Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the following matter be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report by 15 October 2026:

The management, delivery and cancellation of the Inland Rail project since May 2022, with particular reference to:

(a) the reasons for the Labor Government's decision to cease the Inland Rail

project north of Parkes;

(b) the escalation in estimated project costs from May 2022;

(c) the governance, management and delivery of the Inland Rail project;

(d) the implementation of recommendations of The delivery of inland rail: An independent review;

(e) the economic, social and environmental impacts of the cancellation of the Inland Rail north of Parkes;

(f) the loss of projected carbon emission reductions that would have been achieved through shifting freight movements from road to rail;

(g) engagement with communities, governments and industry on the delivery and future of the Inland Rail project; and

(h) any other related matters.

It is with a heavy heart that I rise today. It's budget week, when the whole nation should be grateful for the government and a prime minister who said he'd govern for all Australians. But it turns out—if you don't live in inner-city Melbourne, inner-city Sydney or Brisbane—he doesn't govern for you. Last week, we heard that the Inland Rail project, a corridor of commerce connecting Melbourne to Brisbane, had been cancelled halfway—tracks stopped at Parkes. This is a nation-building project over a century in the making that has been on the planning box since John Anderson was in parliament. It was a project the Prime Minister, when he was infrastructure minister, championed. Even it was 'critical' to the productivity agenda, such as it was, for the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. Fast forward, there were no complaints about Inland Rail as it was designed, planned, land acquired, budget provisions made, agreements with state and territory governments, absolutely.

The minister who is chortling, scoffing, behind me knows that their hands are very dirty on this project. Because the Prime Minister, who prides himself on being an infrastructure prime minister, has shafted this project, shafted the communities and exporters, farmers and regional capitals along this route, to buy political capital in my home state of Victoria to try and shore up the fortunes of the premier Jacinta Allan by investing in the Suburban Rail Loop—a project, I might add, that should actually be on the budget's statement of risks given that it is signing up state and Commonwealth governments to a project that is going to cost in today's dollars in excess of $216 billion, let alone by 2035 when it is looking to have its first passenger.

This week we had mayors from right up and down the Inland Rail come to Canberra and tell us of the millions of dollars of small business and private capital invested in their communities, with their construction workers and businesses gearing up, employing staff, skilling staff and purchasing kit to participate in a decadal rollout of this project, who are now in limbo, left holding the can for a Labor government that has left them reeling. That was the evidence we heard yesterday when mayors stood up and spoke about private investment that had been made in these regional communities. The National Farmers' Federation stood beside us, talking about the great potential this project had for our primary producers, for our mining and resources sector through western New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. That is now dashed because it is literally a railway to nowhere that has already cost in excess of tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money for no return.

The local councils also took successive federal governments at their word that this was a project that, no matter who was in power, was going to be completed—coalition, Labor, coalition, Labor—with Labor now saying 'no more'. So we have tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases, invested to build industry precincts in these regional capitals that are seeking to increase not just the population but the gross regional product of these communities for decades to come. They have a great vision of what is possible in their communities, and it is a pity this government refuses to back them. That brings me to the third issue with the cancellation of this project.

In my shadow portfolio of infrastructure, it is very rarely—in fact, I would struggle to think of an example—that the minister who announces a nation-building infrastructure project would ever be the minister who cuts the ribbon on the opening day. It probably wouldn't even be the same side of politics that got to do that. Because parties of government—that used to mean something—the Labor Party, Liberal Party and the National Party knew that, if we had a bipartisan approach to these nation-building infrastructure projects, we were all signed up to the deal, and this was one of these projects.

By tearing up its commitment, the Labor Party has now put a sovereign risk question over any subsequent commitment from future governments on nation-building decadal projects such as the Inland Rail. It will be very, very difficult to take to the bank, to the boards of private investors and to regional councils and inner-city councils the commitment of a federal government that they're going to stay the course on any given infrastructure project, given the Labor Party has said, 'This one's not for us.' I think what makes it more galling for rural and regional Australians is that they saw the potential of this. It would have turned that trip from Melbourne to Brisbane into literally a 24-hour trip, instead of it taking days on the back of a truck. It would have taken over 200,000 heavy vehicles off our freight network between Brisbane and Melbourne and their surrounds. The safety and efficiency of that move alone was driving productivity. The 750,000 tonnes a year of carbon emissions that would have been reduced come 2050 have now gone as well.

We know productivity is going backwards under this government. We know they held a roundtable last year, which we're yet to see any outcomes from, and this budget does not give the economy or our people any hope, but this was a project that was going to deliver efficiencies to the freight task. And you don't need to talk to the boffins; you just need to get out on the ground and talk to the truckies, the farmers, the manufacturers and the small businesses involved in this project to know what that benefit was going to be. Yet, for political purposes, the Prime Minister did this.

Have you ever wondered what 25-odd years in this place can do to you? It can make you a tactical master. Anthony Albanese is very, very clever because he has actually chosen to abandon communities and the productive side of our economy to invest in his political necessity and that of his political movement, the Labor Party, in Victoria. You'll never see a balder case of that than this cancellation. We were looking forward to Catherine King actually getting the Beveridge to Parkes piece done and then heading north of North Star, where the stop sign is right now on the track, because we had a change of government in Queensland. The Liberal National Party state government could also see the benefits of this project—unlike the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor government, who refused to partner and get the work done.

If you want to know what the impact of the rollout of this project has been, the Acting Deputy President, Senator Sterle, will know this. He chaired a committee inquiry into this project. There have been farmers right and up and down the Inland Rail route who've had to go into negotiations about selling parcels and parts of their property and making access arrangements for construction crews. These negotiations have often taken years and have caused a lot of heartache, but they did it knowing it was in the national interest. Of course, they didn't do it for free, but I think that that now being unrealised says everything you need to know about the Labor Party.

We know that the independent review done by Kerry Schott priced the increase for construction of the Inland Rail at $31 billion. When you ask the department of infrastructure how those figures were arrived at, you are met with blank stares. The actual microdetail of how that $31 billion figure was arrived at is not public, neither is the ACIL Allen report that the minister has used to cancel this project. If this was not for political reasons, then put the report on the table so that, at the very least, the communities paying the price of this government's decision can actually understand that it is an increase to $45 billion and you are telling the truth this time. But right now, there is no comfort—