Pacific Highway Duplication

 

Rob Oakeshott (Member of Lyne): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will you release a full schedule of works for the completion of the Pacific Highway now that your party has promised at two elections to complete the highway by 2016 and it will now appear in the four-year forward estimates in this year's May budget?

Anthony Albanese: I thank the Member for Lyne for his question and for his commitment to his constituents, and other constituents, who use the Pacific Highway.

We already have committed some $4.1 billion to the Pacific Highway More than 1,600 workers are today working on site rebuilding the Pacific Highway. This is vital for productivity. It has been identified by Infrastructure Australia as a priority. But it is also vital for safety. Over the last 20 years some 809 people have lost their lives on the Pacific Highway, which is 809 too many.

That is why we on this side of the House (Federal Labor) are absolutely committed to fulfilling the duplication by 2016, which was first promised by the Howard Government in 2004. They promised it but did not put any dollars into it. They contributed $1.3 billion over 12 years and during that time the State [Labor] Government committed $2.5 billion.

At that time—when they (the Federal Coalition) were in government—they said the Pacific Highway was a “state road”. They called upon the NSW Labor government to do more. The Member for Cowper [Luke Hartsuyker], for example, said in this place:

“It is a state road NSW refused to commit one extra dollar of State government funding to a road they are responsible for.”

The State Member for Coffs Harbour, Andrew Fraser, who had a bit to say—inaccurately—in recent months about funding on the Pacific Highway, said this when he was in opposition:

“The Pacific Highway is a state road. I pay credit to the Federal [Labor] Government for increasing the funding arrangement. I damn and condemn this State government. The State government should pour the money in.”

But now, when in government, only yesterday Mr Fraser was saying in the NSW Parliament that they cannot afford to pay their share.

We on this side of the House say: let’s end the politics with this issue. Let’s have 50–50 funding to deliver on the Pacific Highway. Let’s see the Member for Cowper and the Leader of the National Party [Warren Truss] talk to their National Party colleagues in NSW and get them to deliver on what they say is their joint commitment to fully duplicate the Highway by 2016. That is what is required.

We need to do more. We accept that that is the case. But it can only be done in partnership with the NSW Government. That is the way forward and it is the way to ensure that the full duplication can be completed.

Nation Building Program: Pacific Highway Duplication

Past Funding (1996/97 – 2007/08)

• NSW Labor Government: $2.5 billion
• Howard Coalition Government: $1.3 billion

Current Funding (2008/09 – 2014/15)

• NSW Government: $1 billion
• Federal Labor Government: $4.1 billion

Proportion Duplicated
[Based on funding already committed]

• 1996: 10 per cent
• 2007: 40 per cent
• Now: 52 per cent
• By mid-2014: About 70 per cent

Note: Federal Labor is spending more on the Pacific Highway than another road in the country, and compared to the former Howard Government, about three times as much in half the time.

If the Howard Government had made a similar financial commitment to the one we’re now making, the Highway would today be fully duplicated.

Right now over 1,600 construction workers are on-site upgrading and duplicating the Highway.

Projects currently underway:

• Construction of the Ballina Bypass, with work expected to be completed in 2012.
  • Federal contribution: $421 million
• Duplication of the road between Sapphire and Woolgoolga, with work expected to be completed in 2013.
  • Federal contribution: $610 million
• Construction of the Bulahdelah Bypass, with work expected to be completed in 2012.
  • Federal contribution: $284 million
• Construction of the Kempsey Bypass, with work expected to be completed in 2013.
  • Federal contribution: $618 million
• Upgrade and realignment of the road at Banora Point, with work expected to be completed in 2012.
  • Federal contribution: $347 million

In addition, work will start on the following major projects during the current financial year (2011–12):

• Duplicating the road between Tintenbar and Ewingsdale.
  • Federal contribution: $566 million
• Duplicating the road at Devils Pulpit.
  • Federal contribution: $62 million

Benefits of Full Duplication:

The upgrade and full duplication of the Pacific Highway is the most complex and expensive road project in the nation’s history.

The multi-billion project will deliver safer driving conditions, cut travel times and improve the road’s flood immunity, outcomes which over time will lower transport costs and lift productivity.

An upgrade and fully duplicated Pacific Highway will:

• Travel times: Reduce journey times between Newcastle and the Queensland border by 2.5 hours. The work already completed has cut travel times by 80 minutes for cars and by 90 minutes for trucks.

• Safety: Significantly reduce road fatalities, with the work already completed having contributed to a halving in annual deaths.
  
  [Between 1990 and 2010, accidents on this road claimed 809 lives.]

• Flood immunity: Provide flood immunity against 1 in 20 year events in floodplain areas and 1 in 100 year events along the rest of the highway.

A fully duplicated Pacific Highway will be 664 kilometres long, approximately 13 kilometres shorter than its current length.