Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the coalition government’s investment in infrastructure is building a stronger future for the nation and helping to boost export performance? Are there any risks to the prosperity that this has generated?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hinkler for his question. As the chair of the transport committee for a number of years, he has produced a number of reports that have sought increases in government investment in both road and rail infrastructure across Australia. As a response to those we have delivered in spades in recent years, this government, through AusLink 1 and 2, has committed $38 billion to land transport infrastructure in Australia, with the first stage of that, $2.4 billion, going into rail infrastructure in Australia. I think every Australian understands the history of rail in Australia. The networks have been generated and managed by state governments—some better than others, but mostly not very well. We have had to negotiate, for example, in New South Wales to take over a lease on the main interstate freight line, and also the Hunter Valley coal line, so that we could actually have certainty in investing in those pieces of infrastructure. For example, we are investing $389 million into the Hunter Valley coal line to make it more efficient, to get more coal to the port. Unfortunately, the New South Wales government is not matching that investment at the port to get the coal off the dock and onto the ships. But at least we have fixed up one part of it—

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who owns the port?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who owns the port? The New South Wales government and one of the authorities. The member for Hunter interjects. He knows the answer. We are investing in rail infrastructure. But when it comes to Queensland, we cannot, because there is a monopoly in Queensland. The Queensland government and Queensland Rail run a monopoly in Queensland on rail operations. So if the coal mining companies in Queensland want to shift their coal to port, they do not have any choice—they have to do it with Queensland Rail.

We have seen reports in the last couple of days of the frustrations of industry with regard to idle coal wagons that are being parked in side tracks and the lack of capacity in getting their coal to the ports. It is going to cost millions of dollars and many jobs, and they are expressing great concern about it. But the Queensland government are still not doing anything about investing in the rail system in Queensland. They will not allow competition into it and they will not improve it by investing in new rolling stock and infrastructure to try to help service the coal industry to get that coal out. You have a look and you wonder why.

I know that the member for Hinkler, representing the city of Gladstone, would like to see more coal going through the port of Gladstone, a very important city on the central coast of Queensland. But the Beattie Labor government will not do it. We have a look and wonder why. I am sure that behind this is the long reach of the arm of the union movement in Queensland Rail and a few of those entities in Queensland. You wonder: why would they have such significant control over the government in Queensland? We all know that, to be a member of the Labor Party, you have to be a member of a union first. We did a bit of research to see what union Premier Beattie belonged to. The first response we got was that he was actually the Queensland secretary of the rail, tram and bus conductors union. He is not conducting the rail operations in Queensland very well at the moment. But we found out, when we googled another site, that he was actually the secretary of the station masters union in Queensland. The point being that Premier Beattie surely ought to be able to get the rail system to deliver coal to the ports much more efficiently than he is.

The Leader of the Opposition, another Queenslander, has been saying a lot about the end of the mining boom. He is forecasting the end of the mining boom. But we know why he knows there is going to be an end to the mining boom: because if he gets into office, if he gets into this seat over here, the unions will be back in control—they will roll back industrial relations, they will take control of the industrial relations system in Australia. That is what will end the mining boom.

The Leader of the Opposition was asked a few weeks ago on Insiders which union he belonged to. He sort of hesitated for a moment when Barry Cassidy asked the question. He said, ‘Oh, it’s probably the Public Sector Union.’ If you have a look at the Leader of the Opposition’s background you will see that he was actually a member of the Queensland Public Sector Union, but also of the BLF—the old BLF, which has morphed into the CFMEU. We read on Saturday what Kevin Reynolds and the CFMEU want—and they know, and they have publicly stated, that a Rudd-led Labor government will deliver it to them.