E&OE.................................................................................................
Thank you very much Mr Vaile, to Mrs Carnell, the Chief Minister of
the ACT, to my many Ministerial and Parliamentary colleagues, ladies
and gentleman.
At various stages of our history the notion and the ideal of nation
building has always captured the attention and the affection of Australians.
It was the notion of nation building that drove the founding fathers
towards federation almost a hundred years ago. And it will, of course,
be very natural, as we come towards the centenary of federation, that
we think of the great nation-building events that have occurred in
the past and also turn our gaze to the nation-building events of all
kinds that will shape our future. And many of the policies of the
Federal Government are built around the ideal, the continuing ideal,
of nation building. And it is in the context of building the nation's
economy, in an even stronger way, that next week I will have something
to say about the Government's exciting plans to reform Australia's
taxation system. But I'm not about to give you a sneak preview
of that today. That will come next week. But it is true, as Mark Vaile
said, that we are experiencing, literally, the rebirth and the revival
of rail in Australia.
The rail system that the Government inherited a couple of years ago
was in need of change and reform and there was a very large financial
blackhole involved in that system. But we have followed a very clear
strategy to rebuild rail in Australia and largely, as a result of
that, the private sector is now reinvesting in rail throughout our
nation. The Alice Springs-to-Darwin and the Melbourne-to-Darwin inland
railway offer, potentially, enormous benefits to our nation. And by
announcing today the Canberra-to-Sydney consortium to proceed to the
confirmation stage, another building block is being laid in the revival
of Australian rail.
The proponents contend it will be achieved at no net cost to government
in keeping with the original condition. And they estimate that the
benefits to the nation will be in the order of $5.9 billion. There
will thousands of jobs created. There will be immense regional development,
particularly in the communities of Goulburn, Campbelltown and the
Southern Highlands.
And before announcing the consortium that has won the right to proceed
to a confirmation stage, I would like to pay a tribute to the four
consortia that put forward proposals. All four consortia provided
quality submissions that were visionary in their scope. I also acknowledge
publicly the members of the Joint Project Control Group, chaired by
Ron Brown, which has made this announcement possible. In consultation
with New South Wales and the ACT, the governments have accepted the
recommendation of the Independent Project Evaluation Committee. It
is with great pleasure I announce Speedrail as the successful consortium
for the Very High Speed Train rail link from Sydney-to-Canberra.
This train is to travel at up to 320 km/h to complete the Sydney/Canberra
journey in just 81 minutes, offering, in every sense of the word,
a competitive alternative to air travel. The $3.5 billion project
proposed by Speedrail will be one of the largest infrastructure projects
in Australia's history. Moreover 80% of the resources needed to complete
the project, by the year 2003 will come from within Australia. Thousands
of jobs will be created during the construction phase. Speedrail will
now enter a confirmation phase with the Federal, New South Wales and
ACT Governments to confirm access and financing arrangements to allow
the project to commence.
Ladies and gentleman, this is a bold and visionary initiative. And
while the Canberra to Sydney bids were assessed solely on the basis
of the criteria set down for this stand alone project, a Canberra-to-Sydney
line does leave open the possibility of extension to other cities.
Accordingly I have asked Mr Bob Mansfield to establish a committee
to examine the possibilities for expanding the scope of the Very High
Speed Train transport in Australia. My Government is immensely proud
to have played a major role in creating the environment in which the
private sector feels encouraged to invest in the future of Australia
and Australian transport.
I would like to pay particular tribute to the energy and commitment
of Mrs Carnell, the Chief Minister of the ACT. She has been a very
powerful advocate of this project and I congratulate her for that.
I did speak to Mr Carr yesterday afternoon and he regrets not being
here but he asked me to convey to the gathering the total support
of the New South Wales' Government towards the project. And I'd
also like to acknowledge the presence of the former Minister for Transport
and Regional Development, John Sharp, who played a very significant
part on the part of the Federal Government in the inauguration of
this project.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I said at the beginning of my speech the
notion and the concept of nation building has always been very close
to the hearts of Australians. It drove federation almost a hundred
years ago, it drove the great waves of post war immigration after
World War II, it has driven many decisions by many governments and
it has driven many investors who care about the future of our country.
And it is entirely appropriate as we approach the Centenary of Federation
that not only we reflect on those events that have built the nation
in the past and given us what we have now, but we also embrace those
projects and those ventures and those policy changes which will further
build the strength of the nation as we go into the 21st
century. Speedrail is a pragmatic and visionary expression of that
theme and that concept of nation building.
I congratulate the successful consortium, I thank the others who contributed,
I wish all those involved great success and I assure the project of
the unrelenting and continuing support of the Federal Government.
Thank you.