Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, may I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of rail job delegates and thank them for their service to the country.

My question is to the Minister for Industry and Science, Senator Sinodinos. The New South Wales government's purchase of Korean built intercity trains will require massive modifications, including the replacement or shifting of 75 kilometres of rail line and overhead wires in the Blue Mountains and the wrecking of heritage stations. Will the government—the Australian government, that is—now agree it's time to support Australia's manufacturing industry to able to build trains and create Australian jobs?

Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I also recognise the delegates, and I'll be seeing them after question time and we'll be having a good discussion about all of this. When I spoke at the Manufacturing Summit some weeks ago here, I talked about the government's plans in relation to the rail sector, including the fact that we do want to look at the concept of a continuous build when it comes to aspects of rail manufacturing and construction here in Australia. We have to recognise we're not as competitive in this sector as we could be, because of scale considerations. But we believe that with smart manufacturing we can do much better in this particular sector.

What gives me great optimism that we'll be able to do that is the fact that this government, in this budget, featured a $20 billion long-term investment in passenger and freight rail, including a $10 billion National Rail Program for urban and regional passenger rail, an additional $8.4 billion to deliver the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail freight link, and more than $1.3 billion for regional rail projects in Victoria, the Perth METRONET and faster city-regional connections. In other words, we are amping up our effort as a country in the rail sector. This provides us with an opportunity to come up with a national rail plan in a way that creates a globally competitive industry in this regard.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, a supplementary question.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his answer. Would he agree there are some $45 billion planned in new rail projects across Australia over the next five years? When will the federal government provide more than just money for new projects, like some national coordination with states and territories to maximise the benefits to Australian steelmakers, manufacturers and supply chain firms to actually safeguard Australian jobs?

Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again I thank the honourable senator for his question. I can report on a number of things. The federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development is supporting Victoria to lead the development of national rolling stock standards and eventually a national rolling stock procurement approach. The council agreed to Victoria leading the initiative on behalf of the jurisdictions, leading a process to progress the harmonisation of rolling stock standards and moving towards the development of a coordinated rolling stock procurement and maintenance pipeline. The TRC have agreed that train frameworks for wheels, windows and other glass componentry are the priorities for creating harmonised standards across the country. Jurisdictions are working with the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board to draft high-level specification and guidelines for a harmonised and uniform market approach that can be used by state governments when procuring rolling stock. This will reduce procurement costs and create the conditions for Australian manufacturers to deliver economies of scale. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, a final supplementary question?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again I thank the minister for his answer. Despite the government's efforts, nothing has been done that will actually stop the governments such as New South Wales in their decision last year awarding $8.3 billion worth of contract work for New South Wales rail lines—some 6½ thousand tonnes of steel for the Metro Northwest project. Nothing's being done for state governments to award contracts for overseas builds of railway carriages. Is that not correct?

Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first point to make is, of course, that these are decisions for state governments, but our engagement with them through this Commonwealth-state process I'm talking about is to create the conditions where we can create that pipeline of projects which gives some certainty to the industry about the demand that is coming, creates some sort of scale and gives us an opportunity to use smart manufacturing to achieve more in Australia. It's best, I think, to avoid confrontation and talk with the states through the Transport and Infrastructure Council to get this done. They don't like this, because we're actually engaging the states and getting the job done. That's why they keep interfering.