Investment In Roads And Rail
Maxine McKew
posted Friday, 5 March 2010
The Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Maxine McKew told today's 6th Annual Australian Roads Summit in Brisbane that the Rudd Government's unprecedented $35.8 billion investment on road and rail infrastructure showed that it believes in government "for the long haul."
"We in the Rudd Government knew that that unless we took action, unless we adopted a fresh approach - a national approach - to infrastructure maintenance and development, these reforms would probably never have happened," Ms McKew said.
"Projects like the Bruce Highway upgrade, the Kempsey Bypass and the Hunter Expressway would not even be on the drawing board now, but for Labor's nation building agenda."
Ms McKew told delegates to the Roads Summit that the main building blocks for the Government's strategic approach are:
- Infrastructure Australia - which has delivered this country's first ever national priority list for major infrastructure projects. As a result of the infrastructure priority list, the Government committed $8.5 billion dollars to 15 major infrastructure projects in the May 2009 Budget.
- The Major Cities Unit - which is identifying opportunities for federal leadership to make a difference to the prosperity of our cities and the wellbeing of their residents.
- A more streamlined approach to Public Private Partnerships. Infrastructure Australia has developed, and all governments across Australia have now endorsed, nationally-consistent, best practice guidelines for the use of Public Private Partnerships.
- Heavy vehicle safety. More than $70 million has been committed towards heavy vehicle safety and productivity projects over four years, from 2008/12.
- Safer rail crossings. The Rudd Government is providing $150 million to States and the Northern Territory for the installation of boom gates and other safety measures at more than 290 high risk rail crossings. More than 120 projects are underway, and 61 projects have been completed.
- A National Road Safety Council. All Australian transport ministers have committed through a National Partnership Agreement to jointly fund the work of the National Road Safety Council. There is unanimous political and financial support among transport ministers for this initiative as road trauma is one of the major public health problems facing this country.
- A greater focus on the National Transport Network in every state and territory with projects targeted to deliver the highest possible benefits to the nation. When completed, these projects will significantly improve the efficiency and safety of the National Network.
Ms McKew also thanked the delegates and organisers of the Australian Roads Summit.
"This is an important opportunity for the Federal and State Governments and the public sector to look to the future with industry representatives from the finance, procurement, planning, construction, and safety and transport policy sectors," said Ms McKew.
Tags: Infrastructure, Rail, Roads