SENATOR PENNY WONG, CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Thanks very much. Its great to be here with Mike Kelly our candidate for Eden Monaro, and Rowena Abbey who is the Mayor who has been advocating for the change we are announcing for many years, and Im sure she will have something to say about that very shortly. Were here to announce $76 million to duplicate the Barton Highway. $76 million as an investment in infrastructure, and I want to just put this into a broader context, because today Bill Shorten announced our economic plan, and we made very clear, our plan for growth, our plan for jobs, our plan for the future is based on a few key principles.
One of them is investing in our people, in our schools, in apprenticeships, in our universities, but a key part of our plan is also investing in infrastructure, in road, in rail and of course in the NBN. Because we understand one of the things that government can do to improve productivity, to improve capacity is to invest in infrastructure, and Labor in Government demonstrated our commitment to that. Well again here in this campaign, Labor is demonstrating our commitment to infrastructure. Mike has advocated long and hard for this, as has many of the local community, some of whom are here today. We know the safety record on this stretch of road is very bad, and we also know that this is a critical piece of infrastructure for the region. So I am very pleased to be here to make this announcement, and Ill now hand over to Mike Kelly.
MIKE KELLY, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR EDEN MONARO: Thanks Penny, its great to have Penny with us here today, she is a strong advocate for infrastructure and investment in this country, and in rural and regional Australia, and one of the finest minds of the country as well. And its great also to have Rowena here, all of the community advocacy team have really helped me to make my case to our team for this project. This project is very important project as part of a regional economic plan they have for Eden Monaro.
First pillar of that is to restore renewable energy investment to our region. When I was the Member there was over a billion dollars was coming into Eden Monaro, that dropped off stone cold dead in 2013. Getting that renewable energy investment allowed us to open up the Port of Eden to commercial traffic. That commercial traffic was going to be very broad through Southern New South Wales and North Eastern Victoria, in importing and transporting wind farm components. Also, in getting the NBN rolled out, Birdsnest in Cooma, a great online company showed potential for towns like Yass in doing online commercial traffic, taking advantage of the future of the Canberra International Airport to spread our commerce far and wide internationally.
In addition to that, we want to supercharge our tourism in Eden Monaro. We need to pull together now as a regional grouping, develop a strategy, and make sure that we are taking advantage of the opening of that airport. That will see of course much more traffic through the Barton Highway as we disperse people around our wonderful region and our beautiful assets.
We also want to take advantage of these opening up portals and freight operations to make sure our produce gets marketed effectively to the world. We can occupy high-end niche markets with our wonderful produce. This produce can be on plates in our region very quickly through the opening up of the international airport. But a key part of making all that real, is delivering on the inland infrastructure that is so important to that, and the Barton Highway is the missing link to that inland infrastructure. In the management strategy plan that was developed with our Federal Labor money, it did point the way to a future for regional economy, but it underestimated in effect, the kilo tonnage that would be coming down through this road if we open up all of these potential portals to the world. In addition to that, this is a high traffic section of the Barton Highway that really needs addressing urgently. It is one of the highest casualty zones on New South Wales roads.
That is why we want to get started on this southern end of the Barton highway as quickly as possible, and so we are also calling on the New South Wales Government to provide $19 million to this project to make this first stage happen. Well then look at the future development of this road through future budget cycles, but Labor is committed to duplicating the Barton Highway.
This will be an exciting development for our region, will provide safer commuting for the people who live in this region, and it will also deal with the conurbation effects that are happening in association with the ACT as I mentioned in relation our announcement for Queanbeyan-Palerang infrastructure projects. That conurbation challenge is there, very obvious for us to see, we must keep pace with our infrastructure development. So thanks very much Penny for coming. We dont want to rename the highway to Penny Lane, well let Edmund keep his name on the road, but I am really grateful.
WONG: He is a little more influential than I am.
KELLY: We are very grateful for the support of my colleagues, and I am very grateful for the Rowena and the community for the many years that they have put into this. And I know that this is a real tribute to the passion of the community, the passion of the people in this region who want to see our economy grow, so thanks very much.
ROWENA ABBEY, YASS VALLEY MAYOR: I would like to just say thank you to both Penny and to Mike for listening. This community has been demanding, requesting attention to this highway for a long time. I am just one of many community leaders and together with a very active community push, we have tried to get traction from everywhere for the Barton Highway, we welcome the announcement here today. Thank you to you both.
WONG: Thank you, and thanks for those who have come along to see the announcement. So I will take questions, well take questions on this and then I turn to take questions on other things, because Rowena may not want to be around for the entirety of the election campaign questions. Are there any questions on this announcement?
JOURNALIST: $76 million, how many kilometres of duplication will that buy?
WONG: Well, the priority is the section of road that we are talking about which is between Murrumbateman and the New South Wales border. Thats my understanding, Mike might be able to give you more of a detailed outline of that, but I will make this point, there is a much bigger project (inaudible), were upfront about that. This is a commitment to commence the duplication, it is a commitment which prioritises a stretch of road which has a very bad record regrettably in terms of road accidents (inaudible). We are looking forward to the New South Wales Government committing funding, but obviously over the longer term, this is the bigger problem, this is the priority in the meantime.
KELLY: Just to emphasise that no proper planning or design has gone to the Coalition Government, so it is important to get that work underway, and only then will we know the true cost of each phase of this operation. Effectively there are still issues around property purchase as well; so we need to invest money in making that planning process real. In this proposal there are $6 million for immediate safety measures to improve the highway as quickly as possible from that perspective, but also to begin that planning and design process, so we know exactly what we are talking about, and exactly how much the cost will be.
Then we can keep that planning process going forward to allow us to continue to budget through future cycles, knowing the actual cost. At the moment there is about a 47 per cent contingency cost on the Barton Highway, which obviously means that there is a great deal of work to be done to come to the real costs and figures. So well get that process underway, and we will start by beginning the process at Section 4 from the ACT border, heading north towards Yass.
JOURNALIST: But you wont be able to get to Murrumbateman for $76 million.
KELLY: Well you wouldnt be able to get there anyway as we stand at the moment. So what we need to get the planning and design work going, and then in an orderly fashion, move forward progressing towards Yass. There is a lot of work to be done around the Murrumbateman section for example, in terms of bypassing Murrumbateman, and none of that work has been done. So we can start that, commence that, and currently with getting construction started. Main thing is, we are all about duplication, not about overtaking lanes. We are going to get this job started and we are going to see it through.
JOURNALIST: When are you expecting construction to begin?
KELLY: Well, I think the planning process and design will obviously take at least about 12 months and so obviously this is the easiest section of the highway in terms of that planning and design process, so it will be the area that we can get shovels moving as quickly as possible.
WONG: I also understand too that the Barton Highway draft improvements strategy, this project is targeting this area as recommended in that strategy.
JOURNALIST: What happens if the New South Wales Government doesnt commit the funding which you are asking for?
WONG: Well can I say this, it is normal practice for Federal Governments to put money into road projects which we expect will be, if not matched, certainly there will be a contribution from the state governments. This is about under 20 per cent, that is a normal expectation for Federal funding for roads. I would make this point: the New South Wales Government has been prepared to spend a great deal of money on roads in Sydney, one would only hope that they would spend a bit of money on roads here in Eden Monaro.
KELLY: Here, here.
JOURNALIST: And you have mentioned that $6 million will go into installing smart safety technology, what kinds of things are you talking about?
KELLY: Theres many measures that we can take to improve the safety options on the highway, in terms of early sign warnings, electronic signs etc, monitoring situations on the highway, looking at the latest technology that we can do, and thats what that $6 million will be directed towards, plus some other improvements on the road itself, that will enable us to take some of the key risks out of that commute right now.
JOURNALIST: How hard did you have to fight for Eden Monaro to receive this funding?
KELLY: Well, it fits with Labors overall strategy that Penny has described. Our ten-year plan is built around investing in infrastructure that will add value to the economy, generate growth, and thereby repair the budget through increased revenue. So there is spending that adds value to the budget strategy, the budget challenge, tackling the budget repair job. This is a perfect example of one of those infrastructure jobs that will achieve that.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) proposed four year spending.
WONG: I think thats right.
KELLY: Its designed to fit in with the budget cycle.
JOURNALIST: Can we expect to see this sort of money in every budget (inaudible)
WONG: You are a good advocate for the region asking that question. Look I would put it this way. We have been prepared to put more money on the table because we understand how important this is, because the community has made such strong representations and obviously Mike has been a strong advocate for this. We also understand the importance of a longer term project. What I would point you to is Labor in Government doubled the roads budget, we rebuilt some 4000 kilometres of rail. We have demonstrated how important we think infrastructure investment is. But the first thing to do however is to elect a Labor Government (inaudible). Any questions of the day?
JOURNALIST: Senator Wong just ask you on preferences, is Labor considering giving preferences to the Liberals over the Greens in some seats?
WONG: Well can I say this about preferences, because I saw Adam Bandts announcement today and I will say this very clearly. What Adam Bandt and the Greens made clear is that the Greens Political Party is prepared to help return a Liberal Government in pursuit of the Greens political interests, was what he made clear today.
The only seats that Adam Bandt was prepared to talk about today, was seats that we know, everybody knows, including the Greens, wont change the government. The seats he wasnt prepared to talk about, the seats that will change the Government are Corangamite, Deakin, Bruce, where we know from what Michael Kroger has said, there looks like there is a deal between the Liberals and the Greens. So Id say this, todays announcement, that the Greens political party are prepared to re-elect a Liberal Government, thats done the wrong thing on climate change, that sought to do a GP tax, that sought to introduce $100,000 degrees, thats what the Greens are prepared to countenance. And their silence on the seats that are required to form government, to change government, speaks volumes.
JOURNALIST: Just on Adam Bandts comments this morning he called on Labor to be upfront and guarantee that they wont preference the Liberals over the Greens, whats your response?
WONG: I dont know if Mr Bandt noticed, but there is a Liberal Government in Canberra, and we want a Labor Government in Canberra. And what he is prepared to do, is make clear on his announcement today on what he would say, and he wouldnt say, the Greens are prepared to help re-elect a Liberal Government that wont act on climate, that will deliver $100,000 degrees and a GP tax. They are prepared to do that, thats what his announcement today made clear.
JOURNALIST: This is going to matter for both of you in the Senate though isnt it, you will need Greens preferences and they will need your preferences.
WONG: I tell you what, I was asked a question about the Senators and it is a very important question. The Greens did a deal with Malcolm Turnbull, George Brandis and Eric Abetz before the election to change the Senate voting system to make it easier for the major parties, particularly the Liberals, to get elected. Now, we have got a double dissolution, that obviously changes the game a bit, lets understand the Senate voting changes that the Greens supported, I think that everyone knows they are likely to advantage the major parties including the Liberal Party.
JOURNALIST: Senator, I dont think that answers my question, I said that you need their preferences in the Senate and they need yours.
WONG: Well, I think the point is that the preference system has changed in the Senate, thats what I was referencing Tim. Obviously in the Senate it is a different system of election, Australians will have the right, do have a right to preference who they wish, and we are ending group voting tickets, obviously which is what I was trying to reference in response to your question, and that obviously changes the nature of those discussions in relation to the Senate. Ok, thanks very much.
ENDS