research precincts around universities and hospitals, through the consideration of incentives for the location of business and through supporting innovative funding models for local government in high-growth areas. We will also facilitate the transition to renewable energy by supporting urban innovation and green urban growth—for example, net zero carbon and livable precincts.

The future of Australian cities and the urban areas surrounding them is exciting. In South-East Queensland, improving transport links between the CBD and urban areas right down to the Gold Coast will create a more livable environment and provide an economic boost, as well as boosting productivity. So I'm excited for what a Shorten Labor government would do if elected and what it would mean for my urban electorate of Moreton. It would mean better housing, better public transport, better roads, more affordable housing, more jobs and a cleaner environment for our children and our grandchildren. It's time the curtain came down on the Morrison muppet show and that we let a Shorten Labor government start building the infrastructure that Australia needs.

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