Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to improve safety and productivity on Queensland roads, and are there any other approaches to infrastructure that would leave Australians worse off?

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

I thank the member for Blair for that question. He is a magnificent advocate for the people of Ipswich. Whether it's road funding or community infrastructure funding, he is the best representative the people of Blair could have. Earlier in the year, I was very proud to be able to stand alongside the Prime Minister and the Treasurer in Gympie to announce the single largest investment ever, by any government, into the Bruce Highway: an additional $7.2 billion to bring the entire length of the highway up to a three-star safety rating. This is historic funding that will fast-track critical projects along the entire length of the corridor, particularly concentrating on the worst areas first.

Of course, we've seen this week the incredible importance of the Bruce Highway when it comes to the national supply chain. It's been highlighted this week with the floods up in the north. I want to assure the House that the Albanese government is working closely with the Queensland government to ensure that we get that freight route up as soon as possible and that we have a long-term, resilient solution for that stretch of road, and we've seen the Prime Minister is there today. The significant increases in infrastructure investment that this government has made are all possible because of the hard work that we have done—work to drive down inflation, to increase wages and to keep unemployment low but also to ensure that we get the economy moving after a decade, frankly, of neglect when it came to infrastructure. We've worked to drive inflation down and increase wages, and all of that has been important for the economy.

But much of this investment is, of course, at risk if those opposite have their way, because their maths simply just does not add up. You can't, on the one hand, say that you'll be making $350 billion worth of cuts without, on the other hand, cutting funding to projects like the Bruce Highway. And you can't fund $600 billion worth of publicly owned nuclear reactors without cutting road and rail infrastructure spending. And you can't forgo $1.6 billion to $10 billion a year in taxpayer-funded long lunches without substantially cutting infrastructure spending.

The Leader of the Opposition, of course, let the cat out of the bag on Sunday when he confirmed that he would be making huge cuts if he were to get his way. But what we do know is that he's refusing to tell anybody before the election what those cuts are going to be. No matter what way you'll look at it, you'll be worse off under those opposite if this bloke has his way, and that includes when it comes to the significant investments this government has made in infrastructure funding.