Transcript - Interview on 4CA AM

MURRAY JONES [HOST]: An interesting chat this morning because we know the economy, certainly, of our region and of course, regions right across tropical north Queensland and further north all the way up to the tip, so dependent on having good quality roads. So, more funding for local roads infrastructure has basically been announced as part of actually the election of the Albanese government. But what about the rollout that's I guess some of the key things, you know, we get these promises, but when it starts to get rolled out, that's one of the key things that we really want to see.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King joins me this morning. Good morning, Catherine, nice to have you along for the breakfast show. How are you?

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: I'm very well, thanks, this morning, Murray, we're freezing cold down south, so I'm sure you've got lots of [indistinct] compatriots up there at the moment [indistinct].

MURRAY JONES: It's nearly 26 degrees already up in this part of the world, so we're doing pretty well, actually.

CATHERINE KING: Don't rub it in.

MURRAY JONES: Well, look, it's phase four of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program. It's delivered about 500 million to Australian councils, but particularly for councils up here in this part of the world, I believe we've actually got an announcement that's coming out today with respect to the - actually the divvying out of some of this extra cash for our local roads.

CATHERINE KING: Yes, so we already announced in February the allocations for the $500 million that was already existing in the budget. And today we're announcing there's an additional $250 million for regional, rural and peri-urban councils, those outer metro growth suburbs councils for specifically for roads. And we've been just putting that allocation out today and writing to all the councils to tell them, particularly important as they lead into their budget process, and they'll be pleased to see that extra money going to local roads. We know just with the weather events we've had, water is not our roads’ friend, unfortunately, and it causes really big problems, particularly on our local roads. And so things like for Cairns Regional Council, we're announcing an additional million dollars, a little bit more than that and so that takes their total to $2.9 million that they can all spend on local roads. And then in terms of Douglas Shire, there's an extra $158,000 so their total is just under just on $432,000. Mareeba Shire Council is another $660,000. And then Tablelands Regional Council, there's just over $500,000 for them as well. So, that brings quite a lot of money coming into local councils and that is specifically for upgrading local roads, fixing and maintaining. It comes, of course, on top of the Roads to Recovery program and other programs we fund our states with - our local councils with.

MURRAY JONES: Well, look, this is essential type of funding when it comes to not just the economy of actually moving big trucks, obviously livestock, and also just basic supplies. As we know, we have so many issues with respect to the wet season and so many communities getting cut off, but also, I guess, for the tourism economy as well, getting people, getting visitors to some of these outlying areas, this is the type of infrastructure that we need. At the end of the day, I guess it's the thing where the Albanese government has stepped up, but long term, we really do need these solid commitments. What type of funding - these are various phases that are coming through, what are some of the areas where we're likely to expand further into the future as well? Minister?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, well, at the moment I've got a big review underway that's made by the national media, of course, in terms of the overall infrastructure pipeline, it's $120 billion the Commonwealth invests over ten years and it's a rolling pipeline, so new projects are meant to come in. The problem I've got at the moment is that there are a lot of projects that were announced by the previous government that often way back in 2016, that were announced with no funding partner, not enough money to actually fund the project itself and just state governments in some areas saying well, look, these are not projects that we're able to fund within our budget constraints and even local councils in some instances saying the same thing. So, I've got some tough decisions to make about whether we actually continue with those projects. I've asked for an independent review to get some advice about that, to work with the states and territories, because I want to have a pipeline of projects that are able to be delivered, really focussed on being able to deliver, have got the right amount of money in them. We've got a lot of cost, like costs are going up, so we haven't got a lot of room at the moment to pay for those extra costs. So, trying to make sure we've got that and really being able to have a pipeline that's able to be delivered and that also gives us headroom for new things.

So, what we sort of fund, we fund local government through Roads to Recovery and this Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, as well as through financial assistance grants. And there's other small programs like the heavy vehicle safety program, bridges renewal that they can apply for. And there's been quite a bit of money come through there. So we've really got to look at - and my preference is that you fund local council directly to do local roads. You try and don't mess with their business, you let them do that work in partnership with states and territories for all of the other big projects as well, and really leave it to the states to do some of those smaller state road projects that really they should be responsible for. And unfortunately, I've got a project pipeline that's really full of all sorts of things at the moment, so there's a bit of work to be done to clean that up. Before we can start really talking about that new investment, but where we can make headroom, particularly for local councils. Because I just know the capacity of councils to really be able to maintain their road network is really difficult. And I know the Roads to Recovery in the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure project are very welcome and this additional money will really make a big difference.

MURRAY JONES: And look, when it actually comes to the cost of some of these roads, particularly laying brand new ones, but as you said, the ongoing maintenance as well, the actual cost of roads is actually eye-watering. So, I can understand it's always a bit of a difficult balancing act and there's a lot of places right across the country that are calling on part of these funds. But good to see that we've got an allocation, particularly to some of those areas to the north and to the west of Cairns. Catherine King, it's been great to talk to you this morning. She's the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Have a wonderful day and we'll look forward seeing you in town and get you out of the cold in the very near future.

CATHERINE KING: Will do, Murray. Good to talk to you.

MURRAY JONES: Cheers.