Transcript - Minister King interview on Sky News Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert

HOST, KIERAN GILBERT: Joining me in the studio is Catherine King, she's Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, thanks for your time, lots to talk about on the infrastructure front, but on the kitchen table budgets, this looks like a big one in the Budget tomorrow, power prices soaring at least 30 to 40 per cent.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CATHERINE KING: Well, you've seen obviously the Treasurer has been talking about the concerns we have around energy prices and they will largely be driving what's happening with inflation going forward. It is a significant cost on families. That's why it's important that the Budget tomorrow night actually tries to do as best we can to drive down inflation. Make sure that the spending that theGgovernment is making is responsible and doesn't contribute to inflation, but also starts to put in place those cost-of-living relief whether it's childcare, whether it's affordable medicines, those sorts of things, paid parental leave, that will really help family budgets, but we know that inflation is going to continue to be a problem, well into next year. We want to try and get wages growth going as well. We can't do that just in one budget. It's going to take a few budgets to do that. But we're certainly determined to do the work to actually make that happen.

GILBERT: That's a difficult balancing act, isn't it when you've got power price rises of that magnitude, but then this inflationary environment...

KING: Exactly.

GILBERT: Makes it tricky to say, okay, there might be $100 billion additional in commodities, in prices and taxes and so on. But how do you then hand it out?

KING: And that's exactly right. It's really being really careful about how you actually go about doing that making sure that your spending isn't adding to inflation, that it's actually responsible, sustainable. And you can see, and you'll see that tomorrow night from the Treasurer, where we're trying to look at, where are those productive parts of the economy? How are we getting more women, more families who would like to be able to work more hours into work? So childcare obviously, is pretty critical to that paid parental leave really setting people up for the future so that they can actually make sure that they're not losing too much money when they taking time out from the workforce for their children, but still being able to contribute and as well, making sure that we're looking after older Australians and continuing to put the National Disability Insurance Scheme on a sustainable path as well.

GILBERT: When we're talking about so - infrastructure now, that's your portfolio – reprofiling, it's basically delaying, isn't it?

KING: So what we've done is we've sat down with the states and territories and we've talked to them about what are the timeframes for projects. We know at the moment, that there are significant delays happening in projects all over the place. And you know, I don't need to tell your viewers is that if you're trying to get a tradesperson at the moment to do a renovation on your house, you know that it's almost impossible. We'll try and do that 20 times over when you're building a road or a rail project. So there were already delays that are occurring. What we've done is bring the budget and the money and the flow of money for the infrastructure portfolio in line with where the states are saying realistically, this is when we think these projects can start. We're trying to make sure that we keep that investment pipeline strong and sustainable, both in our regions and between cities. But we really want to make sure it's also realistic I'm not going to pretend to people that this project is going to start tomorrow when it's not you know, that's the reality of the economy we're dealing with at the moment.

GILBERT: In terms of the infrastructure profile. How much in dollar terms is being reprofiled or delayed and how much has been cut?

KING: Yeah, so you'll see that on Budget night, but obviously, we've announced, the Minister for Finance announced today in terms of some of those projects. So for example, commuter car parks in Victoria and New South Wales, there are a number of those that were subject to the Australian National Audit Office audit, which basically, if you now go to states and territories and say, is that feasible? They say, well, there's no land available for that project, or if you're going to actually build several of these car parks, that's going to be billions of dollars extra money we'll have to find to actually build them. So we've taken the hard decision of saying that we're just not going to proceed with a number of these car parks and a number of the projects under the Urban Congestion Fund. But the vast majority of the infrastructure budget remains it's just been bought into line with the actual way in which states are delivering those projects across the country.

GILBERT: Because of skills shortages?

KING: Skill shortages, supply we're trying to get steel, trying to get concrete, trying to get labourers...

GILBERT: Can I just talk through a couple of specific things?

KING: Sure.

GILBERT: The Rockhampton Ring Road, that'll happen?

KING: Yeah, absolutely. The money for that remains in the budget. You'll see in the profile, there's still money at the tail end of the forward estimates. We want to get the project done, but the reality is there just isn't enough trades people to do it. But what we're also seeing...

GILBERT: So it'll be delayed?

KING: So what we're also seeing... It won't be delayed at all, it's already going to be delayed. So the reality is, it's already going to be delayed. So now our money flows with when it is. But what you're also seeing is that when you're putting out tenders for projects, they're only getting one company bid and so that's adding to the price increase. So we actually want to make sure we've got good competition, a good strong pipeline and enough companies able to bid for this word because that also will help drive the price down.

GILBERT: There's a few other ones I just want to check with you. So the Milton-Ulladulla bypass?

KING: Money is still in the Budget for that project. And it'll be I think, delayed slightly because again, of the capacity constraints, but money's still in the Budget for that.

GILBERT: The Southern Connector Road?

KING: Which is the...

GILBERT: The Newell Highway upgrade?

KING: Yes. Again, money's still in the Budget for that. So that again, there's very, very little in terms of the Infrastructure Investment Program that we've actually taken out. We've just tried to make sure that the timeframe for delivery matches up with what the states and territories are telling us.

GILBERT: The story in the Herald Sun today talked about $900 million of infrastructure projects being cut. Was that on the money?

KING: Yeah, that's correct. And we've said that so that's car parks, it's again, level rail crossings where substantially like not only did this small amount of money that the government announced, I think in worry about the previous treasurer's seat, it will actually cost almost triple that to actually do, so realistically the project just can't go ahead with the money that's been put on the table.

GILBERT: While you've committed to the early support for the Suburban Rail Loop. Are you committed to seeing that get done even in the face of say, Infrastructure Australia, if they come back to you and say, that's not a priority, that shouldn't happen?

KING: So the only thing we have committed to so far is that first phase of the early works of the first component, so there's $2 billion that will be in the Budget for the election commitment, Infrastructure Australia will look at the whole project. Obviously, it needs to do that, as well as through the National Land Transport Act, the Act that I administer, we actually have to as we're going into the agreements with the state about that. We have to make sure that project also stacks up. But that $2 billion for early works for that first phase based on the business case that the Victorian State which I'm confident in terms of that first phase well and truly stacks up. That money will flow and come through the budget.

GILBERT: And finally on the Building Better Regions Fund Stage 6, this is from my understanding, hundreds of local communities and councils put effort and dollars into trying to secure these funds, will you scrap them entirely?

KING: Well, what the previous government did, it didn't assess the program. So I think the fund applications closed in February and there was no assessment done of that round. So what we've done is said, look, we're not going to proceed with round six, but there will be two new regional funds, a billion dollars over three years for local government particularly to apply for to get that money out into the region.

GILBERT: So if they've applied they might still fit through another avenue?

KING: They would certainly need to apply through another avenue. That's correct.

GILBERT: Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, thanks. Appreciate your time.

KING: Really good to be with you.