Supporting Growth in South East Queensland

Introduction

It is good to be here at the Queensland Press Club.

South East Queensland is growing fast.  More and more people want to live here – and it is not hard to understand why. The 2032 Olympics will further stimulate that growth.

Today I want to speak about the Morrison Government’s commitment to the infrastructure South East Queensland needs to support that growth.

I will start by reminding you of our track record since 2013.

Next I want to highlight some key themes in our infrastructure investment strategy.

Lastly I will discuss some of the major SEQ infrastructure commitments in the 2022 budget, and why we have made them.

Our track record since 2013

Since coming to government in 2013, our Liberal National Government has committed $35.9 billion towards infrastructure projects in Queensland – including the $3.9 billion committed to Queensland projects in the 2022-23 Budget.

This investment is across 349 road and rail infrastructure projects. Of these, 155 projects have already been completed.

A major priority in South-East Queensland has been upgrades to the M1 Pacific Motorway – in fact we’ve committed over $2.1 billion since 2013.

The projects include the construction of additional lanes, lane widening, new managed motorways technology, upgrades to busways and active transport.

The Gateway Motorway Merge was completed in April 2020; Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes completed in June 2020.

The remaining M1 upgrade projects are expected to support over 2,700 jobs in the region.

We are also supporting the Coomera Connector, with $1.1 billion of Commonwealth funding to date. Stage one is a new 16 kilometre four-lane connection between Coomera and Nerang, including bridges over the Coomera and Nerang rivers.

Construction is expected to start in mid-2022 and be completed by mid-2026. Approximately 1,000 jobs are expected to be supported during construction.

It will reduce pressure on the M1 by providing an alternative route for the growing communities and commercial hubs of Helensvale and Coomera.

We have committed $491 million to Gold Coast Light Rail across stages 2 and 3.

And we are funding Brisbane metro with $300 million towards this $1.24 billion project led by Brisbane City Council.  This critical public transport project is a key pillar of Queensland’s 2032 Olympics transport plan.

Construction started in April 2020 and is expected to be completed by mid-2024.

Key themes in our infrastructure investment strategy

Our infrastructure investment strategy in SEQ has some key themes.

Our investments are designed to support a large and growing population.

SEQ is home to more than 3.8 million people – that’s one in seven Australians. And SEQ is one of the fastest growing regions in the country: by 2041, the region is anticipated to grow to 5.4 million residents, requiring 794,000 new houses, and 1 million new jobs.

Our investments are being made with the 2032 Olympics as a key consideration. With just over a decade to go, it is critical that we plan and invest in the required infrastructure now.

That is true of transport infrastructure; it is also true of games venues.  The Morrison Government has committed to deliver 24 Games venues in a 50/50 funding and governance partnership with Queensland; these venues will be spread across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast as well as Cairns, Townsville and Toowomba for football preliminaries.

The 2032 Brisbane Games is expected to create around 120,000 new jobs, including 90,000 jobs for Queenslanders through the decade long work to build the Games facilities.

Our commitment to investing in critical games infrastructure will provide economic and social benefits in SEQ and across the nation for the 10 years leading up to the Games and beyond.

We are investing consistent with the Morrison Government’s faster rail strategy.  In 2019 we committed to a 20 Year National Faster Rail Plan. 

This has seen us do detailed work in partnership with state governments to investigate faster rail along corridors connecting major capital cities to key regional centres - with services able to reach speeds of up to 160km/hr.

It has also led to significant investments – including $2 billion for faster rail between Melbourne and Geelong, announced in the 2019 Budget; and in the most recent Federal Budget: $1 billion for faster rail between Sydney and Newcastle, $1.1 billion for faster rail between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and $1.6 billion for faster rail between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, the latter of which I’ll expand on in a moment.

We have worked with the Queensland Government to develop business cases for Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane to the Gold Coast. Consistent with the second of these, in 2021 we committed $178 million to preconstruction of the Beenleigh to Kuraby upgrade on the Gold Coast Line. 

Our faster rail approach is carefully developed, logical and credible. By contrast we hear vague talk from Mr Albanese of high speed rail along Australia’s east coast. On any credible estimate that would cost between $200 billion and $300 billion – and work would not even start for a decade.

Our investments in South East Queensland are also in line with our freight strategy centred around Inland Rail. Inland Rail will enhance our national freight and supply chain capabilities, supporting growth for Queensland and for the nation.

Already in Queensland it has stimulated private sector investments by players such as Interlink SQ, SCT Logistics in Bromelton, Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport and Qube Logistics.

Inland Rail has the potential to save $113 million a year on transport costs for freight moving to Queensland, according to modelling by CSIRO.  As well as these powerful economic benefits it will remove thousands of trucks from the road, increasing safety and reducing emissions.

We are also investing in South East Queensland in line with our cities policy with city deals our key policy tool.  City Deals are a vehicle to make transformative investments in line with a vision agreed between the three levels of government.  They also often include commitments to business plans and studies that often inform significant funding commitments down the track. The recent signing of the SEQ City Deal brings to nine the number of deals we have done around the country, and brings the Commonwealth’s total investment in City Deals to $8.9 billion.

The major SEQ commitments in the 2022 budget

SEQ City Deal

That is a good point at which to turn to the major SEQ commitments in the 2022 budget – because the first of course is the SEQ City Deal, signed just over two weeks ago by the Prime Minister, Premier Palaszczuk and Lord Mayor Schrinner at the Gabba.

It has taken a lot of work to get here since, in March 2019, the three levels of government signed a Statement of Intent for an SEQ City Deal.

I am very pleased we were able to reach agreement – and to demonstrate a shared vision for the future of SEQ. The City Deal is designed to stimulate the economy, create jobs, enhance connectivity and improve the liveability of the region.

Deal Partners will invest $1.8 billion in the SEQ region across 31 initiatives, including an Australian Government contribution valued at $667 million. 

The Deal will provide better digital and transport connectivity to drive productivity and reduce congestion; greater investment in urban amenities and green and blue environmental assets; and will support the liveability of the SEQ region to help it respond sustainably to rapid population growth.

Some of its key elements include:

• $450 million for the Brisbane Metro – Woolloongabba station, a critical infrastructure node to enhance connectivity within Brisbane and between Brisbane Metro and the heavy rail network, particularly ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• $286 million for a Liveability Fund - for projects that will deliver improved community facilities, urban amenity, or enhanced liveability, and support environmental infrastructure and open spaces.
• $200 million for the SEQ Innovation Economy Fund - the Australian Government and Queensland Government will partner with the private sector and/or local government to invest in capital projects that promote and grow SEQ’s innovation economy.
• $105 million for Resource Recovery Infrastructure - a region-wide approach to managing waste infrastructure to improve SEQ’s resource recovery and progress the region towards a circular economy.
• $40 million for Local Digital Priority Projects - the Australian Government will partner with the private sector and local governments to enhance digital connectivity to address specific local economic, business, and social priorities.
• $30 million for digital connectivity on rail networks.

A major element of the budget was a commitment to two faster rail projects in Queensland.  There is $1.6 billion for the Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast (Beerwah to Maroochydore) rail extension and $1.121 billion for the Brisbane to the Gold Coast (Kuraby to Beenleigh) Faster Rail Upgrade.

Let me speak firstly of the Gold Coast project.  The Commonwealth’s funding, on a 50:50 basis with Queensland, will upgrade the 19 kilometre section of passenger rail between Kuraby and Beenleigh. It will double capacity from two to four tracks; realign tracks and straighten some difficult curves which today slow trains down; upgrade seven stations and relocate one.

As Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) officials explained to me on a site visit to Beenleigh recently, having a stretch of four tracks means you can run more express trains and all-stops trains.  It means faster, more frequent and more reliable services. Importantly, the benefits extend along the full 90 kilometers of the route between Brisbane and Varsity Lakes at the Gold Coast end. They are not felt just along the 19 kilometre stretch which is upgraded. 

By addressing this bottleneck, the project will allow this important train line to meet growing demand as the population grows; it will also be vital for the transport needs of the Olympics. 

On 22 February the Palaszczuk Government dropped a story to the Courier Mail announcing that it would be committing $1.12 billion to this upgrade, and calling on the Commonwealth to provide matching funding.  As was revealed in the Budget, we have done just this. Our willingness to do so draws heavily on the joint business case work done for this route as part of our National Faster Rail Plan, which detailed some of the benefits I have discussed above.

Very similar principles apply to the Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast rail extension. Our funding, again premised on a 50:50 share with Queensland, will deliver a new 37 kilometre rail line from Beerwah to the key regional centre of Maroochydore.  The project will be built along the Caloundra and Maroochydore Corridor Options Study (CAMCOS) corridor that was preserved in 2001 by the Queensland Government.

The Sunshine Coast region is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The new line will open up mass transit accessibility to the Sunshine Coast and deliver a step change in public transport services.

The Sunshine Coast will host several important Olympics venues in 2032. Heavy rail to the Sunshine Coast will be important for the fast and efficient mass transit movement of athletes, media, spectators and officials during the Games.

You may have noticed that Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey has engaged in some vigorous public criticism of the Commonwealth’s $1.6 billion Sunshine Coast rail commitment since we announced it.  For example, he said the project costings in the Federal Budget had been “plucked out of thin air”.

In fact, our $1.6 billion commitment was based on a cost estimate in the North Coast Connect detailed business case.  Taking a conservative approach, we have scaled up the cost estimate in that business case to arrive at a total estimated project cost of $3.2 billion – and struck our commitment as 50 per cent of that in line with the usual cost sharing principles.  In other words, the costing work is every bit as robust as that underpinning our contribution to the Gold Coast project.

Incidentally, just as I visited Beenleigh in February and was briefed by Department of Transport and Main Roads officials, I also toured the CAMCOS corridor on the same visit and was briefed in considerable detail by Department of Transport and Main Roads officials.  So I am personally pretty confident that what we have proposed is quite sensible and is aligned much of the detailed work the Queensland Government has done on this project.  

I would also note that some of the Queensland Government’s thinking on heavy rail between Beerwah and Maroochydore is in the public domain in the Southern Sunshine Coast Public Transport Strategy, released earlier this year. The Commonwealth’s funding commitment is quite consistent with the strategy set out in that document, and is consistent with the agreement between both governments at the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) in December to commit $3 million each towards investment planning for the project. The investment planning will build on the NCC detailed business case.

I have dealt with Mark Bailey on and off since 2015. Indeed my first engagement with him concerned the Gateway Merge and Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes upgrade on the M1. For several months he indignantly maintained that I was ripping off Queenslanders because the Commonwealth’s funding commitment was premised on 50:50 cost sharing and he wanted the Commonwealth to bear 80 per cent of the cost.  It was a nonsensical argument and in due course he abandoned it, we reached a sensible deal and the project went ahead.

So I was not hugely surprised when Minister Bailey picked up the verbal cudgels on this project.  Once again his arguments make very little sense. In due course I trust we will be able to reach a sensible agreement and work together constructively to deliver this project which is vitally needed both for the Olympics and for the growth requirements of the Sunshine Coast.

Off the back of the two faster rail investments in Queensland, and one in NSW, today we are releasing our National Faster Rail Investment Program. This document outlines extensive work undertaken since the 2019 National Faster Rail Plan, and describes in more detail our recently announced investment priorities.

Finally, let me highlight some important funding for planning included in the Budget: $22.45 million for Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 – Business Case Development across South East Queensland, specifically:

• further planning on M1 Pacific Motorway
• Sunshine Coast road priorities;
• Sunshine Coast Public Transport, including integration of heavy rail; and
• Ipswich Motorway (Oxley to Darra) corridor

These projects will not only ensure Queensland will be able to deliver a world-class 2032 Olympic Games, but they will support growth in the lead up to, and beyond the Games.

Conclusion

Let me conclude, then, by returning to my starting observation: the Morrison Government’s significant investment in South East Queensland infrastructure is based on a clear strategy to support the growth and liveability of this dynamic region. 

I am pleased that we have reached agreement on the SEQ City Deal – and I endorse the words of Premier Palaszczuk when the deal was signed: “We work best when we work together”.

I am also pleased with our faster rail initiatives.  We are aligned when it comes to the Gold Coast project, and I am confident that in due course we will also reach agreement when it comes to the Sunshine Coast.  Despite some of the verbal bomb throwing which occurs from time to time, the Morrison Government has worked very constructively with the Palaszczuk Government to deliver outcomes for the people of Queensland. 

We collectively have a pretty good track record – and should the Morrison Government be returned at this election I am sure we will continue that approach of working constructively together.