Testimony by Government officials at Senate Budget Estimates hearings has shredded Malcolm Turnbull’s deceitful spin concerning infrastructure investment in Budget 2018.
Despite the Prime Minister’s best attempts to deceive people into believing he has increased investment on railways and roads, two days of hearings have established that the Budget did not include a dollar of new money for infrastructure.
Indeed, Commonwealth grant funding for infrastructure will decline from the promised $8 billion in 2017-18 to $4.5 billion by 2021-22.
All new projects announced in the Budget will be funded with money that was already in the Budget.
However, the delivery of these projects has been pushed off into the Never-Never, with only 15 per cent to be invested over the next four years.
That means 85 per cent of the funding won’t be spent before the next election or the election after that.
If Mr Turnbull was serious about nation building, he would be building new railways and roads to boost productivity and drive economic and jobs growth.
Instead, he is attempting to build a case for re-election based on deception and spin because he has no infrastructure record to defend.
Other key facts established by the Senate Estimates hearings:

• Annual Federal infrastructure investment in New South Wales will decline by 70 per cent over the next four years.


• Annual Federal infrastructure investment in Western Australia will decline by two-thirds over the next four years.


• Annual Federal infrastructure investment in South Australia will decline by 80 per cent over the next three years.


• Annual Federal infrastructure investment in the Northern Territory will decline by 80 per cent over the next four years.of media release