Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that it is now over 130 days since the Government announced a 90-day review into the Infrastructure Investment Pipeline;

(2) recognises that:

(a) investment in infrastructure is essential to reduce congestion and improve productivity and safety; and

(b) delaying important infrastructure projects while we await the results of the 90-day review is holding back the productivity of our nation and putting much needed safety upgrades on hold;

(3) acknowledges that costs continue to rise and delays to the commencement of infrastructure projects as a result of the review will result in considerably higher costs than originally estimated; and

(4) calls on the Government to complete the review process and unlock the infrastructure investment that our nation desperately needs.

What has Labor delivered on infrastructure? It has started a 90-day review that has put the productivity and safety of our nation on hold for—wait for it!—169 days and counting. More than 400 congestion-busting, productivity-enhancing and life-saving projects are threatened by Labor's razor gang review, projects like the Truro freight route in my electorate of Barker. This project is incredibly important to my electorate. The Truro freight route is important to our state and to our broader nation. This project is part of the freight route between Adelaide and Sydney via the Sturt Highway. Major freight companies currently travelling through the main street of Truro know exactly how important this project is. The 500-odd residents of Truro know how important this project is, and they want trucks off the main street too.

Indeed the residents of Adelaide that I doorknocked with the member for Sturt, who has only just left the chamber, know how important this project is, because it's a key part of the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass that will get heavy vehicles out of Adelaide. The former coalition government knew how important this project was because we funded it in the 2021 budget. Unfortunately, the Truro freight route is one of 400 projects across the country that is facing the chopping block under this Labor government. The best case we can hope for is that Minister King acknowledges its strategic importance in our nation's road network, but even if the project is saved from Labor's axe, it will have been delayed six or more months, and we all know the costs of road construction aren't getting any cheaper.

I was advocating 12 months ago for more funding for the Truro freight route to ensure it could be a dual-lane carriageway. Now I'm fighting for the project to proceed at all. This is just one example of the chaos this Labor government has inflicted on our nation's infrastructure pipeline. Hundreds of projects across the nation are in the same position. Recently, in my role as a shadow minister, I was in the electorate of Casey with their exceptional member. We met with communities there who are desperate to see the Montrose roundabout replaced with traffic signals. I also visited Groom, where I spoke to residents about the need for turning lanes on the New England Highway at the Borneo Barracks at Cabarlah. Right across the nation there are infrastructure projects under threat, and it's holding back our nation's productivity.

Importantly, I've heard loud and clear from my own community in Barker as well as the communities I've visited with colleagues about road safety improvements that are expected to come from these projects that are now on the chopping block. Australia's National Road Safety Strategy sets out a commitment to reduce annual fatalities by at least 50 per cent by 2030. After years of declining road tolls, Australian road deaths have risen significantly in the past 12 months, and the strategy's targets are well off track. The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics' data shows Australia's road deaths have increased 8.4 per cent over a 12-month period. Despite these alarming statistics, investment in road infrastructure has been put on pause while this government reviews projects under the infrastructure investment pipeline and redirects funding to Labor's pet projects in suburban areas. I repeat: 169 days later, we're still waiting on the outcomes of the 90-day review, and that's after the government had 13 months before they announced their review at all.

It's not just specific projects; it's programs too. It's Roads to Recovery, $500 million of funding that local government relies so heavily on. It's the Black Spot Program and its $110 million. Local governments and state road authorities are waiting for calls about that. There's the Bridges Renewal Program and the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.

Let's call this what it is. The 90-day infrastructure review is a sneaky, cost-cutting tactic so Labor can fund pet projects in metropolitan centres like the Suburban Rail Loop in Melbourne and other city based stadiums. Labor's infrastructure priority is becoming clear. It's to cut road projects to help fund stadiums and transmission lines such as Brisbane's live music arena at $2.5 billion and Tasmania's $305 million. These are the wrong priorities. We just had a national conversation about the wrong priorities, and the Australian people have said that this is not the right path.

While those opposite kowtow to their state Labor counterparts, local communities are left in limbo, waiting for the next accident to happen. We know the review has been completed. The document is sitting on the minister's desk. I repeat: that's a 90-day process that is now approaching 170 days. It's now understood the report needs to be made public, and it should be made public now. Let's get on with it. The government have these results. They have them to hand. Release them. That's as well as telling states and territories what's in the report and what they can expect. We need this to provide communities with certainty about their future and to deal with hard-fought-for gains on road safety upgrades.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor governments have a long and proud history of building infrastructure that our country needs. We build the things that our country and communities need to grow and thrive. The people in the Hunter already knew this before the election. They are reminded of it every time they drive on the Hunter Expressway delivered by the Rudd Labor government. Since our election, the people of the Hunter have again been reminded that there is only one party that delivers on the infrastructure that is needed in our country and in our regions. They are reminded of that when they see the progress on the Singleton Bypass. They are reminded of it when they see the works beginning on the Muswellbrook bypass.

For a decade, the people of Singleton and Muswellbrook heard of these projects. They heard the chatter about finding a way to ease the congestion and the traffic in their small regional towns. But, for a decade, they remained stuck in traffic, not knowing whether the bypasses would ever become a reality. Now, after a decade of talking about these two projects, progress is being made. 'What has changed?' you ask. After a decade of talk and no action, there is work actually starting to get done. The answer is simple: the Labor Party was elected.

If that's not enough to convince you that we are the party of infrastructure, let me tell you a little story that the member for New England might be more familiar with. In 2021, the road between Merriwa and Willow Tree collapsed. As a result, the road was unable to be used. The name of this road was Coulson's Creek Road. This road was part of a route which was vital for so many in the transport and agriculture industries. Since the closure of this road, those transporting goods, including stock and feed for farms, have had to make a significant detour just to be able to make it to their destinations. This has added up to $500 for each trip for some.

You would think a local member would jump straight onto this and get the funding to fix the road as quickly as possible, especially when that local member belonged to a party which was in government for much of the time this road was closed and a party which claims so often to be for the regions and for farmers. I have news for the people of New England. The National Party and the member for New England were not there when this road was closed. They did nothing, despite knowing that this closure was costly to so many.

There is a party that really stands up for regions, especially when it comes to providing infrastructure that is needed. It is us, the Labor Party. We were elected to government and we have delivered what that member failed to do while he was in government. We have committed $38.6 million towards fixing this piece of infrastructure which is needed by many in the electorate of New England and also the Hunter.

The key difference between us and those opposite is that we don't make commitments just to win votes. We don't write promises on the back of beer coasters and throw them out in the bin after we are elected. We make a commitment and we deliver. When infrastructure is needed, we build it, whether it will bring us a political gain or not, because without delivering the infrastructure that this country needs we will fall behind.

The fact is that we were left with a pile of mess by the previous government. There were projects that were poorly scoped, were underfunded and simply could not be delivered. Under the coalition, the number of infrastructure projects blew out from nearly 150 to 800. But they failed to deliver. Commitments mean nothing if we cannot do, if we cannot and do not deliver them. The minister has received an independent strategic review for the infrastructure investment program report. Let me tell you, I've had some pretty poor report cards in my time, but none as bad as this. This report highlights just how badly the Liberals and Nationals managed the infrastructure investment program under their wasted decade.

But we are turning this around. As a government, we are committed to maintaining the 10-year infrastructure pipeline at $120 billion, and we will ensure that the transport infrastructure projects that we deliver are nationally significant and nation-shaping projects. Only a Labor government cares about infrastructure.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion on investment in infrastructure and am greatly concerned about this 90-day review, which has now blown out to 169 days and counting. I heard the previous speaker talk about Labor's commitments. One of the projects the former Liberal government committed to back in 2019 was Wellington Road—$110 million. Well, I've got a media release here dated 3 May 2019 from the member for Maribyrnong, and there was also an unsealed roads project we committed $300 million for, matched by Labor, yet they've walked away from it. That hasn't even hit this review, quite sadly. That's already been cancelled.

What is not under review, though, is the state Labor government's massive rail loop, which could cost up to $200 billion. That is not included. You'd think that would be the first project to be included. They've also put a pause on the Airport Rail Link, a $10 billion project.

Then I come to my own electorate of La Trobe. La Trobe is one of the fastest-growing growth corridors in the country. I'll talk about Clyde Road in Berwick, as well as McGregor Road and Racecourse Road in Pakenham. Again, in 2019, after these three roads were committed by the former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, Labor came out and matched those projects. So, to say that the Labor Party will honour projects that they have previously committed to is completely false.

Clyde Road goes through La Trobe as well as through Bruce and Holt, two Labor held seats. Initially the project cost that we announced in 2019 was $50 million. Now, we didn't come up with that figure. That was actually Casey Council, one of the largest councils. They built massive projects, such as the Bryn Mawr bridge. It was their cost of $50 million. Then we were told by the state Labor government that it blew out to $250 million. So, again, in the 2021 budget we committed to that funding. For the Labor Party and the transport minister to say that projects are unfunded—we put extra funding into this one. Now, it's a ridiculous cost, considering that this road is probably only a duplication one kilometre long on Clyde Road, from the grade separation of the train line down to just over the Monash Freeway—for $250 million. But, importantly, it included Kangan Drive upgrades for turning lanes left and right from Kangan Drive onto Clyde Road.

This is really important for the local hospitals. We have the nurses there, and the Labor Party talks about the great work that the nurses have done. Well, the nurses, the medical staff and the patients of Casey Hospital and St John of God Hospital every day get stuck at that horrible intersection. So, that is one project that Labor must commit to and deliver. In actual fact, $41 million has already been cut out of the last budget. Original funding for the Pakenham road projects—both Racecourse Road and McGregor Roads—was $70 million, back in 2019. Again, this is funding proposed by Cardinia Shire Council—we on the Liberal side of government didn't just make up these figures. Under the state Labor government it has, amazingly, blown out to $392 million, and will duplicate Racecourse Road between the freeway and Henry Street, widen McGregor Road between the freeway and Webster Way, and signalise the intersection of Bald Hill Road. The freeway interchanges with both roads will be upgraded and new on- and off-ramps installed.

All these three projects I've mentioned had the support of the state Labor member out there, and even former premier Dan Andrews. I think it was the current Premier who actually wrote to him in support of these projects. So, number one: the Albanese government say that these projects haven't got state government support—they have. Number two: when they say they have not been fully funded, that's rubbish because extra funding was put into this. For the residents in Pakenham, on this occasion, who have put up with such poor roads—and it's such a huge growth corridor—it's so disappointing and disgraceful that the road funding is now paused and potentially may not go ahead. Stage 1 will go ahead, but not stages 2 and 3. It's a disgrace.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak about the independent review of Australia's infrastructure program. What an important opportunity as we all gather here today in the Federation Chamber.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to cleaning up the mess left behind by the Liberals and the Nationals. We will deliver infrastructure projects that are economically sustainable, are resilient to climate change and offer lasting benefits for our nation. The report from the independent strategic review of the Infrastructure Investment Program has been received by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and the comprehensive review has shed light on the mismanagement and the negligence of the Liberals and the Nationals during their period in office, especially during the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.

One example, locally, in my own electorate, is Balaclava Station. It was one of the list of stations on the former government's Commuter Car Park Program, which was all about this idea of building more car parks at our train stations. It was one of the key pillars of the former government's infrastructure portfolio, and the previous government even committed $15 million to the Balaclava Station Commuter Car Park Program. I thought, look, it's not my cup of tea, this whole program, but I'm not going to say no to $15 million. So we said to the federal government, 'Whereabouts at Balaclava Station do you want to build these commuter car parks?' because East St Kilda is a pretty dense part of Melbourne. They said: 'Just behind the station. There's a car park there that we can put in some more multilevel car parks'—which came as a great surprise to the state and local governments, because the City of Port Phillip had already signed a deal to turn that land into social housing. In fact, that land was state-government-owned land and it was a collaboration between them and the City of Port Phillip. Now there lie 49 apartments behind Balaclava Station. It's one of the fantastic examples of collaboration between local government, state government—even the federal government ended up contributing to the project. But despite committing $15 million to Balaclava Station, had the former Morrison government picked up the phone to any other layer of government and said, 'By the way, we want to build car parks there,' they would have found out that the land was unavailable. What did the previous government do? I can tell you they did not take that funding and put it somewhere else in Macnamara. They didn't reinvest somewhere else in Macnamara; they completely deserted Macnamara, just as they did at the last election. The former government were not interested in the people in Macnamara. It must've been taken off the spreadsheets they had in the Prime Minister's office. That's how they governed a lot of the former government's spending. But Balaclava station was then added onto a new list, which is the list of cancelled infrastructure projects of the former government.

We're taking a different approach. We're going to make sure our infrastructure program agenda is one where we work collaboratively with other levels of government, where we work collaboratively with communities, where we get value for money and also where we have the investment in our communities so we can have the benefit long into the future. If we had continued down the path laid by the Liberals and the Nationals, we would not have been able to meet the cost pressures put on existing projects or add new ones to the pipeline until 2033. When you look at the sorts of examples the former government just threw money at without thinking, that clearly was an unacceptable situation. This underscores the fact that while the previous government made a lot of grand announcements, including at Balaclava station, they consistently failed to deliver for the Australian community and for my own community in Macnamara.

We're obviously taking this matter more seriously, and the minister is reviewing the report and will announce the government's formal response to the recommendations in due course. Our commitment to maintaining the 10-year infrastructure pipeline at $120 billion remains. We will be spending every cent on infrastructure, and we'll be ensuring the transport infrastructure projects we deliver are nationally significant and nation shaping. We're going to prioritise the projects that benefit all Australians, not just the ones designed on Liberal Party spreadsheets. Our approach will be, as I said, in genuine partnership with state and territory governments to plan, fund and deliver the highest priority infrastructure our community needs. It's going to create jobs, it's going to be good for communities and, unlike the previous government, we'll actually deliver what we say we're going to deliver.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise tonight to speak in support of the motion by the member for Barker pointing out that the length of the government's 90-day infrastructure review has now stretched out to nearly double that amount. This is causing an enormous amount of grief and heartache in my electorate. I'm really pleased to have the former Deputy Prime Minister and one of the best infrastructure ministers this country has ever seen sitting here next to me, who backed projects in regional Australia and not only backed them but came up with policies that were relevant for infrastructure—Roads of Strategic Importance, roads that linked into other major infrastructure projects; roads like the Coonamble-to-Tooraweenah road, which now after a lot of planning, design and preliminary work there's a shadow over; and roads like the bypass around Gilgandra, where the council was texting me only on the weekend wanting to know what was happening.

With grade separations the member for Riverina and I met with the councils terribly concerned about the safety issues on these major roads and their interface with Inland Rail. A contribution from the previous government to build these grade separations is now on ice. One at Moree not only was a connection over the Newell Highway and the Inland Rail but was the missing link in the piece of infrastructure to actually get the special activation precinct underway. I'm not one for giving kudos to Labor governments, but the New South Wales government in their budget actually continued the commitment to the special activation precinct in Moree and added to it. That's in stark contrast to what we've seen from this minister.

Reviewing and looking at these things while the cost goes up—as you drive around the Parkes electorate now, the work that's going on is the work that was funded by our government: $258 million on the Newell Highway between Narrabri and Moree; there's another $108 million there for north of Moree funded by the previous government. But work on the Inland Rail has ground to a halt in my electorate in a major way. There were major retrenchments; there are contractors who have gone to finance companies, borrowed huge amounts of funds to purchase equipment to take part in this major project, the most important infrastructure project in the last hundred years.

We've heard a lot in the last month about how the government cares about Aboriginal people. When they stopped work at Moree, about 100 Aboriginal people lost their jobs. On one hand we talk our virtue up in Canberra while we rip the heart out of local communities, people that had jobs, sometimes the first job they've had for years. I have spoken to these people out on job sites. I spoke to a lady north of Moree who was working in traffic control on the Inland Rail. She said it's so good to have a job. They're gone. On a slightly similar subject, the work that has been happening now on reforms to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will rip more jobs away from Aboriginal people. One of the biggest employers of Aboriginal people in my electorate is associated with water.

So this minister needs to get her hands out from where she is sitting and actually do her job. Making stuff is hard. Stopping stuff is easy. When you had a government that's full of a union hacks that have spent their whole life stopping things, they find it very, very hard to start things. So I wholly support member for Barker on this motion.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

RMACK () (): I heartily agree with everything the member for Parkes has just stated on this motion on investment in infrastructure put forward by the member for Barker. The member for Barker and the member for Parkes and particularly other regional members in this place, in the Liberals and the Nationals, are very concerned about the 90-day review put in place by the member for Ballarat, the minister for infrastructure, prior to the May budget. Sadly, the 90-day review has blown out to 169 days—169 days where regional communities and regional employers, regional small businesses have had to pause, stall, procrastinate and wait for a decision to be made by this Labor government. It's not good enough, I say. This government should explain why the review was necessary in the first place. We heard earlier one of the speakers from the government say that if we had just gone along with it we wouldn't have had any new projects put in place until 2033. The projects put in place by the former government were good projects. They were good progress. They have all been delayed or abolished by this government.

I can remember going out with the member for Parkes on some of his dirt roads, country roads, and seeing the farmers, seeing the councils—not just in the member for Parkes's electorate, which is half of New South Wales, but so many of the electorates right throughout the country—indeed, yours, Deputy Speaker Archer—and in Tasmania, to talk to people, to listen to people and to see what a game changer the infrastructure projects were that we were building and announcing, that we had in place with the vision that we had to build a better Australia, and the difference it was making to those councils and those communities—changing lives and saving lives. It's probably no coincidence that, sadly, the road toll at the moment is all too high. So many councils are just begging for money because of the pothole situation in regional and rural Australia.

Whilst they wait, the government is delaying, is procrastinating, is putting in place a review, but we don't know how long it's going to go for. It has already gone on for 169 days. I asked the member for Ballarat how much longer do these communities have to endure, how much longer do they have to suffer? How many more jobs and good people are we're going to lose on projects such as the signature Inland Rail? But not just that. Indeed, the East West Link in Melbourne was just ripped up by the Andrews government, at the cost of millions of dollars, without a piece of bitumen being laid. But it doesn't seem to worry those opposite when they burn projects off.

Just look at the Commonwealth Games. I was in Ballarat for a committee hearing just the other day. I let the member for Ballarat know I was in her electorate, being the good and courteous member of parliament that I am—I don't get the same courtesy shown to me. Let me tell you, in the anger in the evidence that we took at one of the joint select subcommittees investigating education and tourism from people affected by that decision to rip up the Commonwealth Games contract was palpable. They were just furious at the lost opportunity. The Victorian government says it will build infrastructure to replace it. We'll believe that when we see it.

I listened closely to the Prime Minister in question time today responding to a query from the member for Kennedy. The Prime Minister was talking about infrastructure. He was puffing out his chest and I heard him saying, 'Well, we're spending $2 billion on water infrastructure.' I can remember putting in place another $3½ billion on top of the money we were already investing in water infrastructure, so where has that money gone? Those opposite aren't interested in building water infrastructure. They are not. If they were they would have partnered with the New South Wales government to raise the wall at Wyangala. They would have promoted Dungowan Dam. They would have built Emu Swamp dam near Stanthorpe. But they're not interested in water infrastructure. They're not interested in building roads. They're just interested in stalling and procrastinating and extending the 90-day review, which is now 169 days.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to commend the member for Barker for this very important motion, and also thank him for coming to visit my community in Casey so that he could see and understand firsthand the impact of this pause in the 90-day review that has now been going for more than 130 days. We visited Maroondah Highway and Killara Road in Coldstream, as well as Canterbury Road in Montrose, to speak to residents. I'll talk a little bit about those visits and the impact that it's having on my community in particular.

The Maroondah Highway and Killara Road work was funded by the federal government in 2019. The money was there for the Victorian state Labor government to deliver that project. They had it for over four years. The state Labor government did not get the project started. We've been waiting as a community for four years, and now that anguish has been extended because we are on an indefinite wait for this project. This is a dangerous road, a dangerous intersection that needs lights.

The Coldstream CFA, the Gruyere CFA have been calling for this upgrade because their stations are on this road and they get blocked in. They cannot get out to save people when every second counts in an emergency. They have called for this road to be upgraded. The money was there. State Labor and now federal Labor are stopping this project. My state colleague Bridget Vallance and I will be having a community forum next week, on Tuesday 24 October, to again talk to residents because they are frustrated and they are angry that this project continues to be delayed and there is no certainty for them. We will continue to fight and hold this government to account for their broken promises.

And it is a broken promise, because the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in his campaign launch speech, his big statement on what he was going to do, said:

… We will invest in infrastructure to boost productivity and create jobs.

We'll improve regional roads and major highways.

We can put that down as another broken promise from this Prime Minister, and they're starting to gain rapidly in numbers, because they're not investing in infrastructure. It is on pause. It has significant impacts for the Coldstream, Yarra Glen, Healesville and Gruyere communities, and many others, but it also has impacts on people and on their livelihoods.

I was at the Wandin Silvan Field Day this weekend, speaking to many locals. I spoke to a young man called Tim, who runs his own earthmoving business. We were having a great chat about a variety of things, and he was telling me about his business and his work. I said, 'How have things been?' He said: 'For the first time ever, it's slowing down. With all these infrastructure projects being put on hold, I'm not sure how much more work I'm going to have.' That is the impact of this government's decisions. When you delay infrastructure from 90 days out to 130, it costs people jobs, it creates uncertainty for them, and it is disgraceful that this minister continues to drag her feet. But she does have money for the Suburban Rail Loop! There's $2.2 billion for the Suburban Rail Loop.

Let's go back to the Prime Minister's speech. That was a Labor promise, so they're going to honour that—conveniently. There's another broken promise from the Prime Minister:

Labor will put the focus back on nation-building infrastructure using the Infrastructure Australia model I created as Minister.

That was the Prime Minister in his campaign launch. Guess what? The Suburban Rail Loop did not go through Infrastructure Australia, so this Prime Minister has broken another promise to the Australian people—$2.2 billion dollars as a down payment and tens of billions to go, with a statement that does not stack up for the people of Victoria, and certainly not for the people of Casey. He is pulling money out of the Killara Road out of Coldstream. The Canterbury Road upgrade is vital for the Montrose community and, importantly, for the families that that live in the Yarra Valley—the upper Yarra—because they use Canterbury Road as a way to get home quickly. That duplication, removing that roundabout and adding traffic lights was going to improve safety and—really importantly—allow businesses to be more productive and allow people to get home quickly to their families.

These are just a couple of examples of this government continuing to break promises, failing to deliver for the communities of Casey, for Victoria and for the nation. We are seeing an out-of-touch Prime Minister and it is costing Australians every day.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the date or the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 18 : 57