Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by the member for Boothby. The member for Boothby's motion congratulates the Morrison-McCormack government on its 2019 budget announcement of $100 billion of infrastructure investment—the so-called infrastructure pipeline. One hundred billion dollars is a lot of money—I am starting to sound like a scene from an Austin Powers movie. It would buy a lot of infrastructure—I would give the member that—but promising to build infrastructure is not the same as actually building it. The Liberal and National parties have a dismal record of actually building infrastructure. They are good talkers, bad builders. They have spent $5.1 billion less on infrastructure than they promised over their first six years. Calls from the RBA governor, economists and the state coalition treasurers to bring forward infrastructure investments have fallen on deaf ears. The Treasurer has a tin ear when it comes to bringing forward infrastructure investment. These are not left wingers that are calling for this. The Liberal-National governments have abolished the $3.9 billion Building Australia Fund set aside to fund critical nation-building infrastructure. They talk up their $100 billion infrastructure pipeline, like an Austin Powers character, but unless they actually build something, it is just a pipe dream.

My constituents in Moreton know only too well what it is like to endlessly wait for urgently needed infrastructure. In question time last week I asked the Deputy Prime Minister when work would begin on eliminating the Boundary Road level crossing at Coopers Plains in my electorate—a piece of infrastructure that has been needed for 50 years. The Deputy Prime Minister couldn't answer my question. He answered many other questions that I didn't ask, like how many workers will receive a tax cut; what infrastructure is promised in other parts of Brisbane; and what infrastructure was completed in my electorate seven years ago. That was the Mains Road and Kessels Road intersection upgrade. That was funded by Labor and built by Labor and I even got to cut the ribbon on that one. But the Deputy Prime Minister couldn't answer the questions that my constituents actually wanted answered: 'When will work begin on eliminating the dangerous level crossing at Boundary Road in Coopers Plains?'

The Liberal-National government announced in April that it would fix this level crossing as part of its $226.25 million dollar congestion-busting infrastructure fund. The Coopers Plains crossing is one of—wait for it—13 other projects promised to be built from this one fund. When it was announced, no funding amounts were attributed to any of the 13 projects individually. Federal Labor committed $73 million to upgrade the Coopers Plains crossing prior to the election. In response to a media inquiry last Friday, the Deputy Prime Minister's office confirmed that $73 million of the congestion-busting fund would go towards upgrading the Coopers Plains crossing. Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister, that's great news. Finally there is some federal funding earmarked for the project from the LNP, albeit one-third of the whole fund. How we will build the other 12 projects remains to be seen. That leaves $153 million to be spread 12 ways. Good luck with that for the other electorates in South East Queensland.

During the election I called for the Coopers Plains crossing upgrade to be funded by a three-way split between the federal government, state government and Brisbane City Council. This was very fair: one-third, one-third and a third. However, to date the Liberal National Party Brisbane City Council has flatly refused to fund more than 15 per cent, notwithstanding that the LNP council funded 50 per cent of the crossing upgrades on the north side—one in Geebung and another one 50 per cent funded in Bracken Ridge. There's a different set of rules for the north side of the river compared to the south. Perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister can have a word with his Queensland LNP colleagues. Maybe the Liberal National Party appointed lord mayor—not elected by the people—could find an extra 18 per cent to fund his third.

My concern is this: how long do my residents, my constituents, have to wait for work to start on this very dangerous crossing? Commuters run the gauntlet of the rail boom gates every day. Even the most careful of drivers can get caught out. I can think of nothing more terrifying than being stuck between the boom gates with a train roaring down the Beenleigh line towards me, yet that is what drivers risk on a daily basis.

The Cross River Rail project has already commenced, and that will mean more trains travelling through the Boundary Road crossing to the Gold Coast. Many locals have indicated their frustration at the Deputy Prime Minister's sidestepping of my question last week. One local, who tragically lost a family member at this dangerous crossing, communicated to me that he was insulted that the Deputy Prime Minister was not taking the issue seriously. During his meandering answer the Deputy Prime Minister offered to visit Coopers Plains rail crossing, and I will take him up on that offer.

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