Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Nation Building Program (National Land Transport) Amendment Bill 2009, which is a bill that seeks to amend and rename the Auslink (National Land Transport) Act 2005. But it is more than just a change of name; it represents a change in the direction that the Rudd government has made in the approach to road and rail investment. It represents a far more comprehensive, flexible and fair system of going about funding land transport in this country. In the last 18 months we have seen the Rudd government move away from the narrow-cast Auslink program, because this is a government which is about looking after all Australians. Nation building allows for the investment in road and rail infrastructure whether it is part of the national network or not. This is about building a land transport system across regional and metropolitan Australia. This is about putting into place a land transport system which acknowledges and understands the integrated nature of regional and metropolitan transport.

A perfect example of that is one project which is being funded under this program within my electorate of Corio: the $50 million upgrade of the connection between the national rail gauge and the grain port in the Port of Geelong. Geelong’s northern suburbs really represent one of the best pieces of transport and logistics land in Australia. There we have located near each other the national rail gauge, an airport, a seaport and Highway 1, all in a geographically strategic part of the country and all surrounded by land that can be used for transport and logistics providers. The issue has always been the connection between those different modes of transport. One of the connections which will be put in place as a part of this program is the $50 million loop which will allow an easy access into the grain pier for both southerly-bound and easterly-bound trains. It will avoid the complicated process which is currently involved in turning southerly-bound trains around. It will save something in the order of 20 minutes per train in getting that train into the grain pier. It represents the possibility of more trains being able to get into the grain pier and, potentially, of a different mix of products being able to leave the Port of Geelong.

That is a really good example which shows that this spending is being done in a way which connects regional, metro and country Australia, and it is a very good example of what this program is all about. This program will also provide, for the first time, federal government investment in delivering safer rail crossings, an area which previously had been a state responsibility. The federal government has never previously invested in boom gates. Last year there were 28 collisions in the state of Victoria, nine of which resulted in fatalities. The federal government is now funding safety upgrades for 58 Victorian rail crossings. One of them is in my electorate, on Geelong Ballan Road at Moorabool. Right now there exists just a set of flashing lights there, but there will be boom gates put in place which will make that a much safer crossing. Overall, the government is funding 292 new boom gates and other safety measures at high-risk rail crossings around the country. This, combined with the Regional Rail Express in Victoria—the $3.2 billion project being funded by the Commonwealth to provide for separation between metropolitan and country trains going into Melbourne, which will be an enormous boon for the many thousands of people in Geelong who commute into Melbourne on a daily basis—represents the kind of investment into the transport infrastructure of this country that we have not seen for a very long time indeed.

For the last 11 or 12 years of the Howard government, we saw a government which was sitting on its hands when it came to land transport infrastructure. If indeed the opposition ultimately rejects this bill then that is an effective vote against the Nation Building Program. It is an effective vote against the Black Spot Program, it is an effective vote against the Boom Gates for Rail Crossings Program, it is an effective vote against the Roads to Recovery program, it is an effective vote against the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, it is a vote against the investment of this government into the transport infrastructure of this country and it is a vote against the economic recovery of this nation. It is for these reasons that I am supporting this bill and I very much urge the opposition to do the same.

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