Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly. All politics, I guess, is local, except if you're asking questions about projects in Rockhampton. This is a government that has been big on rhetoric, but very, very small on delivery.

What else has the government done in the two weeks we've had of parliamentary sittings? The other thing it's done when it's come to funding infrastructure is, of course, abolish the Building Australia Fund. They are taking $3.9 billion out of funding for infrastructure. Why did they do that? Because they didn't like the fact that this was a bucket of money that could have been used to fund important infrastructure projects that had been recommended by Infrastructure Australia. They didn't like the fact that they had to go through a proper assessment process to determine whether these projects could get funded. So they have taken $3.9 billion out of available funding for priority projects in infrastructure, including projects in Western Sydney around the airport including road projects and securing the pipeline for fuel infrastructure to make sure we have the capacity in the future to take hundreds of trucks off the roads in Western Sydney that deliver fuel. What did they do? Once again, after four attempts to get rid of the Building Australia Fund, they decided they would abolish it. And that's what they have done. They have taken that big bucket of money away from the priority projects of Infrastructure Australia. Basically, they are undermining the Infrastructure Australia process again. This is a government that doesn't like transparency when it comes to infrastructure funding. This is a government that talks big and delivers very little.

What we also know is that the government has an Urban Congestion Fund. That is good to see. We ourselves, around the election, announced a number of projects around these issues; we know that they are very important to people. But if you are a council and you are thinking, 'There's an urban congestion fund. Let's go to the government and see whether we can get a roundabout or another project in our area,' the money is basically spent for the next three years. 'There is no money to allocate for the next three years'—that's what the government has been telling councils—'but there might be some available in the fourth year.' Guess what? That is right before the next federal election. So you will be able to spend it in the election year.

This is a government that always plays politics when it comes to infrastructure. What we have seen is that it is not $100 billion, including projects that are never going to be funded because there is no agreement or they put so little money into the project that it is not actually able to be delivered. We know that they have also put projects on the never-never—projects that are desperately needed today. We've got the Reserve Bank governor, state and territory governments and reputable economists across the country saying, 'Bring forward infrastructure projects today.' So what does this government do? It says: 'Maybe we'll think about it. Eventually we might do a few.' But most of the projects they have funded are well and truly on the never-never. They have also underspent—not actually delivered what they promised to deliver—when it comes to infrastructure. Of course, what they have done is with the Building Australia Fund.

We know how important infrastructure is to local economies. We know how important it is for building jobs in regional economies. We know how important infrastructure is to making sure people are able to get to work safely and for the quality of life in their communities. But what we have seen from this third-term government is that it has no agenda and has completely neglected the space for the last six years. And then before the election, at the eleventh hour, they claim they are somehow going to be spending $100 billion over the next 10 years. For every single project you have said you are going to deliver on, in every single community, we are going to hunt you down and make sure you deliver every single dollar and every project you have promised.

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