At the last election, the Coalition promised to scrap the carbon tax, to stop the boats, to get the Budget under control and to build the roads of the 21st century.
We are honouring all of these commitments – but my task today is to report on one of them, our infrastructure agenda.
I said that I hope to be the Infrastructure Prime Minister – and that part of that was delivering an annual infrastructure statement to the House of Representatives.
So today Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report progress in building the modern infrastructure that our country needs.
Infrastructure does matter.
It helps determine our quality of life as well as our country’s competitiveness, productivity and living standards.
Australia needs an Infrastructure Prime Minister because for too long, infrastructure improvements have not kept pace with population growth for the needs of our people.
Too many of us have painful, first-hand knowledge of the problems with our national infrastructure, particularly in our big cities.
People leave for work earlier now than they did a decade ago because the traffic jams just keep getting worse and worse.
Parents rack up late fines at child care centres when freeways slow to a crawl.
Businesses see their costs rise when trucks idle in traffic.
Air travel between our cities is actually slower today than it was a generation ago – because of clogged airports and surrounding road networks.
And exports can be held up at bottlenecks in key freight networks, particularly again in congested cities.
That’s why Madam Speaker building the infrastructure of the 21st century is an essential part of the Government’s Economic Strategy to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.
This Budget, this Budget committed $50 billion to infrastructure.
It’s the largest infrastructure investment in our history – and it’s forecast to generate a record $125 billion of public and private investment in infrastructure over the next decade.
To help the states and territories, the Government has introduced an Asset Recycling Initiative.
It’s an incentive for them to privatise existing assets and to reinvest the proceeds into new economic infrastructure.
Asset recycling should reassure the taxpayers who paid for the assets in the first place that their investment is being preserved and their legacy built upon.
I’m pleased to say Madam Speaker that every state and territory has signed the National Partnership on Asset Recycling that will help them to build the infrastructure they need, including, it should be said, public transport infrastructure.
It is cooperative federalism at work – as is the National Partnership Agreement on Land Transport Infrastructure which will make roads safer for truck drivers and for all the vehicles that share the roads with them. This is a five year agreement and the funds will flow this year to the states that have signed up.
Madam Speaker, we promised that big new projects would be underway within 12 months of a change of government and we are delivering.
In New South Wales, Australia’s biggest road project, WestConnex, has begun, with geotechnical work already underway across Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Stage 2 of WestConnex, which duplicates the M5 East, will begin ahead of schedule because the Commonwealth will provide a concessional loan of up to $2 billion on top of the $1.5 billion we committed for Stage 1.
WestConnex will create almost 10,000 jobs during construction and, when complete it will by-pass 52 sets of traffic lights.
It will reduce travel times for the 100,000 motorists who use the motorway every day by up to 40 minutes and it will take 3,000 trucks every day off Parramatta Road.
As well Madam Speaker, the Commonwealth and the New South Wales Government are working together to complete the Pacific Highway upgrade by the end of the decade.
And in just the past year, 32 km of the highway has been duplicated, including the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade, and now 397kms or 60 per cent of the final highway length is complete.
The duplication of the Pacific Highway, combined with the NorthConnex in Sydney, means that, by the end of the decade, at most there will be just two stretches of traffic lights between Melbourne and Brisbane.
In Victoria Madam Speaker, the Commonwealth is investing $3 billion toward Melbourne’s East West Link.
The East West Link will create more than 6,000 jobs during construction and it will reduce travel time by up to 20 minutes for commuters travelling from Geelong to the city and beyond.
Stage 1 alone is expected to allow 100,000 vehicles each day to bypass 23 sets of traffic lights.
And on 29th September, the Victorian Government signed the contracts to build Stage One of East West Link – the link has been inked – so there can be no turning back from this major project that will help tens of thousands of Victorians every day.
In South Australia Madam Speaker, the Commonwealth has committed $944 million to upgrade the North-South Road Corridor.
This project will crate 1,000 construction jobs and early work is already underway on Ashwin Parade.
In Western Australia Madam Speaker, the Commonwealth has committed $174 million to widen and strengthen the North West Coastal Highway, which is the main link between Geraldton, Carnarvon, Karratha and Port Hedland and construction will commence in the next month.
The Gateway WA is on track and the Commonwealth is providing $615 million for the 40km Northlink WA project. Planning is underway and construction will commence in 2016.
Planning is also underway for the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link project funded with $925 million from the Commonwealth.
In Queensland Madam Speaker, five major projects have been completed on the Bruce Highway – at Gin Gin, Mackay, Cairns, Calliope Crossroads near Gladstone and at Burdekin and the last section of the Townsville Ring Road will start within 12 months.
Early works have begun on the Gateway Motorway upgrade and the procurement process is underway for the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, so that major construction works can start next year.
The Commonwealth’s commitment of up to $1.28 billion is the largest ever federal contribution to a single Queensland regional road project.
In Tasmania Madam Speaker, the Commonwealth has committed $400 million to the Midland Highway and the Westbury Road Upgrade will be completed by the end of this year.
In the Northern Territory, the duplication of the first of the sections of Tiger Brennan Drive has been completed.
The Commonwealth has committed a further $77 million towards upgrading Northern Territory highways with planning already underway.
In addition to these major road projects, the Government is spending $2.1 billion on the Roads to Recovery Programme and funding a $565 million Black Spot Programme to improve the most dangerous stretches of road throughout our country.
Then there’s the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme providing $248 million to increase the number of rest areas and improve connections to freight networks.
There’s also the $229 million National Highway Upgrade Programme for practical improvements such as shoulder and centreline widening, ripple strips and wire rope barriers.
And the Government is providing $300 million for the Bridges Renewal Programme to upgrade deteriorating bridges across the nation.
Madam Speaker, airports are our gateways to the world.
For more than 50 years, governments have talked about a second airport for Sydney.
Finally, and not before time, the talk is over.
We’ve taken the final decision that Badgerys Creek will be the site of Sydney’s second airport – or, as I prefer, Western Sydney’s first airport.
The Government has commenced consultations with the Sydney Airport Group.
We are working up the commercial model and the airport concept designs and construction should begin in 2016.
This airport is irrevocable – it is going ahead and construction should begin in 2016.
By mid-century, the new airport could generate a $24 billion increase in our gross domestic product and 60,000 new jobs in Western Sydney – it’s the centrepiece of our long-term vision for Western Sydney – and heeding past lessons, it will be a case of roads first, airport second: the roads will be built before the first plane has landed.
A $3.6 billion, 10 year partnership with the New South Wales Government is underway, starting with the upgrade of Bringelly Road.
So Madam Speaker, together, our road package and the airport will give Western Sydney the modern infrastructure it deserves.
In Hobart, environmental and design studies for the extension of the runway at Hobart Airport are underway.
This $38 million upgrade will help Hobart to become the gateway to the Antarctic and give the potential for direct flights to Asia.
As well Madam Speaker, planning work and consultations are currently underway on the Inland Railway between Melbourne and Brisbane which would significantly improve freight productivity compared to the coastal line via Sydney.
Importantly Madam Speaker, the Government is also getting on with the job of rolling out the NBN so that Australians will have access to very fast broadband as soon as possible, at affordable prices and the least cost to taxpayers and Madam Speaker this Government has connected more premises in just one year than the previous government did in five.
An independent Cost-Benefit Analysis of the NBN found that this Government’s multi-technology approach will deliver net economic and social benefits of almost $18 billion.
Now Madam Speaker, the Government is determined to end the dam-phobia that has largely stopped the construction of new dams for the past three decades.
Water is a priceless asset especially when the vagaries of our environment make it so scarce.
Strengthening our water storage capability is essential if our country is to grow.
We do need to build the right dams in the right places.
And Madam Speaker, most of these dams should be feasible without government support.
But we are looking at some modest seed funding to help break the anti-dam mindset.
Now Madam Speaker, just as we promised to end the analysis paralysis and get projects moving on the ground, we also promised a long-term vision for Australia’s infrastructure needs and a comprehensive plan to deliver it.
We’ve passed legislation to make Infrastructure Australia more independent, robust and transparent, with a Board appointed CEO, so that states, territories, industry and the community can be confident it’s working in the national interest, and not just the Commonwealth’s interest.
And to see our nationally significant infrastructure needs more clearly, we’ve tasked Infrastructure Australia to develop a 15 year infrastructure plan.
The plan will cover all economic infrastructure – transport, energy, communications and water.
It will evaluate projects receiving more than $100 million in Commonwealth funding to help clarify our country’s infrastructure priorities for the future.
It’s reform to build the right projects at the right time for the right price.
The work done to make costs and benefits more transparent should build deeper engagement by private investors in infrastructure.
Now, Australia, Madam Speaker, is not alone in facing a greater need for infrastructure investment.
Almost every country needs more and better infrastructure to underpin jobs and growth, and almost every government lacks the resources to underwrite that investment.
Governments do not have the money to deliver on their own.
And as this year’s G20 President, Australia has made boosting private-sector investment in infrastructure a priority.
We’re driving a Global Infrastructure Initiative for quality investment across the G20 and beyond – and part of this initiative, is a new global infrastructure hub that we hope will be based in Sydney.
Madam Speaker, this Government is committed to building the infrastructure that we need to get products to market faster, to speed up the wait for freight, and to get employees to work and home again with less time wasted in traffic.
Madam Speaker, nothing boosts confidence like cranes in the sky and bulldozers on the ground.
It’s an unmistakable sign of faith in our future.
So, next year, Madam Speaker, I look forward to reporting further progress in delivering the projects we promised in our plan to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.
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