Mr CRAIG THOMSON (7:57 PM) —This is an important motion because it recognises the government’s action on long-term infrastructure as well as in making sure that the financial crisis is met head-on in terms of what can happen in Australia. It should be no surprise that there are many people who would support this particular motion, because when you look at the government’s action on infrastructure and who has supported the government’s position there is such a long line of different organisations, starting with the Australian Industry Group and the National Farmers Federation. The Reserve Bank governor himself at the last public hearing of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics said that no-one could describe as excessive the amount of stimulus that the Rudd government has injected into the economy to try and deal with the global financial crisis.

Of course, as recently as yesterday President Obama mentioned Australia and the tactics and strategies that have been adopted by the Rudd government in a positive light to meet the global financial crisis. If you look at the supporters of the government’s action, the only people who are in opposition to this are the opposition themselves. They are so confused and so out of touch with what people are thinking, because their main preoccupation at the moment is not the economy and it is not their constituents; it is where the leadership actually sits this week. We have the situation of rotating leaders of the Liberal Party. People are jockeying to see which frontbench position they will get. This has absolutely paralysed the Liberal Party in terms of any effective policy debate.

The position of the opposition leader is so confused. He welcomed the first stimulus package and said it was a good thing. Now, some months down the track, not only have the opposition opposed the $42 billion stimulus package outright but they have been talking in opposition to the original package that they had supported. That is how confused the Liberal-National Party coalition are on these issues. They are not motivated by what is right and what is going to work for the economy; they are motivated by the short-term politics of the Liberal party room. That is a very sad state to be in.

This government came to office with an agenda of nation-building infrastructure. Because of the global financial crisis we have had to accelerate this in a whole range of areas. If you look at the last 12 years of the Howard government, you will see why there are so many infrastructure projects that need to be done. We had a government asleep at the wheel. They had a mining boom and money poured into Canberra but nothing was done with the major infrastructure. Nothing was done for our hospitals, our schools or the water infrastructure that the member for Mayo spoke about. The Rudd government had a plan for these things when it came to office. In addressing the global financial crisis there is a specific plan too.

We are talking about the largest school modernisation program in Australia’s history, massive infrastructure spending on our roads, rail and ports—and I will come back to that area in due course—the construction of over 20,000 new homes, the solar hot water rebate, the help that has gone to the Australian car industry and the most important and historic agreement with the states and territories in the COAG process about freeing up long-term money for the service delivery areas of health and education. These plans for major long-term and medium-term infrastructure will ensure that Australia is a better place. They will ensure that economic activity will continue and is encouraged and that we are cushioned as best we possibly can be from the global financial crisis.

The other area is the local council stimulus. Wyong shire—80 per cent of which is in my electorate—received over $1½ million in the community infrastructure program. It was with a great deal of pleasure that only two weeks ago I was with Mayor Bob Graham looking at where the money is going to be spent on the new netball courts at Wyong.

Mr Briggs —You could build a bikeway with that.

Mr CRAIG THOMSON —For some $400,000, there will be eight new netball courts. While we were there announcing the project the surveyors were behind us starting the work. It is about getting the local infrastructure there too. This is a project that the local council have been trying to get done for the last 10 years. They had no help from the previous government. Now we have local jobs in the local area as part of these infrastructure projects.

Mr Laming —That will get us out of recession!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. DS Vale)—Order! The member is entitled to be heard in silence.

Mr CRAIG THOMSON —These important infrastructure projects are being addressed not just in my electorate but right through electorates all over Australia. These are infrastructure projects that the coalition have opposed and have not come to the party on.

It is interesting to see what my local mayor, Bob Graham, said about it. He said this was one of the greatest injections into local jobs that he had seen in his 15 years on local council. This is not a bloke who is a Labor Party hack; this is a bloke who is actually a former member of the Liberal Party. In fact he sat in state parliament as the Liberal member for The Entrance. But like the Australian Industry Group, like the National Farmers Federation and like all intelligent people they can see the advantage of getting this infrastructure in there.

The area that I want to spend the rest of my time talking about is roads and transport in particular. My electorate is an hour and a half from Sydney. We have a rail link there and we have roads everywhere. So to get around in my electorate you need to have a car and drive or to get to the train station and commute. This government, even as recently as today, under the $4.7 billion nation-building package announced over $850,000 worth of roadworks in my electorate—in particular, the installation of traffic signals at the intersection of Sparks Road and the F3 freeway ramps. This is an area that has become very busy and dangerous. This sort of infrastructure investment in our roads will make sure that traffic flows better and make sure that we can drive around in a safer way. It will also make sure that jobs which are needed locally are actually there locally.

In terms of rail, one of the big promises at the last election was in relation to building a dedicated freight line. That goes up much of the east coast. For my electorate in particular what it does is take 1,900 trucks per day off the F3. If you could imagine driving up and down the freeway, just through my electorate, 1,900 truck trips is an incredible number of trips that is now going to be taken off the road because of this very good rail infrastructure that the Rudd government has committed to.

So these issues of nation-building infrastructure, particularly in terms of roads and rail, as part of this infrastructure program to make sure that we are cushioned from the worst impacts of the global economic crisis are vitally important for electorates in the outer metropolitan areas and those regional electorates like my own of Dobell. What a breath of fresh air it is to have a government that is out there saying: ‘We are actually going to build this nation. We are actually going to go out there and put infrastructure in where it is needed to make sure that we have a better nation and that our citizens have a better life.’ This is an important part of the economic stimulus not just because it creates local jobs but also because it builds long-needed infrastructure in areas where it is required. This is a motion that should be supported by all members.