Walking the talk on infrastructure delivery

Introduction

 

Last week I spent a couple of hours doorknocking on Fraser Road in Normanhurst.

It runs just off Pennant Hills Road – which, until mid-2020, was one of Sydney’s busiest roads, with a round-the-clock stream of heavy traffic, including some 5,000 B-doubles and other trucks each day, travelling between the M1 at Wahroonga and the M2 at Pennant Hills.

At home after home, I asked, “How is Pennant Hills Road, now that NorthConnex is open.”

And at home after home, I was met with a smile of relief: “It is so much better.”

That’s what the removal of some 6,000 trucks a day means.

Of course, NorthConnex has delivered many benefits besides a much more pleasant environment for my constituents in Wahroonga and Normanhurst living near Pennant Hills Road.

It saves 15 minutes and 21 sets of traffic lights for through traffic.  It means less stop-start traffic and hence reduced fuel consumption and reduced emissions of both noxious compounds like sulphur dioxide and also greenhouse gases.  It means fewer crashes, injuries and deaths.

NorthConnex took sustained hard work to deliver.  In the 2013 election campaign our Liberal National team committed $405 million of Commonwealth funding; this was later matched by the New South Wales Government; and then NorthWestern Roads Group was confirmed to build, operate and maintain this dual 9 kilometre tunnel in March 2014.

My conversations with residents along Fraser Road reminded me why this work matters.  And it also reminded me that promising a project is one thing, but delivering is another.

Today, then, I want to talk about three things.

First, why infrastructure matters.

Second, how the Morrison Government does not just talk about infrastructure: we also deliver it.  It is not easy.  You can sometimes face pretty intense opposition.  But if you are serious, you have to stay the course.

Third, I want to compare our record with the approach taken by our political opponents, where there is plenty of talk but rather less delivery. 

Why infrastructure investment matters

 

Why, then, does infrastructure matter?

Why has the Morrison Government committed to a 10 year, $120 billion infrastructure investment program?

Of course, our infrastructure investment has macroeconomic benefits. A big infrastructure project generates thousands of jobs, and business opportunities for the head contractor, sub-contractors and a whole network of suppliers.

But it also brings important, and long-lasting, microeconomic benefits, particularly through increased productivity.

If a return truck journey between Sydney and Brisbane is five hours shorter because we have now completed the multibillion project to deliver a Pacific Highway that is four lanes the whole way, that is a productivity benefit.

If a tradie can do three jobs in a day, not two, because she spends less time stuck in traffic thanks to projects like WestConnex in Sydney or North South Corridor in Adelaide, that is a productivity benefit.

If a journey from Parramatta to Sydney Airport takes 40 minutes fewer than previously -- as will be the case once WestConnex is completed -- that is a productivity benefit.

It also has safety benefits. On a modern motorway there are fewer crashes, deaths and injuries per vehicle-kilometre travelled than a surface road with multiple traffic lights and intersections.

It has environmental benefits.  If we can increase the share of freight that travels by rail and not road along the east coast of Australia, that means less fuel used and reduced emissions per tonne of freight moved.  That is why we are committing $14.5 billion to the Inland Rail project, designed to deliver a reliable 24-hour rail freight journey time between Melbourne and Brisbane, and hence compete more effectively with road freight.

It has economy-wide benefits by reducing logistics and freight costs.  Inland Rail aims to deliver freight costs on the east coast that are 30 per cent lower than road.  In turn, retail businesses that are paying for the freight cost of the goods they order from their wholesalers will be able to pass through price reductions to their customers.

Similarly, the $3.6 billion we have recently committed for two intermodal terminals in Melbourne -- together with connecting road and rail infrastructure -- will make freight handling cheaper and more efficient.  Again, this will mean downward pressure on prices paid by consumers for the goods that pass through these terminals.

Trucking businesses using the modern four-lane Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane now have a tangible cost advantage compared to the old road.  With more gentle gradients and fewer abrupt curves, on the new highway a truck is better able to maintain a constant speed and in turn consume less fuel.

Infrastructure investment means improved quality of life for everybody who is able to spend less time sitting in a car so they can get home to their family more quickly.

And infrastructure investment also has very important equity and fairness benefits.  Today, in our big cities, some areas have good connectivity, and some areas have much poorer connectivity.  Projects like WestConnex will make it quicker and easier for people from Western and South Western Sydney to move quickly around this five million-plus metropolis.

For all these reasons, then, infrastructure matters.

 

Record of delivery

 

But to get the benefits my constituents near Pennant Hills Road are now enjoying, you need to do more than talk about infrastructure.  You need to deliver it.  And that has been a consistent focus for our Liberal National Government since we came to power in 2013.

Since coming into government in 2013, the Morrison Government has committed a total of more than $200 billion to transport infrastructure investment across our nation.

Over 520 projects have been completed, with a total Australian Government contribution of $37.5 billion.

Over 305 projects are under construction or underway with a total Australian Government contribution of $25.6 billion.

Let me mention just some major transport projects that have reached completion across our regional and urban areas:

 

• Pacific Highway, Woolgoolga to Ballina: $3.7 billion in Australian Government funding
• Northern Connector in Adelaide: $686m in Australian Government funding
• Bruce Highway - Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway in South-East Queensland: $746 million in Australian Government funding
• NorthLink WA - Northern and Central Sections in Perth: $556 million in Australian Government funding.

 

And we are making great progress on many other projects, like Western Sydney Airport, the NBN, WestConnex and Faster Rail. Let me talk a little more about these projects, and contrast our approach with those who are asking you to entrust them and their union masters with these projects, 17 days from now.

On all of these vital projects, Mr Albanese’s track record as a Minister during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years raises serious concerns about what we could expect from an Albanese government.

 

Western Sydney Airport

Western Sydney International Airport is almost 30 per cent complete, with almost 28 million cubic metres of earth moved and construction underway on the runway and taxiways, the terminal and the landslide roads and buildings.

So how far did Mr Albanese get with this project? From his first speech in parliament in 1996, Albanese talked up the need for a second Sydney airport in Western Sydney.

In 2007, after eleven years of speaking about this, he became Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.  Now he had the chance to deliver.

Well, he delivered a Green Paper.

He delivered a White Paper.

He commissioned a joint study with the NSW Government looking at potential sites.

In 2012 it recommended Badgerys Creek – and he immediately ruled out an airport at that site.

After six years as Minister for Infrastructure, Mr Albanese had not only failed to turn a sod on the airport, he hadn’t even chosen a site for the airport.

It took our Liberal National Government to make the decision in 2014 to get on with building Western Sydney International Airport at Badgerys Creek.

The Airport is on track to begin flights in 2026, and will reach 10 million annual passengers by 2032. None of this would have happened if Labor’s incompetence and indecision had been allowed to continue.

 

NBN

Let me turn to the NBN.

After six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Government, and six billion dollars spent, barely more than 50,000 premises were connected to the fixed line NBN.

The project we inherited in 2013 was a trainwreck – and Mr Albanese was the Minister.

In 2013 he said: “This is the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history [and] you can't click your fingers and just get it done.”

When we got into government we showed that you could get it done.

Today, 8.4 million premises are connected - roughly 165 times the number Labor had connected to the fixed line. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, and the internet became the preferred platform for work and education, 98 per cent of homes could order a service. Can you imagine how we would have coped if Labor’s slow-motion train-wreck had been allowed to continue?

 

WestConnex

Let’s look at Mr Albanese’s record on WestConnex.

Labor’s 2013 Budget committed $1.8 billion to what is now called WestConnex.

Mr Albanese continued to take credit for it until 2015, even accusing Tony Abbot of ripping $300m in funding out of it.

But then, in May 2016, Mr Albanese did a backflip. He told a pre-election forum in Grayndler that, if re-elected, Labor would not provide any funding to WestConnex.

This was a desperate attempt to stave off his Greens opponent in Grayndler, sacrificing the people of Western Sydney at the altar of inner-city dwellers.

Imagine the outcome for this vital project if Albanese had become a Minister again and executed on his backflip. Labor’s subservience to minority interests had been allowed to continue. Thankfully, Labor lost the 2016 election and, as a result, WestConnex is on track for completion in 2023.

 

High Speed Rail

And finally, let’s look at Mr Albanese’s repeating party trick: high speed rail along the east coast of Australia.

Before the 2013 election he promised $52 million to establish the High Speed Rail Authority. Before the 2019 election, it was $1 billion towards corridor preservation for east coast High Speed Rail.

In January this year, Albanese went to Newcastle to announce that, if elected this year, Labor would commit $500m towards high speed rail from Melbourne to Brisbane in its first term.

On any credible estimate, east coast high-speed rail would cost between $200bn and $300bn. 

So this was like somebody saying, “I am going to buy myself a house in Sydney (median price $1.5m) and I am setting aside $3750 for that purpose”. 

Now it could be that Mr Albanese fully intends to spend several hundred billion dollars, but just will not admit it before an election.

The other possibility is just as troubling: Albanese knows it will never be delivered, he just loves to talk about it.

By contrast, the Coalition is actually getting on delivery our faster rail policy. Last month’s Budget includes $3.7 billion for three new faster rail projects:

• $1 billion for Wyong to Tuggerah on the Sydney – Newcastle Corridor;
• $1.12 billion between Kuraby and Beenleigh no the Brisbane – Gold Coast Corridor; and
• $1.6 billion for a new rail extension between Beerwah to Maroochydore, connecting Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast.

This builds on the $2 billion for Geelong Fast Rail committed in 2019. The projects we are funding are designed to deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable passenger rail. Our faster rail policy will deliver practical and affordable improvements to regional connectivity -- in contrast to Labor’s undeliverable fantasies.

 

Conclusion

 

Today I began by talking about why infrastructure matters.

I am sure I don’t really need to convince any of you of this proposition. These projects are how you grow your businesses and employ tens of thousands of hardworking Australians.

So I’ll close by asking you to reflect on how, unlike Labor, the Coalition stands by its commitments and sees them through until they are delivered.

Unlike Labor, the Coalition makes decisions to get projects moving, and sticks with those decisions.

Unlike Labor, the Coalition pursues projects that are real, not undeliverable fantasies.

Unlike Labor, the Coaltion is willing to investment record amounts of funding to delivery for all Australians, and not just those in our cities.

Unlike Labor, the Coalition is getting on with delivering the vital infrastructure projects that are your bread and butter.

And that is exactly what we will continue doing if re-elected on the 21st of May.

This speech was delivered to the Future of Construction Summit in Sydney on 4 May 2022