Mr TRUSS (Leader of the Nationals) (1:41 PM) —by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) to (21) together:

Part 6—Nation Building Program Strategic Regional Projects

Division 1—Approval of projects as Nation Building Program Strategic Regional Projects

Note:                The heading to section 52 is altered by omitting “an AusLink Strategic Regional Project?” and substituting “a Nation Building Program Strategic Regional Project?”.

Note:   The heading to section 53 is altered by omitting “AusLink Strategic Regional Projects” and substituting “Nation Building Program Strategic Regional Projects”.

Note:   The heading to section 60 is altered by omitting “AusLink Strategic Regional Projects” and substituting “Nation Building Program Strategic Regional Projects”.

These amendments are designed to preserve the original intent of the AusLink Strategic Regional Program and the Black Spot Program. They simply change the bill to restore these programs. We will allow the change of name from ‘AusLink’ to ‘Nation Building Program’, but we maintain the intent of the programs. As much as the opposition think that the changing of the program names from ‘AusLink’ to ‘nation building’ is all about spin and a complete waste of time, we will not stand in the way. If the government are so bent on pursuing their silly spin then that is their business. It is obvious to everyone that this is designed to purge from memory the names of highly successful road funding programs, like the Black Spot Program and the AusLink Strategic Regional Program, identified with the coalition.

Our amendments adjust the government’s changes to preserve the term ‘strategic regional project’ and, more importantly, it keeps the original wording in section 55 of the AusLink (National Land Transport) Act 2005 to ensure that, when the minister approves a nation-building strategic regional project, the minister must consider the regional benefit of that project. Unfortunately, the government, in its attempt to move transport infrastructure funding from the country to the cities, has removed this requirement in the bill. Similarly, opposition amendments (20) and (21) delete items 85 and 86 on page 13, lines 7 to 10, of the government’s bill that permit black spot projects to occur on the National Land Transport Network. These are simple changes that preserve the regional and local focus of these two vital elements of what was known as the AusLink program.

It is a shame that the opposition has to do this. It is a greater shame that the government is once again demonstrating its strong bias against country Australia by seeking to move road funding away from regional areas and into the cities.

I believe these amendments are reasonable and they should be supported by the government. Let us make it absolutely clear to the minister who put out the ridiculous media release this morning suggesting that the opposition was about blocking road projects: these amendments do not reduce spending on roads by a single dollar. These amendments do not reduce expenditure on roads by a single dollar, but they allow funds to be spent in areas where they have traditionally been spent under these programs. They enable projects to be undertaken on local roads and streets in country and city areas under the Black Spot Program, as they always have been. They allow the regional strategic program funding to be spent in the regions or on projects which have a regional benefit, as they always have been and as was always intended.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

Dr Stone interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms AE Burke)—Order! the member will be heard in silence.

Mr TRUSS —In reality, the minister, by tabling in parliament the list of projects today that the government intends to fund—and it is the first time we have seen the list; it was not available just a day or two ago—proves that the government’s intent for this legislation is to shift money away from regional areas and into the cities. That is its intent: to take money from local projects and local accident spots and put it on the national highway, which the government should be adequately funding in the first place. The government is in effect stealing money from local streets, local roads and local projects to put on major projects on the national highway which will scoop up huge volumes of this money. Make no mistake, there will be many, many fewer projects funded under the Black Spot Program in the future than there were in the past because of the big-ticket items that the government is proposing to include in this item.

In relation to the regional projects, it is the same. We know that the Labor government are in trouble because their candidates at the last election were promising road projects all over the place and there is no funding available for those projects. So the strategic regional program is to be changed to act as a slush fund for the Labor Party’s policy promises at the last election. Indeed, we have been told that $762.5 million of what is to be in this new off-network program has already been committed. Eighty-six per cent has already been committed to fund Labor’s election promises. But there was no avenue to fund them, because these projects were not eligible for funding under black spot or under the strategic regional programs. So they have got to change the program fundamentally; otherwise they have got a further funding shortfall. (Time expired)