Press conference, Brisbane

CATHERINE KING: Catherine King, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and I'm here today with Madonna Jarrett and Rebecca Hack, our candidates for Brisbane and for Ryan. And what an iconic place to be standing here with the backdrop of the magnificent Story Bridge, which so tells the story of Brisbane, it is very much one of the most iconic bridges in the country. We're really pleased today that the Albanese Labor government, as part of our budget processes in October, has made the decision that we will fund with the Brisbane City Council $5 million together to really do the work in order to make sure that this bridge can stand for another hundred years. We need to look at its maintenance scheduling, we need to look at what restoration is going to be needed to keep this iconic bridge going. It forms part of $200 million that we're announcing today across a range of different programs. $50 million, again, to Brisbane City Council to extend and do the business work and early work to get the Metro to the northern suburbs. We know how popular Brisbane Metro has been here in Brisbane. It's really providing that good public transport link into the city and out to the suburbs, so that $50 million as well.

We're announcing also $20 million, taking our contribution to $40 million for the Brisbane Valley Highway. Again, really important safety improvements along there. We're also making announcements about the Active Transport Fund, some $24 million in projects right the way across Queensland, and of course, a really important one here, partnering with the Brisbane City Council for the Sylvan Road, our shared user path. What we're trying to do is provide as much opportunity for people to move around, whether it's by bike, whether it is by car, whether it's by bus, to make sure that you can get to work, but also get home as quickly as you possibly can, because we want people to be able to spend as much time as they can in their neighbourhoods with their families.

These announcements today are all part of our budget processes, and really delighted to be able to partner with the Brisbane City Council. I spoke to Lord Mayor Schrinner yesterday to let him know about those and I know he's welcoming them very much. He's been a great partner with us in working on infrastructure projects right the way across Brisbane City Council, and of course we look forward to working with all of the other councils on the Active Transport Fund announcements we've made today. Happy to take questions, unless you would like to make some comments about the bridge. Do you want to do that? And then you can- you can do that [indistinct] transport.

REBECCA HACK: The bridge is an iconic Brisbane landmark and we need to preserve it, but I'm also really excited about Sylvan Road Bikeway. I've had so many community groups ask for that upgrade. It's a real black spot. It's dangerous, and this is going to really help people use their bikes, get their cars off the road and get to work safely. 

MADONNA JARRETT: Having grown up in Brisbane, we all know that the Story Bridge is absolutely iconic and we need to keep it going. But what I love about today's announcement is it's about planning. And we are such a lovely city, we have so many people coming to live here, and why not, right? But at the end of the day, we do need to have smart infrastructure. And this is about planning. It's about creating active ways for people to move around our city, whether it's walking, cycling, catching, public transport, et cetera. I'm a huge fan of the bikeway. I'm a user of that bikeway. So getting us off the roads and into a safe environment I think is fantastic. So well done Labor.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: Just quickly on that $50 million addition to the Brisbane Metro. Is additional funding contributing to the Brisbane Metro just enabling sort of those ongoing cost blow-outs of the project that we've seen over the last few years?

CATHERINE KING: So there's two things that we've done. The Brisbane City Council and their project- infrastructure projects are expensive and we have seen costs increase right the way across the board. And Brisbane City Council is no different to everywhere else. So there were some requests for cost pressures for the Brisbane Metro. So we've funded those as well, and the 50 million is on top of that.

JOURNALIST: Minister, will you meet with the Deputy Premier to discuss the infrastructure review report, and would you like to see it while you're here?

CATHERINE KING: Certainly the Deputy Premier has undertaken- he's spoken- I had a text message with him yesterday. The Deputy Premier has undertaken to give us early line of sight of the final report of the Brisbane Olympics review as a 50/50 partner in funding the Olympic venues. We're very keen to work with the Queensland Government on ensuring that we have this lasting legacy of the Olympics into the future. I understand the Queensland Government has received the draught review and we look forward to hearing about it as soon as the Queensland Government is ready to share that with us.

JOURNALIST: So you haven't seen it yet?

CATHERINE KING: No, I obviously haven't seen it. It's the draft review has gone to the Queensland Government.

JOURNALIST: And on that review, if a Victoria Park proposal is recommended and taken on board by the Queensland Government, will the federal government fund a significant portion, given it could be upwards of $3 billion and could chew into that total $7 billion funding package?

CATHERINE KING: So it’s- I haven't seen the review of the Olympics, and I'm not really going to engage in hypotheticals about what's going to go where, because I just genuinely haven't seen it. What we've got at the moment is a capped amount from the Commonwealth of $3.5 billion, 2.5 billion of that is committed to the Brisbane Arena. We think the Brisbane Arena is a really iconic and important project for the city of Brisbane, particularly leaving that legacy for a large scale entertainment venue here. And it's why we made that investment into the Brisbane Arena. We've done the business case work, it is ready to go and that is where the Commonwealth money currently sits, as well as the money that's going into the minor venues. We'll work with the Queensland Government once they've got line of sight in terms of what they want to do in relation to the review, and we'll make our decisions based on that but collaboratively with the Queensland.

JOURNALIST: Is the Federal government committed to assisting the state government to build [indistinct] by 2032?

CATHERINE KING: So what the Commonwealth has done- and we made the commitment. So what we have done is made the very, very strong commitment to build to Caloundra. Any additional funding is really part of budget processes that the Queensland Government would have to request of us. But what we have done is made a very clear commitment that the Commonwealth will pay a two point- I think it's $2.75 billion to get it to Caloundra. That is the announcement and the commitment that we have made. Any- any other governments that have made other commitments, they need to talk to their commitments.

JOURNALIST: Is it buildable in eight years?

CATHERINE KING: Sorry, I couldn't …

JOURNALIST: Is it buildable in eight years?

CATHERINE KING: All of the advice that we had when we made the announcement to get it to Caloundra is that it would be very difficult to get it to any further than that before the Olympics.

JOURNALIST: Will you rule out any requests for the $2.5 billion committed to Brisbane Arena to be used for any other projects, and have you already received any requests of that nature?

CATHERINE KING: So, we haven't received any requests. And obviously, in terms of the Intergovernmental Agreement- what the Intergovernmental Agreement, which is a 50/50 agreement for funding of the Brisbane Olympics infrastructure, is that the Commonwealth contribution of $2.5 billion is for the Brisbane Arena. It's really difficult to speculate on hypothetical asks when we simply just don't know what's in the review or what that might be. I do have a view, obviously, that the Brisbane Arena is really important. It's why we made the commitment too that the Commonwealth would fund that $2.5 billion to it. We think it leaves a really strong and lasting legacy for entertainment here in the city of Brisbane.

JOURNALIST: What do you prefer, the proposed site at Roma Street, or are there any other sites that you would agree to?

CATHERINE KING: Obviously, again, that will be a matter for the review. There was quite a bit of investigation done of alternate sites and a lot of work. A substantial amount of work has been done, obviously, on the Roma Street site, but again, we'll just await the review and await the recommendations of the review in relation to that.

JOURNALIST: What's your response to the Gold Coast looking to host swimming if the Brisbane Arena plans should fall through?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, it's really hard for me to engage in sort of hypotheticals. My experience, to be blunt, of Victoria in the Commonwealth Games, for example, is that lots of councils want to see the opportunity of the games, wherever that is, and that mayors are going to do and put them their best foot forward in order to make sure that both funding and legacy and events come into their local government areas. And that is, of course, what good local governments will do. What I'm interested in is we've got this incredible opportunity, this great opportunity here in Brisbane to showcase not only Brisbane, not only Queensland, but Australia to the world as part of the Olympics. And I'm looking forward to partnering with the Queensland Government to really make this the best games ever.

JOURNALIST: Will you meet with the Deputy Premier later today?

CATHERINE KING: I'm not meeting with the Deputy Premier later today, but certainly, we are in contact in relation to the review and he has given an undertaking, and he will share that with us when- the earliest opportunity when he’s ready to do so.

JOURNALIST: Has the State Government approached you regarding the full [indistinct]?

CATHERINE KING: Certainly, in terms of the requests that we have coming forward to us in the upcoming budget, we've not received a request from the State Government for that. But again, you know, these happen in budget cycles all the time, and I'd have to go back and check whether that has changed in the last day or so. But as I've said, the Labor Government, Australian Labor Government's commitment has been and remains that we will fund the rail, the 2.7 billion that we've got to get it to Caloundra. That is all of the advice we- that is possible to do and we really just need to get on with doing that.

JOURNALIST: Just quickly on the Qatar Airways deal that was announced this morning, any comments on that?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. Look, I think that obviously the Treasurer has made the decision today about the Foreign Investment Review Board's decision to allow the Qatari government, Qatar Airways, to take a stake in Virgin. What that has enabled as part of that is there’s conditions on making sure that there is Australian presence on the Board and that that continues, and that there's opportunities for training pilots and cabin crew because it's really important that we continue, as part of having Australian aviation, good, strong investment in jobs in our area.

JOURNALIST: Why does it cost so much to build infrastructure in Brisbane? The Brisbane Metro costs $80 million per kilometre, right? If you were doing it in Italy, it might cost $80 million to build an underground rail system. Why is it so expensive?

CATHERINE KING: Well, that's a big question.

JOURNALIST: Yes.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Infrastructure is expensive. And if you go to the Northern Territory, there's a whole issue around being able to get- labour shortages contribute significantly. Labour's one of the significant costs, but we've seen increases in the cost and the price of steel, in the price of concrete, competition in terms of how many companies you've got to build things. All of that adds up. And so, all of that adds up, and it is something that every state and territory have been struggling with. It is expensive to build infrastructure, but also what we do as part of using Infrastructure Australia, we monitor and look at labour shortages and try to look at how can we actually work to improve that. So things like free TAFE actually has been really significant in building that workforce and building that workforce together as a nation, as well as making sure we've got a strong and productive building sector as well.

So, Queensland's not the only state that struggles with these issues. It's everywhere. Infrastructure is just expensive to build, but it also is really important, really important investments and jobs. But it's really what it enables your communities to then do, being able to move between the suburbs, being able to move between the towns, being able to unlock the economic potential of the city. So it's an important investment, but of course, it is an expensive one.

JOURNALIST: Sorry to just loop back to Qatar Airways. Back in 2023, you blocked Qatar Airways from adding extra flights to Australia, citing national interest. What's changed now to justify approving that 25 per cent stake?

CATHERINE KING: So this is a different decision. This is a decision about whether a foreign investment can be made in an Australian company, and that's really the decision the Treasurer has made today. Our bilateral arrangements, I’ve got to remind people, are treaty level arrangements. They are treaty level arrangements about Australia wanting something from a country and a country wanting something from us, and they are important agreements that are in place. Qatar had recently received- when I made that decision, had already just recently received an increase in that. And now, what we're seeing today is the Treasurer make the announcement in relation to the capacity of a foreign country, a foreign airline, to have ownership in Virgin. And that decision has been made, and that's enabled, in fact, Australian commitment onto the board- of continuation onto the Board of Virgin, and opportunities for Australians to be employed and to get training through that process as well.

JOURNALIST: Can you clarify what the specific national interest was that led to the decision?

CATHERINE KING: I think we've got the decision that's before us today, and that decision before us today is the Foreign Investment Review Board decision. We've also had the ACCC decision around wet leasing, and I'll leave that there.

JOURNALIST: Thank you.