TERRY MULDER:
Good morning everybody. I firstly welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, and also the Premier of Victoria, Dr Denis Napthine, out here. This is a very, very important announcement for Victoria.
Those of you who travelled down today would have no doubt seen the massive expansion in the warehousing and freight logistics sector that is taking place around Melbourne Airport and going forward, I understand there’s a further four of those major developments that are going to occur in this precinct. That will put additional pressure on our road network, it will put additional pressure on people who are trying to get in and out of Melbourne Airport.
Melbourne Airport is a very, very important link for Victoria. It’s a destination that we want to make sure people who come here can get to and from as quickly as they possibly can and as safely as they possibly can. So, today’s announcement ensures that we will be able to do that going forward.
I would now like to hand over to the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, Terry. It’s great to be here with Denis. It’s great to be the infrastructure Prime Minister here in Melbourne with the infrastructure Premier.
This Tullamarine widening is a very important project, not just for the airport, not just for the northern suburbs, but for the whole of Melbourne and Victoria, because as Terry said, the Tullamarine Airport – Melbourne Airport – is vital for this city, for this state, for this country. It’s an expanding airport, it’s an important piece of national infrastructure and it needs to be serviced by the best possible roads.
The Tullamarine Freeway is the first thing that visitors to Melbourne and Victoria see once they get outside the airport and it’s important that they don’t see it while they’re stuck in a traffic jam. So, this Tullamarine widening, which is only happening because of a $200 million contribution from the Commonwealth on top of the money that the state Government is putting in, this Tullamarine widening is going to mean some 40 kilometres of additional roadway, it’s going to benefit 200,000 road users a day, it’s going to take 20 minutes off your trip time in peak periods. It’s a really important benefit for the people of Melbourne and the people of Victoria.
In the end, it’s not just about dollars and roads; it’s about your life – it’s about your life. It’s about giving you a better life where you get to work with less hassle and you get home with less hassle. So, it’s about a better for the people of Victoria and it’s only going to happen if the Napthine Government is returned in Spring Street here in Melbourne.
This election is about many things, but in the end it is a referendum on the East West Link, it is a referendum on the plan that this Premier and no one else has to build a modern 21st Century city with 21st Century infrastructure and I’m proud, as the infrastructure Prime Minister, to be standing beside the infrastructure Premier committed to building a better Melbourne which means a better life for you and your family.
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
Thank you, Prime Minister, and you certainly are the infrastructure Prime Minister and it’s a pleasure to be here with you and with Terry Mulder, the Minister for Public Transport and Roads.
This is a great project for Melbourne and Victoria. It is a much needed project to fix the bottle-neck on the Tullamarine Freeway, particularly the area from Melrose Drive through to the airport, and we know that that is an area that causes an enormous amount of frustration and angst. Often the average speeds on that section of the Tullamarine Freeway are down to less than 20 kilometres per hour. Over 230,000 vehicles per day use that section of road, so this investment from the Commonwealth Government of $200 million, with $50 million from the state Government, to widen that section of the Tullamarine Freeway, to put in a managed motorway system, to put in a priority queuing system for Sky Bus access to the airport, this is a real revolutionary change to improve productivity and efficiency on that road and allow people to save up to 20 minutes of travel time so they can spend more time with their families and less time stuck in congestion.
It will also complement the $850 million investment in the widening of the Tullamarine Freeway from the CityLink right through to Melrose Drive. So, this project will now grow to a $1.1 billion project from Flemington Road right through to the airport.
This is a fantastic investment that will make a real difference. It will create 900 jobs; it will provide real time savings for people and for businesses and this makes a big difference in people’s lives, whether you live in the northern suburbs or whether you’re travelling to and from the airport. Saving time and saving businesses cost and congestion is of real benefit.
It will also have a significant benefit in a 20 per cent reduction in casualty crashes. It will make this freeway much safer.
It will also improve the amenity of adjoining suburbs, because many trucks and commercial vehicles now use suburban streets as rat runs because of the congestion on the Tullamarine Freeway. So, by widening the freeway and allowing better and more efficient access for commercial vehicles and trucks will take nearly 3,000 trucks a day out of the local suburbs and improve that local amenity.
This is genuinely about improving the lives of Victorian families and making greater efficiencies for Victorian businesses. This is a great project and I welcome the Commonwealth’s commitment to funding, with the state Government, of this project to widen the Tullamarine Freeway between Melrose Drive and the airport.
QUESTION:
Isn’t a lot of the congestion at the airport because of people dropping people off or taxis are dropping people off and it’s actually feeding back all the way up the Tulla? Isn’t part of the problem actually at the airport itself in getting that traffic to flow through?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
The airport is also undertaking significant investment in the management of traffic and business at the airport, but one of the main areas of congestion is where the Tullamarine Freeway goes down to four lanes – from six lanes, and even eight lanes at times, down to four lanes. So, having an extra lane all the way along the airport will increase capacity by 30 per cent which will cater for growth, cater for growth in demand from the airport itself, from the northern suburbs and improve travel times, improve efficiency.
QUESTION:
Premier, do you agree with the Prime Minister’s assertion that this election is a referendum on the East West Link?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
This election is about who you can trust to keep our finances safe, who you can trust to deliver key infrastructure that makes a real difference to the people of Victoria, and that includes East West Link, Melbourne Rail Link, Airport Rail Link, the Tullamarine project we’re talking about today, the Frankston upgrade, the Cranbourne-Pakenham rail upgrade – who you can trust to deliver those key infrastructure projects.
QUESTION:
Well Labor says that it promised the exact same project a year ago. Prime Minister, will you be funding $200 million, if Labor wins the election, for the same project?
PRIME MINISTER:
We want someone who believes in proper infrastructure for Melbourne to work with as our partner. Plainly, Denis Napthine, the Premier of Victoria, does believe in bringing Melbourne’s transport system – transport infrastructure – into the 21st Century. We’ve heard from Daniel Andrews, or Dan Andrews – whatever he’s calling himself today – we’ve heard from him that he wants to rip up the East West Link contracts. Now, this is not someone who is serious about giving Melbourne the transport infrastructure that it needs.
QUESTION:
So will you pay $200 million for the exact same project if Labor wins?
PRIME MINISTER:
What we’ve said is that our money is available for these projects, but you can’t trust Dan or Daniel Andrews to deliver any of these projects, because he would rather put his political interests – his Green preferences – ahead of the welfare of people living in outer-metropolitan Melbourne. This is my message to outer-metropolitan Melbourne: the Labor Party has put Green deals ahead of your jobs, your prosperity and your lifestyle.
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
Can I just also make a comment? What the Labor Party outlined previously was an un-costed, pale imitation of what we’re announcing today. It didn’t have the full extent of the project we’ve announced today, going from Melrose Drive through to the airport, it didn’t have the managed motorway system, it didn’t have the Sky Bus priority queuing system and it was completely and utterly un-costed.
So, Daniel Andrews put up a pale imitation of what we’re delivering today and this is what happens when you work together with an infrastructure Prime Minister and a state Government that is prepared to do the hard work – roll up their sleeves and do the hard work – you get a proper project, a proper project that goes the full length of the Tullamarine Freeway by proper negotiations with Transurban, proper negotiations with the Federal Government to get an outcome which is really positive for Melbourne and Victoria.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, in your opening statement you did say this project will only be funded if Denis Napthine is re-elected. Will you put this $200 million up if Labor is elected?
PRIME MINISTER:
See, Labor doesn't believe in roads. Labor believes in Green preferences. That is what Labor believes in…
QUESTION:
So that’s a no?
PRIME MINISTER:
This money is available to get this project built. This money is available to get this project done, but it will never happen under Labor because Labor believes in Green deals, Labor believes in Green preferences, and whatever they say before the election, after the election they will do a deal with the Greens and this will never happen.
QUESTION:
Premier, six months ago you promised to build the Airport Rail Link. We’ve seen a lot of advertising for it. What work has been done since you made that announcement to actually make that project happen?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
We’ve allocated funding and there’s work being done now on Melbourne Rail Link and Airport Rail link as an important project. What we’re going to see over the next decades here at Melbourne Airport, you’ll see a doubling of passenger throughput between now and the early 2030s, from 35 million to 70 million. By 2051 you will see a quadrupling of freight through Melbourne Airport. So, Melbourne Airport needs both a widening of the Tullamarine Freeway and an airport rail link. What we do know is that Daniel Andrews and the Labor Party have failed to commit to Melbourne Rail Link and failed to commit to the Airport Rail Link and, indeed, Daniel Andrews says he will not build an airport rail link.
QUESTION:
Why can you deliver this project sooner, though, than the Airport Rail Link given the Airport Rail Link was promised so much earlier?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
This project, along with the components through Transurban, will start in 2015 and finish by 2018. So, this project is important. We need both and that’s a message I would give to people across Victoria, that a Coalition Government is committed to both upgrades to public transport and to roads. When you’ve got a growing population, when you’ve got a growing economy, you need both upgrades to public transport and roads. So, our major projects include the Regional Rail Link, include the Melbourne Rail Link, include the Airport Rail Link, the Pakenham-Cranbourne rail upgrade, the extension of the heavy rail to [inaudible]. So, those are important rail projects under a Coalition Government in Victoria.
At the same time, we understand the need for important road projects, like East West Link, both the eastern and the western section, important road projects like the widening of the Tullamarine Freeway, important road projects, like we announced the other day, the extension of the Western Highway duplication through to Ararat and the Princes Highway through to Winchelsea and on to Colac. Again, we are working in partnership with the Commonwealth Government. All of these projects are important for Melbourne and Victoria.
QUESTION:
How would you propose building the Melbourne Rail Link given it’s costed at about $10 billion and the Prime Minister’s previously indicated that the Commonwealth should stick to its knitting and fund roads over urban rail?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
We’ve already outlined in the Budget in 2014-15 funding for the Melbourne Rail Link. We’ve announced we are going to be privatising the Port of Melbourne which will generate billions of dollars that we can then use for key projects like Melbourne Rail Link, and the Commonwealth Government have generously provided a bonus for state governments that better utilise assets and to provide that money, the Commonwealth will allow us to use that money for some of our key rail projects.
So, these projects, under a Napthine Government, are fully costed, fully funded and fully planned and work is underway. We can do both major infrastructure projects in public transport and in roads and the proof in the pudding is what we’ve done with Regional Rail Link, the proof in the pudding is the fact that under our Government there’s now 10,000 extra tram, train and bus services each and every week. That’s a Government that’s committed to public transport.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, can I just ask you on G20? When will you be meeting with Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let’s finish dealing with Tulla questions and road questions and infrastructure questions and then if there’s any other issues, we’ll get onto them.
QUESTION:
You indicated earlier that work had begun on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link. Exactly what sort of work?
TERRY MULDER:
We provided all of the funding that was necessary to do all of the planning, to examine all of the routes, to put in place the reservations. We are now in consultation with Melbourne Airport as to the exact location of where that terminus would be at Melbourne Airport. There’s a lot of work being undertaken, as you can appreciate, with the planning, but as I say, with this particular project we have the route already identified, the reservation is in place, so we’ll be able to work in conjunction with the Melbourne Rail Link project in its own right to pull those two projects together.
There’s $830 million in the forward estimates to go into the projects. I think you all understand Labor has said they’ve got $300 million for the entire Melbourne Metro, no other money. They’re going into an election with no other money to build Melbourne Metro. We are committed, we’ve done the hard work, we’ve got our finances in order and we can deliver these projects.
QUESTION:
In Labor’s ‘Project 10,000’ plan they released on transport, they promised six lanes from the city to the airport. Does this announcement match that?
PREMIER NAPTHINE:
This announcement tops that quite significantly. This is a comprehensive project that will put 44 kilometres of additional motorway in place, additional lanes. This will increase capacity by 30 per cent at least all the way through from Flemington Road all the way through to the airport. The Labor plan was a pale imitation of that. It was under-scoped, under-costed and under-delivers.
PRIME MINISTER:
And as I’ve said before, the Coalition believes in roads. Labor doesn’t. If Labor believed in roads they wouldn’t have promised to tear up the East West Link contract. So, if you support better roads for Melbourne there’s really only one way to go at this coming election.
QUESTION:
Can I ask you now about G20? When will you be meeting with Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ll be meeting with him as soon as possible because I have a very strong message from the Australian people to the President of Russia that we absolutely expect and our common humanity demands full cooperation with the various investigations into the MH17 atrocity. Russia supported the Security Council resolution calling on this matter to be fully investigated and the perpetrators to be brought to justice and that’s what we expect of Russia; that it will be true to its word, that it will be a full member of the international community and cooperate in making this resolution come to fruition.
QUESTION:
Is this where you’re going to shirtfront him, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m going to have a very robust conversation with him, and Victorians in particular understand the use of sporting metaphors, and I’m going to have a very robust conversation with him. The conversation will be, as I’ve said, about our absolute expectation that Russia will be as good as its word, that it will fully cooperate with the investigations that are underway and that it will do what it can to ensure that justice is done. Russia owes this to the families of the dead; it owes this to the wider world. It has pledged its word in the Security Council to do what it can to bring the perpetrators to justice, and I expect Russia to be as good as its word.
QUESTION:
So what assurances exactly will you be seeking from Mr Putin?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ll be seeking his personal assurance some months down the track that this is not an issue which Russia now expects to be forgotten, that this is not an atrocity which Russia thinks can be swept under the carpet. Thirty-eight Australians were murdered. Thirty-eight Australians were murdered and I will speak for our dead, I will speak for our nation, I will speak for decency and humanity in stating to the Russian President he owes it to us, he owes it to our common humanity to ensure that justice is done.
QUESTION:
[inaudible] have they asked Australia to do the same? Will we put in extra troops?
PRIME MINISTER:
What the US does is a matter for the US, but obviously, we work in very close partnership with the United States, with the United Kingdom, with other countries. This is a very broad coalition; it’s not just the United States, it’s not just Britain and Australia and France – Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia are all involved in military action against the ISIL death cult. Our commitment is clear: it’s up to eight Super Hornet strike aircraft, it’s a refueller, it’s an airborne early warning and control aircraft, it’s up to 200 Special Forces. I’m not going to comment on them because I don’t normally comment on the operational deployment of our Special Forces. We have made a strong commitment to disrupting and degrading the ISIL death cult and we continue to talk with our partners and allies about how this is best achieved. But, this latest announcement from the United States, I welcome it of course, but this is a matter for them and a matter between them and the Iraqi Government.
[ends]