Budget 2018: push for extra funds to spend on infrastructure

Malcolm Turnbull faces fresh calls for another $7.5 billion to be provided over the next four years for major projects.

Malcolm Turnbull is under pressure to give more funding for infrastructure in tonight’s budget.

Malcolm Turnbull has been challenged over whether the $24.5 billion infrastructure spending in today’s budget represents a significant increase in “hard-dollar funding”, with fresh calls for another $7.5bn to be provided over the next four years for major projects.

Speaking in Banksmeadow near the Sydney Airport, the Prime Minister yesterday talked up his $400 million commitment to the duplication of almost 3km of freight rail line at Port Botany — a move that would help bust road congestion, with each additional train helping to take an extra 50 trucks off the streets.

“Right across the country, we’re spending $75bn on infrastructure over the next decade and we’re allocating an extra $24bn in this budget to go to infrastructure,” Mr Turnbull said.

The commitment at Port Botany will be included in the budget, with $5bn for rail lines to the new western Sydney airport and Melbourne’s Tullamarine and an increase in the federal government contribution to the Perth Metro­net project to almost $2bn.

But Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer — while welcoming the elevation of infrastructure spending in the budget — argued more was needed to make up for federal government underfunding of infrastructure over recent years.

Mr Dwyer has pushed for an extra $7.5bn over four years and taken aim at the trend to fund ­infrastructure projects off-budget, saying infrastructure spending should return to its long-term ­average of 1.5 per cent of government spending.

“We welcome the commonwealth’s focus on infrastructure, but it’s unclear what percentage of the $24.5bn is hard-dollar funding, rather than taxpayer equity,” Mr Dwyer said.

The Turnbull government has focused on projects in which it can be an equity partner with the states, with Treasurer Scott Morrison saying yesterday that he was not interested in just kicking “money out the door”.

Labor infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese yesterday said the government needed to ­deliver more funding for projects in north Queensland, accusing the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility of failing.

“The NAIF has not delivered a single dollar of funding for a single project in North Queensland,” he said. “A more appropriate name would be the No Actual Infrastructure Fund.’’

Tony Shepherd, a former president of the Business Council of Australia and the chairman of Tony Abbott’s 2014 commission of audit, backed the focus on infrastructure, saying it would help to boost productivity growth.

“With an ageing population and the budget deficit, productivity has to improve,” Mr Shepherd said.