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

I thank the member for Bennelong for the question. It was an absolute pleasure to join with him last month to turn the sod on a brand new electric-bus depot in Macquarie Park. The Australian and New South Wales governments are contributing $115 million each to this depot, which will house, charge and operate 150 buses with facilities for 160 staffs. This new depot will really turbocharge the transition to electric buses at a time when diesel prices continue to fluctuate across the globe. It makes common sense to be making these investments

The investments are not just happening in New South Wales. Over in Perth, we've invested $125 million in charging infrastructure to power 130 locally manufactured electric buses, and in Brisbane, of course, we've invested $400 million in the all-electric metro program. We're continuing to invest across the country in transport routes from road to rail, whether it be the completion of Metronet or, today, the start of construction of the new Swan electric ferry fleet. The Suburban Rail Loop and North East Link in Melbourne are providing critical links across Melbourne's suburban network.

We're also spending money on other rail connections between Logan and the Gold Coast, one of Australia's fastest growing corridors. There are investments in the Bruce Highway, including work starting this week south of Bundaberg, and the big budget investments like the Gateway Motorway at Dohles Rocks Road stage 2. Further south, TBMs are on site to commence tunnelling from the River Torrens to Darlington, and, in Western Sydney, our airport is getting ready to open in July with passengers in October.

This is the sort of city-shaping infrastructure you can deliver when you have a government focused on doing its job, delivering the infrastructure Australia needs. With the House and Senate sitting this week debating consumer protection laws for aviation passengers, I was a bit surprised to see my counterpart, alongside the One Nation member for New England, finding the time to prioritise attending a right-wing think tank over in London, talking Australia down, telling the audience of climate catastrophes and that young people should pony up and that universities that don't teach monocultural values should have their funding cut. So while two members of the right-wing parties opposite think it's more important to address the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and the third right-wing party here in this place spins its wheels, we are getting on with the job of delivering infrastructure in regional Australia, in suburban Australia and right the way across the country, doing the job every single day of delivering for the Australian people the infrastructure that they need.

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