Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (17:16): I rise with considerable joy to speak on this motion. If my father were here, God rest him, he would be delighted that I am talking about infrastructure, because photos of my family life are very much punctuated by images of the sort of machinery that builds roads and developed this country. I love roads. I love infrastructure. I love the Harbour Bridge and what it says about a great nation's infrastructure vision. I am very proud to say that my brothers continue in the tradition of working in the construction sector. They are still building great roads right across the state of New South Wales and employing a lot of people, including themselves, in the construction industry. I want to comment on a couple of comments that have preceded my contribution today. The first was a comment by Senator Fawcett. He said, 'just recently,' talking about a shift in the attitude of those opposite towards public transport. There has been a change at the leadership level, and I suppose it may get rid of Tony Abbott's backward view about everything public. He tried to get rid of public education by cutting the Gonski money and $30 billion out of education. He also decided that he did not like public transport, so any investment in public transport was simply something that the government refused to have anything to do with. That leads me to comments in the closing section of Senator Rice's contribution this afternoon. I am sure that, on reflection, she that probably did not mean this, but she said that roads are easy to build. I spent one summer as I finished school doing sort of quantity management support on the construction of a road in the Campbelltown region. I can tell you for a fact and from firsthand experience that building roads is anything but easy. It takes an incredible amount of careful planning. It is a significant investment that is of great value to this country. I take the opportunity this afternoon to acknowledge all of those men and women who are working in the construction industry, building the infrastructure of this nation and improving our lot. I am sure that when they take their children for drives on a Sunday or when they are heading off on holidays, they will do exactly what my Irish father did when he drove us up what is now called the F3 but was, at that point in time, the Pacific Highway—marvel at the engineering, marvel at the imagination and marvel of the hard work that created those pathways. He revealed to all of us, as we drove along, the beauty of the great sandstone that is so remarked upon by visitors who take that exit out of Sydney and come to the Central Coast. I acknowledge all the workers. I acknowledge the hard work that goes into infrastructure. I want to put on the record today, sadly, not any great championing by this government of a vision for the future but rather that this government has a miserly view of what is possible. That is why the debate that we are having this afternoon is so important. There was a 20 per cent fall in public sector infrastructure spending under the coalition federal government. The Turnbull government needs to catch up on two lost years of support for public transport projects. We have quarterly figures released on 30 September by none other than the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The figures tell the truth that this government will to try run from. The truth is that investment in infrastructure is in free fall under this government. We know that engineering work and infrastructure work being completed for the public sector was 20.1 per cent lower in the June quarter of 2015 compared to the last quarter of the Labor government in the 2013. That is because Labor was absolutely in the business of building, had a vision for the nation, and made sure that projects that for so long had been pushed to the backburners were advanced and delivered with the money and the capacity to move forward. I want to go to one of those particular projects that are of great importance to the people of New South Wales. I have already mentioned early work on Pacific Highway, which snakes its way north of Sydney. We know that that road's continued development has been a critical part of enabling the advancement of all of those communities up and down the coast and also of improving the capacity of this country to move product around and increase our productivity We know that, under the Abbott government, the Pacific Highway saw a really significant decline in investment. In Labor's last year in office, $1 billion was invested as part of a $7.6 billion commitment. But in this government's budget, they committed to spend just $672 million for the 2015-16 financial year. There is a big difference there of $400 million. It is a big difference in terms of a commitment to keeping the project of the Pacific Highway underway. I would like to go through a number of projects in New South Wales that have been subject to the 'Oh, just in case you weren't watching, let's see if we can get away with it' strategy of this government where they pretend that they are funding projects, that they are delivering projects and that they had a vision for projects. This is an absolutely false pretence. In New South Wales, we have the Pacific Highway where $7.9 billion was invested by the Labor government: the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale development and the Devil's Pulpit upgrade. That was a pretty good one. That was going. Things were going along well. It was already announced. But that was not good enough for this government. They re-announced that in a pretence that it was their announcement on 21 March 2014. They must have enjoyed the experience because they have continued the trend. They have continued the deception that they actually had a vision of any kind. Woolgoolga to Ballina was re-announced on 17 September. They really like this bit of road because they also re-announced it on 22 September and then went back for a fourth bite at the cherry on 28 April in 2015. While traveling up and down the Pacific Highway, making themselves seen in the local newspapers, no doubt, they re-announced the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade. On a roll, the next one they announced was the Nambucca Heads to Urunga upgrade. It was re-announced on 26 March this year. The Warrell Creek to Nambucca Heads upgrade re-announcement was on 1 April 2014. The Frederickton to Eungai upgrade was re-announced as well. The Kundabung to Kempsey upgrade was re-announced on 26 March. And the Oxley Highway to Kundabung upgrade was re-announced on 8 January 2014. That is only halfway down the list of the disgraceful practice of this government of pretending that this is their vision for the country. I tell you whose vision it is. It was Labor's vision to invest in infrastructure that delivered this money. Senator Ian Macdonald: Don't make me laugh! Senator O'NEILL: The senator on the other side there may well laugh. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Edwards ): Order! Senator O'Neill, address your comments through the chair, please. It is disorderly to interject. Senator O'NEILL: Senator Macdonald is laughing over there. I think it is a way to try and cover his personal embarrassment. Here we are at a point in time in our economic cycle when all of the experts are saying that this is a golden opportunity. There has never been a better opportunity in my lifetime to secure government bonds to invest in infrastructure than right at this moment—a moment when mining and the production phase is kicking in after the construction phase. We are going to a very different part of our economic journey. It is an opportunity for this government to lead and to get things going; but, instead, we see them playing some facile PR game, driving up and down the Pacific Highway, which was long ago funded by Labor to the tune of $7.9 billion, and pretending that they are actually doing anything. What I am really concerned about— Senator Canavan interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill, resume your seat. Senator O'Neill. Senator O'NEILL: Thank you. If I can come to the rest of these projects. The M4 to M5 extension was $1.8 billion. This one did not just get a re-announcement. This one was so important that it got a new name. This one got the real PR treatment. It got turned into WestConnex on 19 September. The F3 to M2 missing link, which is one that I really do want to pay a little bit of attention to, was $405 million. It was re-announced as if it were a new project on 15 March 2014. That piece of road matters to hundreds of thousands of people who move across the northern part of Sydney and from the Central Coast—a beautiful part of the country in which I get to reside and have lived for 30 years now. It is an amazing road that connects Sydney to the north, but the connection to the other major roads in Sydney has been a very big problem for those hundreds of thousands of people who get caught in that bottleneck. It was Labor that led with this project. It was Labor that negotiated with the state O'Farrell Liberal government to get a joint commitment and for $405 million to be committed by our federal government in that last parliament, under Julia Gillard. She announced it at Kariong, at the top of the hill as you enter into Gosford, with then Minister Albanese, to make sure that the people of the Central Coast, who have long suffered the bottleneck at the end of that freeway, have into the future a wonderful, modern piece of infrastructure that will improve the productivity of all of the businesses that use that connection but also improve the lives of all of those who work in Sydney whether by choice or by design and are seeking a good run home to get back to their families. The re-announcements continued with the Hunter Expressway, $1.5 billion, and opened by Warren Truss on 21 March 2014. Labor delivered it. The F5 at Campbelltown was $93 million. Greater Western Highway was $300 million and re-announced by this lot on 10 July. And so it goes on and on and on. I really wanted to labour the point somewhat— Senator Ian Macdonald: You are. Senator O'NEILL: to make it understood to the people who might not be listening to the parliament every day, Senator, that the reality is that these projects that were invested in by Labor, created by Labor—happily some of them are continuing but many of them have been reduced in funding—are a vital part of our infrastructure. Why does all of this matter right now? I alluded in my comments to the reality that construction activity is declining in the resource sector and there is a natural fit for jobs coming out of the resource sector to move into the infrastructure sector to do the job rather than the private mining companies to help build the vision for Australia's future. I often heard about the experience and the pride with which my father spoke about the work on the Bradfield Highway approaching the Harbour Bridge. To be part of building the nation is something that all people who have worked in construction, whether it is rail or whether it is road, find an edifying dimension to their working life. Tony Abbott's decision to call himself the 'infrastructure Prime Minister' was an absolute joke. The only thing he really constructed, I suppose, was a great big hole for himself. He has also left a hole in the investment infrastructure that should have been going on. That hole could be attended to by the new Prime Minister. This is a challenge. He has an opportunity to do something new to reset the course. He could immediately restore the $4.5 billion cut from public transport projects. The projects that have suffered under the Liberal government are the Melbourne Metro, Brisbane's Cross River Rail link and Adelaide's Gawler line electrification. Also, another $500 million had been allocated by the former Labor government for heavy and light rail projects in Perth. That is a practical way that they could do something new and do something that would be different from the Abbott government. Mr Turnbull loves to tweet those photos of himself—Malcolm the rider of the Sydney train network. Let us see if he has the determination for and the general appeal of rail under his belt. It is not just about Malcolm in the pictures; it is about the hard work, the resources, the materials and the people who need to build these critical rail projects in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. All of these projects were funded in Labor's federal budget. It was a choice by this government to remove them from our vision for the country. The role of Infrastructure Australia in the former government in determining critical projects that were to be developed in the interests of the nation was a very significant change in the way public policy was being developed and the way in which infrastructure was planned to be delivered. As Senator Rice said, whether these projects are rail, which she acknowledged took a lot of time to plan, or road, which from my experience absolutely takes a lot of time in planning, you need to have a body that can look at the value of these projects, ensure that they are great value for the country and go ahead and make them happen. I found it amazing that Minister Albanese in the former government was the first infrastructure minister for the entire country and that historically things had been developed in such a haphazard way without that oversight. Since Mr Abbott came to power, the power of Infrastructure Australia to be an independent body that could talk about vision and ensure continuity across a range of different governments has been completely undermined. I think that is a great shame. Shame on this government, shame on Tony Abbott and his ministry, in whatever form it was, for making that decision. Again, there is an opportunity for the new-look Liberals and Mr Turnbull to do something about restoring the integrity and independence of Infrastructure Australia. It is important to put on the record the very different view that Labor has about building for our future. Recently, Labor made a very big announcement regarding federal infrastructure and financing. That included getting moving very significant public transport projects in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast. For the great state of New South Wales, that I represent in this amazing parliament of our nation, the plan to link the west and the southern lines is a very significant decision; it is a very significant vision. People who are looking to get to work from as far away as the Central Coast and Newcastle will have a massive number of job opportunities opened up to them by that infrastructure. Labor has a vision for the west of Sydney. Labor has a vision of making it possible for workers to get to where they need to go in a reasonable amount of time rather than the current gridlock that is the life of so many people who work and live in the regions where I grew up—in Blacktown, Seven Hills, Toongabbie and the west, in Campbelltown, Camden, Narellan and all of the areas in the south-west of Sydney, and in the north on the Central Coast. This is a vision about making connections between all of those communities possible with the jobs growth that will naturally grow from that investment. Labor will elevate Infrastructure Australia to be an active participant in the infrastructure market. We will mobilise private sector finance. We have determined that a transformation of the way in which infrastructure in Australia is funded is required. Infrastructure Australia has the potential under a Labor government to unlock tens of billions of dollars in capital investment for critical projects that every single state needs and, by doing so, create tens of thousands of jobs. That money will surface into the private market from what Labor built. Another amazing piece of infrastructure of a different kind is the superannuation savings of this nation—an infrastructure for a dignified retirement for all Australians. With that $1.8 trillion that we have that is going to continue to grow, there is an opportunity for Australians, investing in themselves and their future, to have their superannuation funds invest in building infrastructure on the ground in this nation—rail, roads and ports. We can do that. We can do that because Labor had a vision and Labor delivered that vision. All the way those opposite resisted and said it would be impossible. They said businesses would fail across the country. They said the whole show would fall over. They said superannuation would never work. But here we are 30 years down the track with an entire capacity to build this nation on the back of Australia's savings by investing in ourselves and investing in our future. There is a massive contrast between this government and Labor's capacity to see a vision for the future, to pull Australians together and to deliver a vision for the future that is rich, enabling and shared—advantaging all Australians. Labor absolutely is responsible for establishing of Infrastructure Australia. We need this nation-building body to make sure that we can get on with the job across periods of government—sadly, when the Liberals might be in charge. Without that independence, the future of this country is at risk from those who will just take the money and prop things up in certain spots where they want or, perhaps, do as Abbott did and completely remove funding from public rail.