House debates

Monday, 14 October 2019

Private Members' Business

Infrastructure

1:11 pm

Photo of Tim WilsonTim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm proud to rise to support this motion because this government has a clear track record of delivery of infrastructure for this great nation. When you think about the $100 billion of committed projects that we are funding and financing, you understand that the Morrison government has got every Australian's back. We know that as part of building the strength of this great nation we need the roads, the rail and all the social and support infrastructure for people to be able to live happy and successful lives. Under the minister we have a very clear plan to make sure that, no matter where you are in the country, we are providing the infrastructure that you need.

This was a critical issue and a critical test at the last federal election. If you look at the great state of Victoria, the coalition government was promising to build major pieces of infrastructure of national importance like the East West Link. The East West Link is a plan that we have put forward at election after election, and very every time that we have put it forward the people have voted for it, particularly in the electorates along that corridor. They vote Liberal for a reason. They know that only we understand the importance of the East West Link to their communities to get the freight trucks off suburban streets, to connect to the ports and to build the strength and prosperity of our economy.

What do Labor do every time? They oppose it. They block it. At the state level, the Andrews government even went so far as to hit the hip pockets of millions of Victorians by handing over their hard earned tax dollars and giving it to a private company to not build a road. It was perhaps the most despicable and disgraceful behaviour from a state government that one could ever see. People understand that projects are critical. Victorians have been sold out by the Andrews Labor government. And there has been not one peep of criticism from the Labor members in this place, because in the end they agree with him. In a choice between backing Victorians or backing their Labor mates, they always choose Labor mates and don't stand up for the people that they're elected to represent. In particular, the conspicuous silence of Labor senators from the great state of Victoria should be condemned.

By comparison, the coalition government has made a clear commitment to invest in communities to build the strength of our country. At the last election we went to the people of Goldstein and said, 'We understand the challenges of an established community in making sure that we reduce the congestion that you experience on your streets. We understand the importance of people having transport options so they can go about living their lives.' Do you know what promise the Labor Party made in return? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They had nothing to say to the people of Goldstein about the concerns and the issues those people face on a daily basis.

But what did we do? We turned around and gave a series of commitments, which we are now honouring, around investing in new parking spaces at local railway stations so that people who want to catch a train can do so. They can get there; they're able to park throughout the day and they're able to get home. We're providing mass commuter options for an established community: 97 new parking spaces at Sandringham station, with an investment of $3.1 million; 136 new car-parking spaces at Brighton Beach, with an investment of $4.3 million; 84 new parking spaces at North Brighton station, with an investment of $2.66 million; 130 new parking spaces at Hampton station, with an investment of $4 million. Working with the City of Bayside, we are giving them the grants and funding for the projects that they've come to us about and said, 'This is what our community needs.' We have heard them and we are responding.

The same is true in the City of Glen Eira, with 203 new parking spaces at Elsternwick station for $6.4 million and 143 new parking spaces at Bentleigh station for $4 million. On each proposal and each project, we're working with the councils. And what is the biggest barrier they're facing to delivering this important congestion-busting infrastructure? The state Labor government, which has never seen a project funded by Canberra to support a local community that it doesn't like, that it doesn't want to block and that it doesn't want to undermine because somehow it might provide a pathway to improve the lives of Victorians. That's what this motion is about: it's about the state getting out of the way and letting us do what we need to do to improve the lives of the people in the great state of Victoria and for community— (Time expired)

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