Transcript: ABC Local Radio Brisbane with Steve Austin

STEVE AUSTIN: …well let me go to Paul Fletcher, who is the Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government, Paul Fletcher good morning to you.

PAUL FLETCHER: Good morning, thanks Steve.

STEVE AUSTIN: I know you’ve been waiting on the line, I appreciate you waiting patiently for me. So $800 million by the opposition is their commitment at the launch on the weekend, how much money is the Federal Government, or the Coalition, willing to put up if elected on July 2nd?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well look Steve, you went to a number of questions with Anthony Albanese. One was ‘when’s the money going to become available?’ and according to reports from the Financial Review this morning of the total $1.7 billion that Labour’s committed, of which $800 million is for Cross River Rail and the rest is for other projects around the country, only $500 million is in the first four years. So most of it is beyond what’s called the forward estimates. Can I also pick up something else that Anthony Albanese said, where he said that there’d be no money for public transport under the Coalition. In fact, under the Moreton Bay Rail Link there’s over $500 million of federal money in public transport, almost all of that has been paid in the years that the Coalition has been in government. So Anthony Albanese is factually incorrect there. Now, in terms of where the Coalition stands on Cross River Rail, it’s an important project, the planning needs to be completed. At this stage, as Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said over the weekend, a business case has just been finalised. It now has to go to Building Queensland, which is a specialised infrastructure agency for the Queensland government, before it then goes to the Queensland cabinet, that’s the sequence that Jackie Trad herself has outlined. It has not gone to Infrastructure Australia. So the first thing that needs to happen from the point of view of the…

STEVE AUSTIN: It has not gone to Infrastructure Australia?

PAUL FLETCHER: No. Look, there have been discussions about this project at various points, but in terms of the business case for the project that the Queensland government would be seeking funding for, that business case has yet to go to Infrastructure Australia, because of course it has to go to Building Queensland, and then it needs to be signed off on by the Queensland cabinet. Now, what then happens, with all of these projects, is that a business case gets lodged with the Commonwealth Government; the Commonwealth Government then makes an assessment, and makes a decision based upon the advice of Infrastructure Australia. So the essential point about this money that’s been announced by Labour for Cross River Rail is that it comes at a very odd stage in the process, because we actually don’t yet know what is proposed. We certainly know what form the project has been described in at stages in the past, but there have been different versions of the project. We need to see the total cost of it and we need to go through the proper planning process and then the assessment processes by Infrastructure Australia. In fact the rule that we apply is that wherever there is going to be an investment of more than $100 million by the Commonwealth, there must be an assessment and a cost benefit analysis by Infrastructure Australia – that’s the way we make sure to get value for money for tax payers. So really what you are seeing here from Labour in relation to this project is an announcement that has been timed for the electoral cycle rather than timed to the actual progress of the project, and we’ve seen this in other parts of the country. For example, $500 million to something called ‘Adelink’ in Adelaide – that’s a $3 billion project. Now the South Australian Government Doesn’t have the money to make up the balance, and you are asking a very good question of Anthony Albanese, where is the remaining money going to come from, on top of this money that Labour says it’s committed.

STEVE AUSTIN: Well at least we have some sort of figure from them, when will we see some sort of figure from the Coalition?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well, we will look at it when Infrastructure Australia has had the chance to assess the business case. That is the standard process that applies to these projects. Can I make the point that we’ve put a lot of money into public transport rail projects round the country; $1.7 million for the Sydney Metro project, $857 million for the Melbourne Metro project. So there is a proven readiness of the Turnbull Government to provide funding for rail projects, public transport projects, despite what Mr Albanese said, that’s just factually wrong. And there is a proven readiness on our part to fund major transport projects including rail projects. But what we need to do is go through the proper planning process, the proper assessment process, and we’ll do that and we’ll assess this project on its merits when its business case comes to Infrastructure Australia, and Infrastructure Australia has done the assessment, rather than timing announcements to meet the electoral cycle, which is clearly what Labour has done.

STEVE AUSTIN: Jackie Trad, the Deputy Premier of Queensland, released a statement on the weekend, saying that the overall cost was in the vicinity of $5.4 billion for this project. How does this look to you generally?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well I think that is broadly in the ballpark of what this project has been understood to cost, at various stages in its development. Can I make this point and perhaps emphasise one area where I broadly agree with what Anthony Albanese is saying. One of the issues here is how do we get private sector capital coming in to support his project. Now it won’t come, it will not come based upon the financial returns of the rail line itself. The reality is rail does not generate a positive financial return…

STEVE AUSTIN: So what would business be looking for, the ancillary businesses that hang around the stations and the platforms?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well they’re looking for what’s called in the jargon value capture or value sharing. This is the idea that when you build a new rail line, the value of the property, particularly around the stations, goes up sharply – or potentially does, if it’s well designed – so if you can tap into that increase in value that becomes a potential source of capital funding. Now that’s an approach that’s being used for example with the Cross River Rail project in London – I’m sorry with the Cross Rail project in London, the Cross Rail it’s called in London. Also the MRT in Hong Kong is another good example of this. It’s a theme that Prime Minister Turnbull has been emphasising; when the Federal Government puts money into major public transport projects we want to look at value capture as a means of contributing to the cost. So that’s one of the issues we’ll be looking at in the business case, and we’re keen to work with the Queensland Government on these issues. I had a meeting with Sterling Hinchcliff this year, and we had a good discussion about the project overall. SO this is a project that the Turnbull Government is interested in, very interested in. It’s clearly very important to Brisbane, we do want to work with the Queensland Government on it, but we need to go through the correct process, and the immediate next step from the point of view of the Commonwealth is getting a business case lodged with Infrastructure Australia. We understand the Queensland Government still needs to work through its process before it has something ready for final consideration for Infrastructure Australia, then Infrastructure Australia will do its assessment and provide its advice to the Commonwealth, and then we can start having discussions. But we need to go through the proper processes here.

STEVE AUSTIN: Paul Fletcher is the Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government. Paul I’ve got to tell you, my listeners are pretty cynical about this project, and they often say to me ‘look, I don’t care who is in power, I just want the various levels of government to agree on some start point and make it happen.’ Is there anything that the Coalition can say about that – there’s a deep well of resentment in the electorate, irrespective of their political colour, that says to both sides in politics ‘just agree to things in the national interest and get it done.’

PAUL FLETCHER: Well the role of the Commonwealth and something the Turnbull Government takes very seriously is working with state governments to support particularly these very large infrastructure projects which are typically beyond the financial capacity of the state government on a stand-alone basis.

STEVE AUSTIN: Particularly Queensland because we are in huge debt in this state at the moment?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well one of the points is that the Queensland government has failed to do what NSW and Victoria, for example, have done which is withdraw capital from existing infrastructure assets such as electricity networks to reallocate into vitally needed urban public transport, and that’s very unfortunate that the Queensland Government has refused to do that. Nevertheless, the Turnbull Government stands ready to work with state governments, and we do this routinely, in relation to major public transport projects - but it is important that we go through the right processes. We are obviously here talking about a piece of infrastructure that will serve the people of Brisbane for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more years. Now it’s important that we plan it properly and that the support that the Commonwealth Government provides is well designed to fit and support the project. So the next step is we want to see a business case and as soon as we see that business case Infrastructure Australia will assess it and provide its advice to the Commonwealth, and then we will be in a position to go forward working with the Queensland Government and other stakeholders.

STEVE AUSTIN:  You’ve been very generous with your time Paul Fletcher, thanks for your time.

PAUL FLETCHER: Thanks indeed.