Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister advise the House how the government is working to build infrastructure to support Australia’s export industries, especially those of my electorate of Hinkler?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hinkler for his question and particularly for his representation of an electorate that is a critical gateway for our export industries, particularly through Gladstone. It is now a well-known statistic that in 1996 exports were worth $99 billion and in the last year they grew to $200 billion, doubling in just over a decade. Of course, that requires significant investment in the logistical infrastructure in Australia, and one of the ways we have done that is through programs we have had in place. In the member for Hinkler’s electorate we funded, through the Roads of National Importance program, the all-important port link road in Gladstone to remove the conflict between industrial traffic going to the port and the domestic or commercial traffic in and around the city. I know that the Mayor of Gladstone is very appreciative of the support of the government in improving that infrastructure and, as the member for Hinkler often points out, there is more that needs to be done.

We also have a responsibility to look at larger infrastructure projects to ensure that those exports have a seamless path out of Australia through our ports. The member for Hinkler would be well aware that Australia’s largest single export now is coal. Last year $24.3 billion worth of coal went out through Australian ports, including the port of Gladstone, in his electorate. Just at the end of last week I was in Newcastle, in the port of Waratah. We opened a new piece of infrastructure there called the Sandgate rail flyover. The Commonwealth government, through AusLink, has invested $80 million in removing the conflict between urban passenger transport trains, interstate freight trains and the all-important coal lines getting into the port. That piece of infrastructure will now increase the capacity of getting coal to the port by 20 million tonnes a year. So we will be able to get 20 million tonnes of extra coal down to the port each year. It is going to increase pressure on the port of Waratah.

The New South Wales government have been squarking loudly about how they have allocated an extra $500 million to increase the capacity of the port of Waratah. They need to get on and do it. They need to stop fiddling around with the planning processes and get on and do it. There are currently almost 50 ships lined up off the port of Waratah, in Newcastle, waiting to be loaded with coal. The Commonwealth government has invested $80 million to remove the one great impediment to the rail operation, bringing the coal down the Hunter Valley and getting it to the port. The New South Wales government, through its authority that runs the port of Newcastle, should get on with that investment to improve its capability.

The $80 million we have invested in getting trains more efficiently to Kooragang is part of an overall $2.4 billion investment in rail infrastructure across Australia to make our exports more competitive and more efficient. The member for Hinkler asked whether the port authority in Gladstone is planning investment in new facilities up there, and moving ahead of demand. We should see this coming from the New South Wales government and the Port of Waratah, to match what the Commonwealth has done, to ensure and secure the jobs of those working in the coalmining industries in the Hunter Valley well and truly into the future.