HON. PETER DUTTON MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS:
I want to thank the Prime Minister, thank you very much for coming up to Brisbane, this is a great announcement today. I want to acknowledge Luke Howarth, my next door neighbour and good friend, the Member for Petrie. I'd like to say thank you very much to Ian Watson and to his family for hosting us today on their property, which is right on the doorstop of where the on-ramp will be constructed.
This is a huge investment by the Australian Government, by the Turnbull government, to make sure we can take traffic off local roads. We are conscious of families being stuck in traffic, congestion is a big issue in our capital cities in particular in this city of Brisbane and on the outskirts where there's been tremendous growth and infill development, we need extra infrastructure and the Turnbull Government is providing that in record numbers.
So Prime Minister, thank you very much for being here for making the announcement. It really is going to make a big difference to communities here in Murrumba Downs and Griffin but up to Kallangur and North Lakes and beyond. It's much needed, it's overdue and we're very welcoming of the investment that you’ve announced today. So I might just ask Luke to say a few words.
LUKE HOWARTH, MEMBER FOR PETRIE:
Well thanks very much Peter and Prime Minister, it's great to have you here up in our electorates today. This is really exciting news for the people of Griffin and it's really exciting news for the people of Murrumba Downs and everyone in this region, it is going to make it a lot easier for them as new people to move into the Moreton Bay region and into our areas here.
I am really excited and I want to thank the Prime Minister for coming up because his investment in Queensland, the Turnbull Government's investment in Queensland has been phenomenal in the last few years with projects like this and other overpasses locally like the Boundary Road overpass and the Deception Bay Road overpass as well as the Gateway Motorway that will be completed later this year in October.
And as well as funding for the Bruce Highway right along here which creates more jobs. All of this is only possible because of the Prime Minister's plan and commitment to jobs and growth. Without that we wouldn't be able to fund these projects that the Prime Minister is about to announce. So thank you Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Luke, thanks Peter. Yes, what are we going to do is commit 80 percent of the cost of ensuring that there are on and off ramps both going north and south on the Bruce Highway here. That is going to mean that the people in Murrumba Downs, and in Griffin and indeed right through here in the northern part of Brisbane right through to the Sunshine Coast are going to have a faster trip home. This investment will ensure that they travel more safely and get home sooner. Safer and sooner, that's what this investment will do.
We estimate this upgrade behind us will cost about $150 million. We're saying to the Queensland Government, let's get on with it, we'll fund 80 percent of it, that's $120 million and thousands of people in Peter and Luke's electorates in Murrumba Downs and in Griffin and right through this Moreton Bay region will be able to get home sooner and safer.
This is the answer to congestion.
We just went through with the maps and you would have seen, as Luke and Peter described how so many of their friends and neighbours have to battle their way through local streets to get on to the Bruce Highway and to get home once they've got off it, making this junction here, to have both on and off ramps going north and south, is exactly what is needed.
Peter has been campaigning for it for over a decade and Luke's been campaigning for it ever since he got into Parliament, because it's needed. So now the money is there, we've got the budget back under control. We're spending $6.7 billion on the Bruce. And you're right about jobs Luke, I mean it was twenty four hundred jobs working on Bruce projects right now that we're funding and this will add another hundred jobs to that, and they'll be local jobs.
So this is what it's all about, jobs and growth, 420,700 jobs last year, the largest jobs growth in any given year in our history, the longest run of monthly jobs growth increases. Big jobs growth in Queensland. We want to see more of it.
I just want to say before we go to questions, it's great to be back in Queensland again and I want to say thank you to all of the athletes that are competing in the Commonwealth Games. All the best but we want to see lots of Aussie medals of course but we welcome all the visitors.
But above all I want to thank the 15,000 volunteers who are showing all of that great Australian welcoming spirit to ensure the Games happen.
Of course again supported by some very big infrastructure investments that we've enabled down on the Gold Coast particularly like the light rail and other projects. Anyway we're looking forward to that, it's going to be a great Commonwealth Games. Peter you said tickets were still available?
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS:
Tickets still available PM so people should jump online.
PRIME MINISTER:
Jump online, make sure you are there. Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, is there going to be more work on the Bruce, will we see more…
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, yes you will see more announcements about Bruce funding and we certainly, we have $6.7 billion committed to the Bruce, it is a vital national highway and that's why we're providing the high levels of support we are.
JOURNALIST:
So is this just a taste of what we are going to see?
PRIME MINISTER:
You will see more, you will see more. There will be more to come. But this is vitally important. Every single one of these investments, and they're massive investments, none of them are cheap. They're all, they all cost a lot of money, this is $150 million in total that we estimate it will cost. We are getting on with that job of ensuring that the Bruce enables Australians, whether they are living here in Queensland or travelling up the Bruce, it is a national highway, a lot of people from interstate travel up this highway. We want people to be able to complete their journeys swiftly and safely, get home sooner and safer. That's the objective.
JOURNALIST:
So Prime Minister the state government would have to contribute $30 million, is that right?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's right, we estimate it to be $150 million cost and we are offering to contribute 80 percent of that, which is 120.
JOURNALIST:
Would you fund 100% if the state government didn’t come to the table?
PRIME MINISTER:
The funding formula on the Bruce has been an 80 percent formula, that is a very - given it is a state road - that is a very generous allocation of money from the Commonwealth.
JOURNALIST:
Do you expect the state government to [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
We certainly expect this project, the need for this, I understand Luke and Peter, has been recognized for a very long time. It's a matter of great frustration to people, to local residents that it hasn't been done sooner. So now we're making sure the money is available to get on with it and it should get built.
JOURNALIST:
Is this pork-barrelling?
PRIME MINISTER:
If you're stuck in traffic because of the lack of highway infrastructure behind us. Or if you're living in a local community and you've got traffic backed up fighting its way down your street because of this lack of highway infrastructure, what you would call this is good investment, good infrastructure investment. That's what we're talking about.
JOURNALIST:
Why 80 percent, 80/20 for the north of the city and not 80/20 south of the city on the M1?
PRIME MINISTER:
The precedent has been set a long time ago. This is a national road, a national freeway and it also goes the whole length of Queensland. So the funding has been 80 percent Commonwealth for this but in the more built up areas that are more urban the funding formula has been 50/50.
JOURNALIST:
In exchange for funding would the Federal Government start insisting the Commonwealth get a share of road tolls?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's not part of the proposal, the proposal is to upgrade this so the road continues to be, just as it is today, toll free but obviously with this additional upgrade it will mean that people will get home sooner and safer.
JOURNALIST:
What's your response to the formation of this Monash group of backbenchers advocating, what's your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
In terms of energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee provides every incentive for the energy sector to invest in dispatchable power. So there is, those who are concerned that there should be more investment in coal fired power stations, the National Energy Guarantee puts a premium on dispatchability, 24/7 power. Now coal can obviously provide that, so can gas, so can hydro, so can other technologies.
What we want to ensure is Australians have affordable and reliable power. The National Energy Guarantee is a real breakthrough. It is a market-based policy designed by the Energy Security Board, and what that will ensure is that we have affordable, reliable power and of course we meet our emissions reduction commitments.
JOURNALIST:
Do you see it as a slight to your leadership that a group of MPs would feel the need to form a group like this rather than going through the normal policy channels?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can only say to you that our National Energy Guarantee has been endorsed by the whole party room, the whole Coalition party room. It's got strong support from industry, it's got strong support from state jurisdictions, it now has the support of the South Australian government following the change in government.
It's vitally important that it is adopted because what we need is a technology agnostic energy policy that encourages investment and that's precisely what the National Energy Guarantee will do.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask about KPMG’s assessment that the US - China trade war could be worse for Australia than the GFC?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well no one wins out of a trade war, that's for sure and that's why I have been such a strong advocate for free trade and open markets.
You know, when a lot of people including Bill Shorten for example said the Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead and that I was wasting my time trying to get it enacted or agreed to, I persevered.
I don't give up on Australian jobs, Bill Shorten does. I don't abandon Australian business. We got the TPP agreed and that is going to create thousands of jobs in Australia.
Our economic policies are working and the jobs figures are the proof.
JOURNALIST:
Are you worried about the US - China trade war?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've said again, nobody wins from a trade war. So I've been asked about China and the United States and their disputes on trade and we look forward to them negotiating an agreement on it. It is really important that we maintain a free trade, open markets, that has been the foundation of the prosperity we've all enjoyed especially in this region.
Okay thank you all very much.
JOURNALIST:
A question for Peter Dutton?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yep, sure here's Peter.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS:
Mate I haven't seen any of that and I've got no comment on that thank you.