John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am advised that the Bureau of Transport Economics estimated the cost of transport congestion to the Australian economy in 1965 as $12.75 billion per annum and estimated that the loss of productivity would grow to some $30 billion per annum by 2015. That represents $8.8 billion per annum for Sydney. I am also advised that transport costs make up around 15.2 per cent of household budgets and that Australia’s divided urban geography is likely to be imposing high relative travel costs on outer urban households.

On 8 December I asked question No. 2827 to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. I asked if he had read an article by the member for Wentworth—and now Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister—titled ‘Cities give no transport of delight’, which was published in the Age on 25 November 2005. It reported that the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage report entitled Sustainable cities recommended that the federal government take a leading role in Australia’s cities and include other modes of urban transport as objects of its largesse. I also asked if he would ensure that the government become involved in urban transport issues by funding or by making significant contributions to the funding of urban rail systems, light rail or other public transport solutions in Sydney and in Australia’s other major cities—if so, when; and, if not, why not.

I have just received a reply from the minister. It is a very disappointing reply, because the minister has reported in part in his answer to me that the government is already involved in urban transport issues through AusLink and through the coordination mechanisms that exist under the auspices of the Australian Transport Council such as the working group on urban passenger congestion. However, he reported that the Australian government’s position is that funding urban public transport systems is fundamentally a state responsibility and that these systems primarily serve and deliver localised passenger movements and localised benefits.

I am not sure whether the minister has been to Sydney recently. It is not good enough for the federal government to abandon its responsibility to provide a much needed investment in major long-term infrastructure projects. Sydney is crying out for a major injection of taxpayers’ money to assist in the funding of a new mass transit system for the Sydney central business district and other inner suburbs. One only has to observe the appalling traffic congestion in the heart of Sydney, in George Street, on any working day, particularly at 8 am or 5 pm, to understand the need for massive federal government investment in our public transport system. The CBD and many road arteries that travel from the city and through my electorate of Lowe—for example, Victoria and Parramatta roads—are choked with cars, buses and trucks on a daily basis.

Concerns about Sydney’s transport system were highlighted in a minute by the Lord Mayor of Sydney in March of last year when she reported to council:

Public infrastructure has been seriously run down during the past decade. The cracks are now showing—particularly with failing rail systems, and inadequate provision of basic utilities.

Our living standards, and business and economic capacity relies on the provision of adequate public infrastructure. To remain competitive and prosperous, we need to make sure that we can sustain and support continued growth.

…         …         …

Business groups and others are now calling on the federal Government to set up a national Infrastructure Council, to give the issue more prominence and promote long term planning.

I could not agree more. Sydney’s transport system desperately needs the assistance of the federal government. It is not good enough for the government to abandon its responsibility to provide much needed investment in major long-term infrastructure projects such as transport in Sydney. Sydney is crying out for a major injection of taxpayers’ money to assist in the funding of a new mass transit system for the Sydney central business district and other inner suburbs. I call on the government to stop paying lip-service in relation to this matter and expecting the state government to find the money to address this matter. I support the push by the inner city councils to start this by providing light rail to the citizens of the inner west. (Time expired)