Labor celebrates tomorrow’s opening of the Australian Capital Territory’s Majura Parkway as a major productivity driver for the ACT economy.
The $288 million project, funded jointly by the former Labor federal government and the ACT Labor Government, will deliver more than $1 billion in economic benefit by diverting thousands of vehicles a day away from the Canberra central business district.
It is the perfect example of governments taking the expert advice of Infrastructure Australia and working together to tackle traffic congestion and boost economic productivity, which in turn fuels jobs growth.
This approach stands in contrast to that of the Turnbull Government, which has sidelined Infrastructure Australia and diverted billions of dollars from properly worked-up urban rail projects to toll roads which have not been the subject of proper cost-benefit analysis.
Because of this lack of proper process, Melbourne’s discredited East-West Link has collapsed, the Perth Freight Link has been halted by the courts on environmental grounds and the budget for Sydney’s Westconnex toll road has blown out from $10 billion to $16.8 billion.
These failures shed light on Australian Bureau of Statistics figures which show public sector infrastructure investment fell 20 per cent between the September quarter of 2013 and the September quarter of 2015.
A Shorten Labor Government will end the go-slow on infrastructure investment in Australia by returning to proper planning processes through Infrastructure Australia.
Labor will invest in roads and rail to ensure our cities and regions have properly integrated transport systems that boost productivity.
We will also create a $10 billion infrastructure financing facility to leverage more private money into nation-building infrastructure.
We will also  create a High Speed Rail Authority to advance planning for a High Speed Rail line from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra.