Transcript - Radio 2ST Nowra, Mornings with Graeme

GRAEME DAY [HOST]: And taking some time out of a very, very busy day, on the line, I've got Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. How do you do it all in one day? That's what I would like to ask. How are you?

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Well, that's a good question, Graeme. It's a big country and it's fantastic. I've been in Mittagong this morning – beautiful part of the world – announcing our Growing Regions grant, round two for New South Wales. We're investing in the Playhouse there, which is really the cultural heart of Mittagong. It's been closed since 2018. So fantastic to be able to really announce this second round of funding that's going across the country to our regional communities.

GRAEME DAY: And that was about $4.3 million. Am I right?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. That's right. And the council will also have to chip in that amount as well. It's a beautiful old building but really no longer fit for purpose, and the theatre part of it at the back has been closed since 2018. Really, their focus on bringing this back up to the 21st century is really on young people. It's providing that opportunity, cultural space for arts, but also to make sure they've got spaces for young people to come and participate in other programs as well. So, it'll be really terrific. And it really is right smack in the middle of town, and it's the old council chambers from hundreds of years- not quite, but a long time ago. And it'll be really terrific. And it's part of, as I said, the Growing Regions Program that is our second round of funding we're announcing out in the regions, and I'm doing New South Wales today.

GRAEME DAY: I'll tell you what, the coast and the highlands have been very lucky, had the Prime Minister give $5 million to the residents of the Shoalhaven in regard to looking at the Shoalhaven River, and you've given almost as much to the Playhouse.

CATHERINE KING: Well, the Nowra project is terrific. It's also part of a regional program called the regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. The focus of that program is particularly about trying to look at reusing public spaces or old buildings where they really change the way in which a town or city operates. One of the things a lot of our country towns have done is that, the river was seen as the industrial precinct, and a lot of towns are built with their backs basically facing the river. And we all know water is such a beautiful place to have recreational activities, amenity, and that precinct program is really about trying to bring the rivers back into and bring the amenity back into your CBDs, as well as trying to look at where you might be able to also get new affordable housing or new housing developments as well. So, that's really part of that project announced in Nowra today.

GRAEME DAY: Very important. And it's good to see regional areas have got quite an investment. I notice some of the money going towards aquatic centres and also sporting hubs and what have you, which is very, very important in the regions.

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, very much so. So a couple of aquatic centres in Tamworth and Grafton. We're upgrading the Dubbo Airport, for example. Those things that really are important for the economic development of towns. And what we've done with these grants programs is we've really tried to make sure that we're basically- you know, the competitive process councils put in. We've got a two-stage assessment process and taking those recommendations. And it's been really good to see projects wide spread across New South Wales, from Orange to Tamworth to Mittagong, Tomaree as well, Lake Inverell, there's money across there, some 16 projects, $80 million. And again, really important to those regional communities. I know there'll be communities that are a bit disappointed they've missed out, but really encourage communities to continue to look out for those opportunities because we do want to make sure we lift our regions up regardless of where they are.

GRAEME DAY: Now, I know you're busy, but I just want to centre on two pieces of your portfolio – that's local government and also transport and infrastructure. Now, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect because we always blame councils and we also blame the state government. But you would- I would ask you on the program now, we have got a large area, which is Shoalhaven and Wingecarribee. The first thing that anyone mentions is the condition of the roads. And I know that you've put out a lot of funding, but can you maybe send a letter of authority from your department, getting the councils on to making that a priority? Because I'm sure that it's really not a priority in many councils, and you give the money and it takes so long for them to use it. Could you do that for us?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I'm pretty sure- you know, like, I know councils have got a lot of jobs to do, but roads are the thing that gets raised with me the most. Now, what I've tried to do- we've got three levels of government, and I've tried to make sure the Federal Government is really concentrated on when it comes to roads and rail, on those big projects, on those big national highways, on big public transport projects, those sorts of things. And then, we obviously partner with state governments on what are largely state roads, again, bigger projects, and then really give money directly to local councils.

There's two things that I'd let your listeners know about. One is we've doubled what's called the Roads to Recovery Program. So a billion dollars will be available every single year for councils, right the way across the country to spend on roads. They make the decisions about where they're going to spend it, the money- you know, how much they're getting from the Commonwealth that's publicly available. And what that means is that if you've got a road in your local area, you should be talking to your council about getting it onto the Capital Works Program and also making sure that they're keeping up with maintenance. The other thing which I was a bit surprised about is that the previous Liberal National government froze what's called the indexation for maintenance money on our national highways. So it really meant we were going backwards. We've now re-indexed that and then backdated it. So there's now more money going to state governments to actually do that maintenance on those national highway land transport roads. Again, I was a bit surprised and I was- millions of dollars were basically cut out of it, and I would have thought maintenance of our national highways was pretty important. So we've re-put that money in.

And of course, we're making new announcements all the time. But really, we want local councils to have the money to get on with their job, particularly when they've got a lot of roads, a lot of bridges as well. That's sort of what we've done. We've also doubled money that can go for what was- used to be the old Bridges Renewal Program. There's some more money available to councils to apply for that as well. So we're trying to do our bit, and I know local councils are trying to do theirs with their big road networks as well.

GRAEME DAY: And could you give them a bit of a nudge? Because I don't want any politician to be embarrassed. Now, I know that your government has said that we need and working towards about 240,000 new homes. Where it all crunches to a halt is local councils and their DA process. Now, I know it's a remit of the state government, but can't you ring Mr. Minns or the head of planning and say, look- because Wingecarribee is the worst in New South Wales? In your portfolio, can't you give them a kick up the bum and say, look, just get on with it?

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly, what we can do is what we have done is work with state planning ministers to do some big reforms about getting more houses on more quickly and put some money into the infrastructure for that. So we've done that as well. But certainly, we want to see homes built, we want to see those developments done, and want to see that work with local councils to actually get those done. So always happy for people to raise those issues and happy to raise those with local government associations across the country.

GRAEME DAY: Good on you. Well, thank you for the $4.3 million, and I'm sure that'll be put to good use by the council. Thanks for the work that you do, and good luck with what has now turned into a campaign.

CATHERINE KING: It does feel like that. I think it’ll be no surprise to your listeners that there's an election this year. But what we're doing with these announcements, these are part of our programs that have already been established. They're in their second and third rounds when it comes to the precinct program for example, and we're getting on the business of delivering those from government and will continue to do that obviously in the lead up to the election. And hopefully, we're challenging that and we want to get there hopefully beyond as well.

GRAEME DAY: Okay. Great to talk to you. Thanks so much.

CATHERINE KING: Great. Thanks. Great to talk to you too.

GRAEME DAY: Bye-bye. Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, obviously going to keep an eye on this local area.