Qld infrastructure project cuts the right move – Labor Senator Murray Watt

Throwing precious taxpayer funds around like drunken sailors would be irresponsible and only add fuel to the inflation fire a Queensland Senator says, as he passionately defends the federal government’s major infrastructure cuts.

Throwing precious taxpayer funds around like drunken sailors would be irresponsible and only add fuel to the inflation fire, Queensland senator Murray Watt has said in an impassioned defence of the federal government’s major infrastructure cuts.

In a veiled swipe at big-spending jurisdictions, Senator Watt, a federal government frontbencher and one of its most senior Queenslanders, said “a responsible government can’t fund everything” in inflationary times.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE ENTIRE OPINION PIECE BY SENATOR MURRAY WATT

It comes as the state government pumped $500m from its own coffers to cover the cost blowouts of the Varsity Lakes to Tugun M1 upgrade.

The price had grown from $1bn to $1.5bn amid “unavoidable issues” such as bad weather and the discovery of toxic materials, including asbestos.

Queensland senator Murray Watt Picture: Glenn Campbell

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the additional funding was time-critical to protect because a stoppage to the construction of the final two-thirds of the project would have put 300 workers at risk before Christmas.

Mr Bailey said the state had been negotiating with the federal government for some time to split the $500m overruns evenly between them, but in a “disappointing” outcome, the Commonwealth confirmed it would only be chipping in an extra $70m.

This would bring the federal government’s total contribution to the project, which upgrades 10km of the M1, to $750m. The federal government’s infrastructure review led to eight Queensland projects worth more than $200m being axed, with uncertainty on how and when nearly $9bn in Bruce Highway spending will be rolled out. But another $2.5bn in federal money was pumped into existing projects to cover cost blowouts, including $1.7bn for Gold Coast Faster Rail. Treasurer Cameron Dick has said transport infrastructure program would have to be “reprofiled” to determine which projects could go ahead and which the state government could not feasibly fund on its own.

Centenary Motorway Bridge duplication in Jindalee. Picture: Richard Walker

Senator Watt, in an opinion piece for The Sunday Mail, said the federal government had made “hard decisions about some projects” and argued “smoothing out the infrastructure pipeline” had allowed larges cost increases to be funded. “In these inflationary times, a responsible government can’t fund everything,” he said.

“With Queenslanders facing cost-of-living pressures, the worst thing we could do right now is to throw fuel on the fire. Continuing to throw precious taxpayers’ funds around like drunken sailors would just drive inflation up and risk higher interest rates for Queensland households.”

The state government hopes it can renegotiate with its federal counterparts after the major decisions have been made, with a delegation led by Deputy Premier Steven Miles to soon head to Canberra.

MURRAY WATT: FUNDING OUR ROADS AND RAIL

With the fastest growing population in the country and the Olympics fast approaching, building Queensland’s infrastructure is in Australia’s national interest.

That’s why this week the Albanese government delivered an extra $2.5bn for Queensland infrastructure, on top of the billions that had already been committed. Not a dollar cut in federal investment in Queensland. Not a dollar removed from the $10bn federal investment in our state’s spine, the Bruce Highway. We are Australia’s most decentralised state. Our suburban commuters, regional roads and truckies all deserve our fair share.

This week’s commitment locked in more than $20bn in federal investment for the state over the next 10 years, in more than 200 projects – from the Coomera Connector, to the Brisbane Metro, the Rockhampton Ring Rd, the Captain Cook Highway in Cairns, the Burketown-Normanton Rd and everywhere in between.

We’ve had to make some hard decisions about some projects in every state. That’s because Peter Dutton and the LNP left us with an infrastructure program that wasn’t funded nor planned and without the skilled labour needed to deliver, one that had blown out from 150 projects to 800. An LNP inflation bomb that had exploded by $33bn.

Anyone building or renovating a house right now has had to rescope or scale back to meet their budget. I had to do it myself last year. It’s no different with a big infrastructure program, except the price tag is in billions of dollars, not thousands. Projects like the Sunshine Coast rail duplication, which has tripled in cost since the initial federal commitment of $1.6bn.

There are some projects we’ve said need further planning, but have had their funding preserved.

In these inflationary times, a responsible government can’t fund everything. With Queenslanders facing cost-of-living pressures, the worst thing we could do right now is to throw fuel on the fire. Continuing to throw precious taxpayers’ funds around like drunken sailors would just drive inflation up and risk higher interest rates for Queensland households. Peter Dutton and the LNP have no solutions to deal with the inflationary, undeliverable mess they caused. We’re delivering a responsible, affordable plan for the roads and rail Queenslanders deserve, without imposing more cost-of-living pain.

Murray Watt is a Queensland Labor senator and federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry