Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says ‘no cuts’ to infrastructure budget, as state premiers rage

The Prime Minister has said there have been “no cuts” to infrastructure funding, despite state premiers furiously urging the Commonwealth to reverse its decision.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has maintained there have been “no cuts” to Commonwealth funding for state infrastructure projects, despite furious cries from premiers calling on the federal government to reverse its decision to scrap co-funding to vital infrastructure projects.

A review undertaken by federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, and released last week, flagged the Commonwealth would be scrapping funding to 50 projects across the country, saving federal coffers $7.3b.

Announcing federal funding for a further 147,400 fee-free TAFE places over the next three years on Thursday, Mr Albanese was asked whether there would still be as many jobs as a result of the scrapped funding.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Meadowbank TAFE in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

He maintained there were “no cuts” to the Commonwealth’s total infrastructure investment, however didn’t comment on the number of projects which will no longer receive funding.

“There certainly are (as many jobs). And there’s no cuts to our infrastructure investment that is at record levels – $120bn infrastructure pipeline,” he said.

“What we need to do is to make sure that one of the reasons why there have been cost increases in infrastructure delivery is because of the failure of the former government when it comes to skills.

“You can’t build projects without having workers to build them, and one of the reasons why we are investing is that this is a part of putting downward pressure, dealing with the supply chain issues, which are causing an inflationary pressure.”

The NSW Premier’s plea comes on the day Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters no infrastructure cuts had been made. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Jeremy Pipe

Later, NSW Premier Chris Minns demanded the Commonwealth give NSW taxpayers “their fair share of infrastructure in the state”.

NSW was hardest hit by Ms King’s infrastructure review, with 17 road, carpark and rail projects scrapped totalling $3.6bn. Twelve initiatives were also cut in Victoria and nine in Queensland.

This includes funding the $1.7bn M7-M12 interchange near western Sydney airport, which has already begun construction and is slated to open in 2026.

As Australia’s most populous state, Mr Minns argued NSW made up 30.5 per cent of the nation’s economy and would take in 37 per cent of all inbound migration and therefore needed the federal boost to enable its continued growth.

“As we deal with enabling infrastructure the state needs to grow housing, accept migration and see the economy grow … one of the biggest threats to that is the decision by the Commonwealth government to have an infrastructure review on critical infrastructure in NSW,” he told the parliament during question time on Thursday.

“We’re going to say to the Commonwealth government, we need you to stop that infrastructure review and ensure that NSW taxpayers get their fair share of infrastructure in the state.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns told his Canberra counterparts to stop the infrastructure review. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Christian Gilles

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has also lashed out at her federal counterparts over the funding slashes.

“I will be fighting to keep Queensland’s big build on track to deliver the infrastructure Queenslanders want and need,” she told parliament last week.

“So, I’m calling on the federal government to do what’s right. Right now, Queensland needs more infrastructure, not less.”

The anger was echoed by Western Australia’s Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti, who said projects in her state’s were “smaller and far more manageable,” and said WA had not been “fairly treated”.

WA will have five projects scrapped, totalling $300m.

“My point I was constantly making to the federal government is ‘our projects are smaller, and far more manageable, we could move one for six months to a year, we can manage the pipeline, please don’t cut any project’,” Ms Saffioti said.