Mr ANDERSON (Minister for Transport and Regional Services) (9:02 AM) —I move:

Australia’s land transport infrastructure is critical in supporting future economic growth and in meeting the nation’s social, economic and community needs.

The purpose of this bill is to reform the framework for Australian government funding of land transport infrastructure. It represents a great deal of work by the government, and in that context I would like to particularly thank Senator Ian Campbell for his help working with me in his capacity as Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, and, more recently, the member for Robertson. He and I are both proud and excited to see this major reform in place. The arrangements for which the bill provides will replace over time those contained in the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 and the Roads to Recovery Act 2000.

Australia’s land transport infrastructure faces major challenges over the next 20 years and beyond. Freight and passenger volumes will rise. User requirements, reflecting the very real pattern over the last couple of decades, will become infinitely more varied and complex. International competitive pressures will demand continuing improvements in the productivity and reliability of logistics chains.

In order to meet these challenges, the government considers that fundamental change is needed in the way that land transport infrastructure is planned and funded in this nation.

The arrangements set out in this bill signal a move away from the longstanding fragmented approach to land transport investment based on the needs of single transport modes and single jurisdictions.

The bill will assist a change of investment focus to nationally important transport corridors and to finding the best solution to transport requirements irrespective of transport mode.

The government has set out a comprehensive program for addressing Australia’s highest priority national land transport needs. The government will support the program with an unprecedented level of investment.

In the five-year period to 2008-09 some $8 billion will be provided for investment on national roads and railways. Some $1.6 billion will be provided to meet transport needs at the regional and local level. And $180 million is being provided for the highly effective National Road Safety Black Spot Program, which has saved—and continues to save—many Australian lives and much trauma.

I turn now to the key features of the bill.

The bill establishes arrangements to apply to six categories of funding:

• AusLink national projects;
• AusLink transport development and innovation projects;
• land transport research organisations;
• AusLink strategic regional projects;
• AusLink Black Spot Projects; and
• the AusLink Roads to Recovery Program.

This bill also provides a mechanism for the approval of projects and funding, and for the attachment of conditions to funding, under each of these categories.

Pivotal to the funding of the AusLink national projects will be the national land transport network. The bill provides for the network to be established by ministerial determination.

The national land transport network will be the focus for the government’s drive to direct its investment to strategic transport linkages of highest national importance.

The national land transport network will move beyond the separately planned and funded national rail and road networks and ad hoc rail/road intermodal developments to a single integrated network.

The national land transport network which the government proposes to establish under the bill will encompass the former national highway system including its connections through urban areas, the major interstate rail network and other nationally important interstate and interregional transport links, as well as links to ports and airports.

Details of the transport links to be included in the initial national land transport network determination were set out in the AusLink white paper. They reflect the assessment of many proposals advanced during a very extensive consultation process.

The bill allows for variations to be made to the national network. The government will periodically review the network’s composition.

The bill provides for the minister to approve individual road or rail projects on the national network as AusLink national projects.

The $8 billion to be provided over the five years to 2009 will enable approval to be given to a broad range of strategic priority projects.

These include projects on the Pacific Highway, the Hume Highway, the Sydney to Brisbane and Sydney to Melbourne interstate railways, the Bruce Highway and Brisbane urban road links in Queensland, the Geelong Bypass and Calder Highway in Victoria, the Great Northern Highway and the Peel deviation in Western Australia, the Port River Expressway in South Australia, and the Bridgewater Bridge in Tasmania.

The Australian government will also contribute towards the cost of maintaining road links on the national network.

While the national land transport network will be the focus of the government’s planning and funding responsibility, this does not mean that it has full financial responsibility for all projects on the network. The network includes links that were previously jointly funded or fully funded by the states.

The government has indicated its intention to invest in those projects that are of national priority and have substantial national benefits. The government has a clear expectation that states and territories will invest in those projects on the national network which provide benefits at the state or territory level. This means that, in many cases, project costs will be shared with state and territory governments.

Funding arrangements to be negotiated with states and territories will vary according to types and details of individual projects. The government will continue to fully fund many projects on the former national highway system—especially, for example, remote interstate links because of their importance in providing national connectivity and the minor contribution of local traffic to their costs.

The government intends that the identification of longer term investment priorities will be progressed, in close consultation with the states and territories, through the development of planning strategies for each corridor on the national land transport network.

The government has started developing bilateral agreements with the states and territories which will cover cost sharing as well as cooperative planning arrangements. These agreements will ensure that there is clarity of responsibilities between jurisdictions.

The government will also, under AusLink, involve the private sector in the development and funding of Australia’s infrastructure. This will enable important infrastructure projects to be completed in a more timely fashion and enable governments to take advantage of private sector expertise.

The development of a high-performing national land transport system cannot be achieved without well-focussed research and the encouragement and application of innovative technology and practices.

It will be necessary to identify deficiencies on the national network, formulate corridor strategies, and devise and demonstrate innovative transport solutions.

The bill therefore provides for funding of transport development and innovation projects that would potentially improve the efficiency and safety of transport operations on the AusLink national network.

Projects eligible for funding under this category include planning and research and development of new technology or practices.

The bill includes provisions to also enable funding to be directed to organisations whose activities are concerned with land transport planning and research. This particularly includes organisations which are jointly funded by the Australian, state and territory governments.

The bill will enable the government to build on the substantial support already being provided for local roads under the Roads to Recovery program over the four-year period 2001-05.

The bill provides for the extension of the Roads to Recovery program for a further four-year period from 1 July 2005. The provisions in the bill closely mirror the provisions of the Roads to Recovery Act 2000. Payments under that act will cease on 30 June 2005. Future funding will be governed by the terms of this bill.

In all, the government is allocating $1.45 billion for Roads to Recovery over the five-year period to 2008-09.

All councils will receive funding allocations for expenditure on the construction and maintenance of local roads on much the same basis as the current program’s formula approach. The funds will be paid directly to every local council, as they are under the current program, and under similar guidelines. This will provide funding certainty and will help all councils to sustain service levels across their local road systems.

Local councils will also be the direct beneficiaries of the arrangements which the bill will establish for funding AusLink regional strategic projects.

Support for these projects aims to enhance the ability of regional industry and communities to compete in the national and global marketplace, as well as improving access to employment and services. The government will also provide support from within this funding stream for local roads in unincorporated areas where there are no local councils.

The bill will provide for the continuation of the black spot program, which is a critically important part of the government’s road safety strategy. The government has currently committed $180 million to continue the black spot program in the period up to 2008-09.

The black spot program has proven highly cost-effective in targeting those road locations where crashes are occurring.

Road crashes cost the Australian economy $15 billion every year. Black spot projects save the community many times the cost of the relatively minor road improvements that are undertaken. The raw figures say nothing of the human trauma involved in serious road accidents.

The bill includes a range of other machinery provisions. The bill sets down mandatory conditions that will attach to Commonwealth funding for approved projects. The minister will be able to specify that a project approval is subject to a funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the funding recipient. There is also provision for the minister to determine additional conditions which will apply to a project or projects not covered by a funding agreement.

The provisions of the Legislative Instruments Act requiring registration and tabling will apply to all legislative instruments made under the AusLink legislation. But it is proposed that the ministerial determination of the national land transport network, the schedule of Roads to Recovery funding allocations, and ministerial determinations of conditions associated with funding will not be subject to the disallowance and sunsetting provisions of the Legislative Instruments Act. The reasons are set out in the explanatory memorandum.

The initiatives announced by the government and to which this bill will give effect followed an extensive consultation process. It involved numerous meetings with states, territories, local government, and private sector organisations as well as consideration of no less than 550 written submissions.

Under the arrangements for which this bill provides, we will:

• drive the development of our key road and rail links and ensure they are forged into a single, high-performing and safe national network. As a minor diversion, during the campaign I talked to people about busy roads such as the Pacific Highway—which the member for Robertson is well familiar with—and told them that one of the problems was that we had not done things in a coordinated way in Australia. We upgrade our roads and immediately they are filled with more cars. We simply have to do it in a more coordinated way and upgrade rail at the same time as we upgrade the roads. We need to do that in a coordinated and sensible fashion so that what belongs on the roads goes on the roads and what belongs on rail goes on rail. When I said that, people would spontaneously applaud. In a sense, that is the sort of nutshell description of the commonsense approach that we are seeking to move to;
• move beyond the entrenched arrangements for separate road and rail funding which hampered rail development—and hampered, really, our management of road assets, too;
• recognise the critical importance of links to our ports and airports in supporting a globally competitive transport system—and we look forward to the states doing more with the ports, given that we are busily providing proper links into our ports; and
• maintain support for the maintenance and upgrading of local roads networks and for the development of key regional links.

Again, I would like to thank my friend and colleague the member for Robertson for his outstanding contribution and work in this area. I am very proud of this legislation. I regard it as being of landmark quality and I think it will deliver much better outcomes for taxpayers, for transport users and indeed all of us who are dependent one way or another on efficient transport networks in this country. I commend the bill to the House and present the explanatory memorandum.

Debate (on motion by Mr Edwards) adjourned.