Transcript - Media conference - Ballarat, Victoria

E&OE

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Thanks, everybody, for being here in beautiful Ballarat today. Well, today the Albanese Labor government has announced a review of the $120 billion 10-year rolling infrastructure investment pipeline. This is following National Cabinet on Friday where every state and territory Premier and Chief Minister agreed that the Commonwealth’s pipeline did need review.

What we’ve found over the course of the last few months as we’ve headed into the May budget, we tried to do a bit of cleaning up of the infrastructure investment pipeline in the October budget, but it is very clear that the infrastructure investment pipeline is not sustainable as it is. There are projects in that pipeline that have had announcements but not enough funding to build them and no co-funding partner.

We know that for many of the projects that the previous government announced there was a lot of fanfare, a lot of press release, but no actual detail about how these projects were to be delivered. Now, if I’m to deliver projects in the infrastructure investment pipeline I want to know that they have got partner funding from state governments. I want to know that they’ve had a full cost benefit analysis where that is possible to do one for the larger projects. I want to know that these projects are actually deliverable rather than having money sitting in the pipeline that we’re never, ever going to be able to get out into communities.

We know that when we last left office there was over 150 projects in the infrastructure investment pipeline. Following a decade of the Liberal-National party, and particularly the National Party, being in charge of this pipeline, we now have a pipeline that has almost 800 projects in it – over 490 or so of them are under $50 million and only 19 per cent of those – it will surprise no-one – in seats held by the Labor Party.

This is an infrastructure pipeline that the National Party used as their own political play thing to pork-barrel into seats for their mates. We want to clean this up. It’s part of the governance – of the Albanese Labor government cleaning up the mess of the last government, making sure we’ve got an extra investment pipeline that can be delivered, that can work for all Australians, that is focused on nationally significant projects that build productivity, that help with decarbonisation of our transport sector, get more freight on to rail and make sure that people can get home safely.

That’s what we’re committed to doing. It’s a 90-day review – short, sharp – and we thank the states and territories for working with us on it.

Happy to take any questions.

JOURNALIST: Minister King, beginning with questions from ABC, are you using this review to find space to pay for an increased JobSeeker?

CATHERINE KING: No, that’s – so in terms of the issues around JobSeeker, obviously we’ll have a budget in a few days’ time and obviously we have said a couple of things. The first is in every single one of our budgets we want to make sure we look at the income support system and provide relief to people where we can. We recognise that is important. But as a separate process we also know you have to spend money responsibly. We’ve been looking across the budget to make sure that we are actually investing in the things that are nationally significant in my portfolio – to make sure that freight keeps moving safely around the country, that people are able to get home safely from work, that those great connections between our cities and our regions are strong. They’re the things that we’re interested in investing in, and this is about keeping every single dollar of the $120 billion 10-year pipeline in the budget, every single dollar, but making sure that it’s going towards productive uses in the economy.

JOURNALIST: Is there an estimate of how many projects will need to be cut?

CATHERINE KING: No, not at all. There’s not a target, there’s not an estimate, there’s not any specific targets that are on a list or anything like that. We are working closely with the states and territories. We’ve asked the reviewers. The reviewers have come. We’ve obviously got Clare Gardiner-Barnes, someone who’s on the Infrastructure Australia Board at the moment. We’ve got a member, former transport deputy secretary, or secretary of the Western Australian transport division, and, of course, Mike Mrdak, who used to head up the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure and Transport from when we were last in government.

They will look and give us proper advice about what projects are able to be delivered, how much they actually cost. We know that we have seen massive cost overruns because, again, the government previously did not do the work to actually make sure we had proper costings for these projects before they went off and announced. They were interested in the announcement, interested in the media, interested in the electorate outcome; not interested in the actual delivery of infrastructure.

JOURNALIST: A couple of questions about the Western Freeway and Beaufort Bypass – when will that happen?

CATHERINE KING: So, again, the state government of Victoria is responsible for the delivery of that project.

JOURNALIST: It’s a federal road, though.

CATHERINE KING: There’s no such thing. There’s no such thing. So that project is being delivered by the Victorian state government. It obviously has had significant issues in relation to planning, so I’ll suggest you direct your questions about that to them. In the last –

JOURNALIST: No such thing as a federal road?

CATHERINE KING: In the last election commitment we made a $10 million commitment to look at a business case for the Western Highway from Bacchus Marsh on to Melton, and that’s something that we are working with the Victorian state government to deliver to look at that planning. But the delivery of road projects, the delivery of this project, is a matter for the Victorian state government. And we’re happy – that money is on the table and we’re keen to get that project done. But, again, it’s obviously had significant planning issues.

JOURNALIST: The Rockbank section of the highway, when will it be widened and upgraded?

CATHERINE KING: Again, as I’ve just said to you, the commitment we made in the last federal election was $10 million for a business case to look at what to do in relation to that section. You know that there has been significant amounts of urban development occur along that corridor without the Western Highway receiving the attention that it needs. And we’ll be working with the Victorian state government on that.

But if we’re to find headroom for any new projects in the infrastructure investment pipeline, we have to undertake this review. We have to make sure that the investments we are making are deliverable and there is headroom for new projects, such as the Western Highway and those sorts of projects into the future.

JOURNALIST: Looking into this review, what’s prompted it to get kickstarted now after a year in government?

CATHERINE KING: Well, as I said in the October budget we started doing the work of that. We had a small number of projects that were being – that were deferred or delayed because the projects were simply not able to meet the timelines that had previously been announced and the capacity constraints in the market meant that they were being delayed. There were some 50 or so that we looked at in that case, and there was a number that we cancelled in that process.

But we’ve started to do a deeper delve into the infrastructure investment pipeline, when we’ve started to work with the states and territories since that October budget where we’ve actually been able to really work very closely with them to say, “What’s actually happening? Can you deliver this project,” it’s been very clear that there are projects in the infrastructure investment pipeline that some states and territories were completely unaware of. So what that’s meant is we’ve now had to go back to the drawing board, get this review done and make sure we can deliver all of these projects.

JOURNALIST: May I ask questions from Channel 9: they ask, is it only transport infrastructure being reviewed in this 90 days, for example, not hospitals?

CATHERINE KING: That’s correct. It is the infrastructure investment pipeline, and that pipeline is the funding that comes from the Commonwealth for road and rail projects.

JOURNALIST: And how many Victorian projects will be examined?

CATHERINE KING: There’s no particular number. We’ve obviously said that anything under construction will continue. Anything that was part of our election commitments will continue. But really what this is about is looking at those projects that are sitting in the pipeline, some of them for many, many years, that have simply not been able to be delivered. They’re not being constructed currently, and we’re looking at that across the country.

JOURNALIST: Will large transport projects like the suburban rail loop, which we’ve heard a lot of about recently, be examined? Is that on the list?

CATHERINE KING: The suburban rail loop is an election commitment and, as I have just said, election commitments are not part of the review process.

JOURNALIST: From the criteria point of view, what is the criteria for economically sustainable projects?

CATHERINE KING: So the first thing is the terms of reference of the review go into what is nationally significant, what projects under the National Land Transport Act, which is the act under which Commonwealth investment is governed, investing in those projects. I want to be able to say with confidence that we have got a resilient freight – rail freight and road freight – network in Australia. I cannot say that with any confidence at the moment. We know that the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, Research Economics has been undertaking a significant study into the resilience of our freight network, and it clearly is showing already there are parts of the network that are at high risk – high risk of climate change, high risk of flooding and high risk of not being to the standard they need to be.

I want to be able to invest in a sustainable, resilient freight network. And at the moment we simply are unable to do that with confidence because we just haven’t got the information we need to be able to do that.

JOURNALIST: It might be a bit more of a question for the state government, but with the budget happening next week, as we know, do you expect that, I guess, certain parts of that will remain blank while this review gets underway?

CATHERINE KING: No. So all of the money that the Commonwealth is investing in infrastructure, every dollar will remain in the budget. We will work over the next 90 days with states and territories on what projects need extra money, what projects need to be cancelled because they’re not able to be delivered, what projects need to have a longer time frame in order to be delivered. We’ll work with the states and territories on all of those projects. But every dollar – no money has been taken out of the budget. No money has been deferred out of the budget.

JOURNALIST: Western Freeway, Warrenheip gateway project, they’ve been waiting since 1996 for some answers – you know, a roundabout has been suggested, a massive overpass. When can we see some action there perhaps?

CATHERINE KING: Again, that would be up to the Victorian state government to come to the Commonwealth to say that this is one of the projects that is a priority for the Western Highway, and we’ll work with the Victorian state government on those.

JOURNALIST: Moving on to questions from Channel 7, they off the back of 9’s question just ask why isn’t the suburban rail loop being included?

CATHERINE KING: The suburban rail loop was an election commitment. We’ve decided not to include election commitments in the review. This is something that we have committed to delivering as part of the election. That is there. We’ve obviously got $2.2 billion for those early works on suburban rail east. Any further requests for funding from the state government will be subject to both Infrastructure Australia processes and internal departmental processes. But at this stage we have no further money for suburban rail loop on the table other than the election commitment. And that is because we’ve got an infrastructure investment pipeline - $120 billion over 10 years – that is clogged with National Party pet projects that, frankly, are just simply not able to be delivered unless we find billions of dollars more funding to actually do them.

JOURNALIST: Are you able to preview any of the major Victorian projects that the review will consider?

CATHERINE KING: Not at this stage. It’s a review, and the very nature of a review is we’re actually looking at all of the projects that are not contracted, not election commitments and taking our way – taking our time through that 90-day period to really look at those and to look at the work of the states on those.

JOURNALIST: And just a final question that 7 asked – and I can see what the answer will be – but does it include the airport rail, the review?

CATHERINE KING: No, it doesn’t include the airport rail, but certainly, you know, the money will remain in the budget for that particular project. But we do need to work with the Victorians about what is the time frame for that project, what is the feasibility for that project. We know there are delays in getting some planning or some agreement between the state and the airport in relation to that project, and that may see that project delayed as a result of that. But we’ll work with the Victorian state government to make sure the money that is there – the 5 billion invested from the Commonwealth government – is there on the table, but we need to look at the time frame for that project in partnership with them.

JOURNALIST: If the airport rail does go ahead, is it true that V Line trains from Ballarat and Geelong will terminate at Sunshine as a result instead of –

CATHERINE KING: Again, that’s a matter for the state government. They do the design work and the planning work of what the project will be.

JOURNALIST: Just some final questions from me from ABC Rural now: just looking to the National Electricity Market targets, they ask with the community objection, do you think the National Electricity Market target for 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030 is achievable?

CATHERINE KING: Well, it’s incredibly important that we meet our net zero target. And as the Transport Minister I have a significant role to play in relation to that. Questions about the energy market are best directed to Chris Bowen, the minister responsible for the energy market. But in terms of transport, I’m very proud that we’ve announced that we’re developing a fuel efficiency standard. That will assist in getting more electric vehicles on to Australian roads and making sure that rural Australians can reach the cost the benefits of actually not having to pay the significant amounts for petrol that they currently do. So that is really what’s in my portfolio, trying to look at how we can actually get transport into the agenda. We know that, you know, from rail, from shipping, from airlines to our road heavy vehicles, they are all desperately working to actually get their vehicles on to hydrogen or get their vehicles on to electric and want to actually see how they can help decarbonise the transport sector.

JOURNALIST: With two of the nation’s leading energy experts warning that persevering with the projects would lead to higher power bills in Victoria, increased risk of blackouts and bushfires and needless damage to communities along the transmission corridor, what’s your response to that?

CATHERINE KING: My response is that we are decades behind where we should be in actually getting strong investment into renewables. We had a government previously that did not believe in climate change. The fact that we now are ensuring that we’re getting renewables into the grid is incredibly important.

The grid has not been upgraded until – since the 1970s. This is big work that we have to do. This is transforming the way in which energy is generated and moved about this country. And that is obviously something that we work our way through. We use the processes through the Australian Energy Market Operator, and I’ll direct any sort of more detailed questions to Chris Bowen, the responsible minister.

JOURNALIST: And just a final one from ABC Rural: how confident are you in AEMO’s planning?

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly I have, you know, as a local member raised some issues about the way in which they’ve undertaken consultation with local communities. And I think through their regulatory processes they are learning as they go along. As I said, we haven’t had this sort of investment, large-scale investment, in our transmission infrastructure for a long period of time. I think they can always do better, and I’m sure Minister Bowen would agree with that.

JOURNALIST: Final question from me, just in regards to this 90-day review, in terms of you mentioned it was short and sharp. What is it going to look like after the 90 days? Is there going to be a list that’s put out that, you know, is on the axe list?

CATHERINE KING: So we will work with each state and territory. What happens is the national partnership agreements the Commonwealth has with each state and territory government in relation to infrastructure projects, there’s a schedule. Once they sign off on that schedule we generally make that publicly available of what projects are on the schedule. So we’ll work with each state and territory. Sometimes the time varies about when they’re comfortable for signing off on that release. But that’s what normally happens. Projects in the schedule are agreed between the states and the territories and the Commonwealth.

JOURNALIST: So just looking at timelines, when are we expecting to have –

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, that will come down to the negotiations I have with each state and territory government.

JOURNALIST: And you probably mentioned it right at the start, but in terms of this 90-day period kicking off, when is that?

CATHERINE KING: Today.

JOURNALIST: Okay, with the VRNI and WRNL, how are you addressing the concerns of people concerned about that?

CATHERINE KING: So I put in a submission to the recent request from AEMO about that project as a local member and will continue to advocate for better outcomes for those communities.

JOURNALIST: How will you advocate?

CATHERINE KING: I just said that – I’ve just put in a submission.

JOURNALIST: Okay. And Rewiring the Nation, how is that going along?

CATHERINE KING: Again, that would be a matter for Minister Bowen to ask him.