Roads Australia
Speech by the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, at the official launch of Roads Australia, Wednesday 20 August 2008.
I’d like to begin today by offering you my congratulations on your name change to Roads Australia.
With a change in name comes a renewed focus to provide a voice for the Australian roads sector. As Minister, it’s a voice I am always happy to listen to, and of course, respond to.
Your strength is in your numbers, and the calibre of organisations all focussed on the same goal – better outcomes for the roads sector.
A modern road system is a must in a country like Australia.
With our relatively small and disparate population, and our farms and mines located hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres from markets and ports, we need roads which are safe, efficient and integrated with the broader transport network.
Our major roads and their links to major export points are critical to sustaining our strong economy. Just as important are city and suburban roads these major highways connect with.
But in order to operate effectively, they need ongoing investment, much like the cars that drive on them.
Earlier this month I spent a few days on the road in north Queensland, where the distances are vast, the landscape is rough and the weather severe.
Flooding means vital road links are often cut, which isolates communities and affects the flow of goods.
During the week I was pleased to announce a number of projects relating to the Bruce Highway, including improving road access to the growing city of Cairns.
While I was there, I spoke to farmers, manufacturers and exporters. Their businesses all differ, but they share the need for a 21st century road network to keep their businesses strong.
The same principle applies to the Australian economy.
The Rudd Government recognises an efficient and integrated road system is vital to Australia's economic growth and increasing national productivity.
That’s why we are investing $3.2 billion in nation-building road and rail projects this financial year, including over half a billion dollars to make an early start on 45 election commitment projects.
Our commitments include an investment of $2.45 billion into upgrading the Pacific Highway. More than 90 kilometres of the Pacific Highway is currently under construction while more than 260 kilometres have already been upgraded to double-lane divided road.
We are also making good progress on our $1.8 billion commitment to convert all the remaining two-lane sections of the Hume Highway in southern NSW to four lanes by the end of 2012.
And as I mentioned earlier, we have committed $2.2 billion to the Bruce Highway to build more lanes, improve safety and minimise the effects of flooding.
These major infrastructure upgrades, not just on the Hume, Pacific and Bruce, but on hundreds or roads across Australia, have obvious safety benefits alongside the economic advantages the works will deliver.
In addition to improving our roads, it is also critical that we improve the efficiency with which they are used.
For example, we need to improve the productivity of our freight movement through enhanced use of the newer, larger, safer and more productive vehicles, such as b-doubles and b-triples.
In addition to reducing transport costs, such reforms also ensure that fewer vehicles are needed, reducing the environmental cost. Australian governments need to press on with reforms to network access to deliver these gains.
Spending on our roads is not a cost. Rather, it’s an investment in our nation’s productive capacity.
In 2005/06, our road and rail networks carried some 2.5 billion tonnes of goods. This figure will continue to rise, so we need to make sure that we have the infrastructure in place to rise with increasing demand.
One of the keys to achieving this is clearing infrastructure bottlenecks, particularly in our cities.
Traffic congestion in our cities is costing us time, it’s costing us money, and it’s costing us our way of life.
According to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, infrastructure bottlenecks are estimated to total approximately $25 billion. CEDA also estimates their removal could potential raise Australia’s GDP by 0.8 percent per year.
And the costs are not just economic.
At least 1 in 10 working parents are estimated to spend longer in their cars commuting to and from work, than at home with their children.
For Australia to realise its economic potential, and to enable commuters to spend less time behind the wheel in peak hour, we need well planned and properly financed road infrastructure.
One of the most important transport predictions to bear in mind is that our freight task is expected to double over the 20 year period to 2020.
For this growth to be sustainable we need to ensure our transport systems are able to cope, and this includes increasing the share of freight on our rail network.
The Government is investing nearly $1 billion this financial year in the national rail network, both directly and through the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
It’s not a case of favouring one mode over the other. Rather, it is about getting the right mode for the right task. Both road and rail will have an important role to play if we are to meet growing levels of demand over the next 10 to 15 years.
It’s important to remember that when we talk about infrastructure bottlenecks, rarely are our major highways the worst offenders.
The real problem exists in our cities, where trucks can spend hours getting from a city’s outskirts to its port. This spells headaches for ordinary commuters, and higher costs for businesses.
You may be aware that earlier this year, as part of the federal budget, the Government announced $75 million for a series of studies to tackle urban congestion in our major cities.
The states are also coming to the party, contributing almost $60 million dollars towards the studies.
Here in Sydney, we are investing $25 million dollars into two studies - the proposed western metro between Parramatta and the CBD, and a study into potential improvements to the M5 East around Port Botany and Sydney airport to south west Sydney.
These studies are key components of the Government’s approach to improving passenger and freight flows in Australia’s biggest cities.
Our cities are the engine rooms for growth and innovation, accounting for over 70 percent of Australia’s total economic activity, so we need to do all we can to minimise or eliminate the traffic bottlenecks that are hindering their development.
Identifying infrastructure bottlenecks in our cities is one of the key tasks of Infrastructure Australia.
Infrastructure Australia heralds a new era in nation building, and a better way to plan, finance and build Australia’s infrastructure.
Working closely with the private sector and the states and territories, Infrastructure Australia will help governments make sure they target their investments where there is the highest economic and social need.
For too long, investments in our roads have been linked to the three-year political cycle, instead of where there is the greatest need. Establishing IA, which has strong private sector representation, will help us reverse this unsustainable trend.
The body will also identify investment priorities and policy and regulatory reforms that will be necessary to enable timely and coordinated delivery of national infrastructure investment.
Infrastructure Australia’s immediate tasks are to complete an audit of nationally significant infrastructure by the end of the year to determine the capacity and condition of nationally significant infrastructure.
The audit will result in the development of a priority list that will be presented to the Council of Australian Governments through the COAG infrastructure Working Group in March 2009.
We must accept that the recent past has been a period of lost opportunity for harnessing government, industry and private sector investment across the broad spectrum of infrastructure needs.
The Government is committed to turning this situation around.
From 2009-10 to 2013-2014, the Australian Government will invest over $22 billion in road and rail infrastructure.
Further to this, in this year’s Budget, we unveiled the $20 billion Building Australia Fund which will fund much-needed improvements to our nation's infrastructure, with a focus on ports, road, rail and broadband.
These funds will be sourced from the budget surpluses expected in 2007-08 and 2008-09, with the possibility of further deposits being made from future surpluses. We expect to have the Fund up and running by 1 January 2009, with the first allocations to be made in 2009-10.
The Government will use these budget surpluses wisely, to fix and modernise the nation’s infrastructure.
The Government is determined to fix and modernise our nation’s infrastructure.
We are doing this in a systematic and strategic fashion, through the establishment of Infrastructure Australia, the setting up of the Building Australia Fund, and our ongoing investments in Australia’s major freight routes.
I’ve said on a number of occasions since becoming minister, that the best way to drive this reform agenda forward is by working closely with all stakeholders.
Roads Australia has a key role to play providing a voice for the roads sector in Australia, and your name change reflects your determination to build on the strong foundation established by the Australian Road Forum.
I congratulate you again on your initiative, and look forward to continuing to work with you over the years ahead as we continue to provide Australians with the road network they deserve.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Tuesday September 16th 2008 10:29am