Greg Mirabella (Victoria, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak to this year's federal budget and a specific item contained within it—that is, the $1.6 billion for the vitally important Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal, also known as the BIFT. I was honoured to have been present while the Treasurer delivered the national budget earlier in the other place. This is a budget that I believe will be well received by the public, because, at its core, this budget is a blueprint for securing Australia's strong economy and safe and secure future. It is an investment budget. It delivers more jobs and more tax relief and, importantly, it invests in rail, roads and the critical areas of energy, defence and health to assist Australians facing the real challenges that we're currently living through.

Infrastructure, rightly, is a major part of the budget. The Morrison government is investing a record $17.9 billion towards building new, and upgrading existing, infrastructure projects. This record amount adds to over $120 billion in the government's infrastructure investment pipeline that will be rolled out over the next decade. Since 2013 the coalition government has invested more than $35.5 billion in infrastructure projects in Victoria, with 293 distinct major road and rail projects. Currently, these projects support more than 11½ thousand jobs. Tonight, Victoria receives $3.3 billion in committed infrastructure funding. The Morrison government will get freight moving quickly and keep commuters safe while cutting down their travel time.

I'd like to speak to how the people of Melbourne's north and west will directly benefit from this. What will the BIFT be? It will be an intermodal terminal, a point of junction in our freight network that allows for the consolidation, storage and transfer of freight between port, road and rail. It will provide connectivity between the Port of Melbourne and Victoria's regional networks and, of course, north to Sydney and Brisbane. It will enable and maximise the benefits of that other great project, the Inland Rail, catering for double-stacked 1,800-metre freight trains. By integrating road and rail, freight will now travel directly from Melbourne's port to the terminal in Beveridge without the need to put trucks on Melbourne's roads. Simply said, it will take freight off our metro roads and onto rail, to get it to its destination on time at a lower cost. In real terms, this will take 5½ thousand trucks off Melbourne roads per day. This will benefit commuters, especially those in the north and west of Melbourne, who will no longer have to contend with large numbers of trucks clogging up their main arterial roadways. Through the easing of this congestion, the people living around Kilmore, Wallan, Whittlesea and Truganina will get to and from work quicker. This means working mums and dads will be at home with their children sooner. Ultimately, it will give them more time with what matters most—family.

I would now like to acknowledge a relentless advocate for this project and, more broadly, for the people of the electorate of McEwen, in which the BIFT lies: my very good friend Richard Welch, who is the Liberal candidate for McEwen. Unlike the current ALP member, since being preselected last year Richard has tirelessly made the case for the interstate terminal to be placed in Beveridge, to the north of Melbourne and the logical place between Melbourne and Sydney. He knows, he sees, that modernising our logistics network is a vital component that will underpin Australia's economic recovery.

This excellent project has faced resistance from the Victorian state Labor government. Evidently, Premier Andrews and his ministers have not realised the tremendous potential of the BIFT. The state government has dragged its feet in assisting with funding of this project, like with many others, and has ignored the people of Melbourne's north and west. Not only will the BIFT alleviate congestion and improve travel times; it will also address the conflicting land use between industrial and urban areas. The BIFT will contain an entirely new precinct to the north of Melbourne for working and living. The BIFT is a $1.6 billion commitment that creates jobs for the people of McEwen and gets freight off Melbourne roads and onto rail efficiently and at low cost. It will ease congestion. (Time expired)