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representatives vote 2022-10-27#5
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2022-10-28 11:38:38
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Title
Bills — High Speed Rail Authority Bill 2022; Second Reading- High Speed Rail Authority Bill 2022 - Second Reading - Publicly owned high speed rail
Description
<p class="speaker">Bert Van Manen</p><p>It's a pleasure to rise and speak on the High Speed Rail Authority Bill 2022. As we look around this great country of ours, we see an enormous history of rail right across the country that has led to, and facilitated, the development of our country over the past couple of hundred years. I think the importance of rail today is no less diminished than it has been historically and, sadly, I think that over the years we've under-appreciated the value and importance of our rail systems right across this country, particularly in our urban areas. If I look back, historically, in South-East Queensland we used to have a rail line to Southport on the Gold Coast, and that was ripped up at one stage and then we had to build a whole new line. As the member for Bowman would know, there was a line to Cleveland that terminated at Wyndham which was ripped up and which has had to be rebuilt. And the member for Bonner would well know that as well, given that it goes through his part of the world. If I have a look now at the Gold Coast line, I look at the capacity constraints that are on that. In the western part of my electorate, I look at the massive developments going on in the south-west of Logan, at Flagstone and Yarrabilba—two priority development areas that were foisted on the City of Logan by the state government but with no provision or planning for public transport infrastructure.</p>-
- The majority voted in favour of *disagreeing* with an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "*that the bill be [read a second time](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/)*" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This means the amendment failed
- ### Amendment text
- > *That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:*
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- > *"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:*
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- >> *(1) notes that private ownership and delivery of essential infrastructure often leads to worse outcomes for the community and the environment, as corporate profits are put ahead of everyday people's interests; and*
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- >> *(2) calls on the Labor government to:*
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- >>> *(a) deliver a fully publicly owned high speed rail network, from infrastructure construction to service delivery, that is run for the public good, not for profit;*
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- >>> *(b) ensure high speed rail infrastructure development utilises to the greatest extent possible green steel and other green technologies to minimise carbon emissions during the construction phase; and*
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- >>> *(c) ensure the new trains and other associated infrastructure are manufactured in Australia, helping to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing and create jobs".*
<p>I'm pleased to say that, when we were in government we committed some $10 million, in partnership with the state government, who put in another $10 million—so, a total of $20 million—to another study on passenger rail in the Salisbury-to-Beaudesert corridor, which would service the west of my electorate and those two key priority development areas I just mentioned, which are in the electorate of my colleague the member for Wright. I also remember having significant discussions with the then minister around the importance of inland rail, and the importance that inland rail doesn't cannibalise that existing corridor so we can put passenger rail in it.</p><p>As I look at this bill to create the High Speed Rail Authority, it reminds me of when I first came to this place and the work that the now Prime Minister was doing—when he was Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in the former Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments—on a high-speed rail study which, in large part, identified a corridor from Brisbane to Melbourne. A number of pieces of work have been done subsequently over the years, trying to quantify the cost of such a rail system, and one of the latest figures I've seen is in the order of $140 billion. It does beg the question: how is that going to be funded? Is this another statutory body that does an enormous amount of what I think is good work? I see the minister is in the House. I believe that the purpose of this High Speed Rail Authority is first and foremost to look at a government commitment for high-speed rail between Newcastle and Sydney, which we know is a corridor that is growing enormously, the same as the south-east of Queensland is growing enormously. But the amount of money that is being provided for that—$500 million—is not even close to what would be required to facilitate that project.</p><p>If I have a look back in my home state of Queensland—and we have the member for Fisher here in the House. To the west of his electorate, he has the north coastline that runs from Brisbane all the way up to Cairns. As he would well know, one of the services that runs on that is the Tilt Train, and that is presently recognised as the fastest passenger rail train in Australia.</p> <p class="speaker">Andrew Wallace</p><p>God help us!</p> <p class="speaker">Bert Van Manen</p><p>I'll get to that! One of the reasons it can't run at its identified top speed is because of the quality of the rail line and, more particularly, the alignment of the rail line. What would be necessary to achieve the maximum speeds that the train is known to be able to run at would involve some significant upgrades to alignments on that line. It is one of the reasons we announced, when we were in government, the national Faster Rail Plan in 2019. One of the commitments in that was for $1.6 billion for the Brisbane-to-Sunshine-Coast extension, and a further $1.2 billion for the Brisbane-to-Gold-Coast rail upgrade, which is of particular interest to me through the upgrade of the corridor between Kuraby and Beenleigh. I'm not sure where that is in terms of funding in the budget because I—</p> <p class="speaker">Catherine King</p><p>It's still in the budget.</p> <p class="speaker">Bert Van Manen</p><p>Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that that is contained in the budget. But if you have a look at what is required to achieve the outcomes that are sought for that project, it requires significant realignment and re-engineering of the existing corridor. In order to achieve capacity for higher speeds in our trains, the radius of the curves need to be far flatter. You can't have tight curves—that impacts the speed outcomes for the trains. That comes at an enormous cost, because a large number of resumptions are required along that corridor because it's highly developed. The corridor south of Beenleigh to the Gold Coast is relatively straightforward. It's pretty straight, so the trains can travel at or near their maximum speed.</p><p>Looking at that corridor between Newcastle and Sydney, I thank the same issue applies as the issue I raised with the Brisbane line north to Rockhampton on which the Tilt Train runs. I would argue that there is much work that could be done on that corridor in terms of straightening alignments and improving the existing alignment. That can significantly increase the speeds. It would be interesting to see what the cost of that would be, ultimately. I know that when we were in government we committed $1 billion to that potential upgrade.</p><p>I would argue that rail is critically important and will remain critically important. It goes an enormous way to reducing congestion on our roads, because we know that trains are the most efficient way to move large numbers of people quickly. So the question becomes how, through high-speed rail or even faster rail, we achieve those efficiencies and ensure—given the costs involved today in building these pieces of infrastructure, as we are seeing with the cost of Inland Rail—that the cost of tickets on those trains is affordable for commuters to use them on a regular basis to commute to and from work and other places.</p><p>I support the creation of this High-Speed Rail Authority. As I said, there has been much work done over the years. I would not like to see it become another government body that does an enormous amount of good work, as I said earlier, but doesn't achieve any practical outcomes at the end of the day, where we don't see the delivery of, at least as a starting point, faster rail in our capital cities and in our large urban areas—as opposed to high-speed rail, because there is a significant step up and differential cost between fast rail and high-speed rail. I think that if we can achieve high-quality fast rail, in the first instance, to improve the quality and timeliness of our existing services, then ultimately, maybe, at some point down the track, that leads us to introduce high-speed rail.</p><p>As I've said, I'm pleased to see that the government is building on the enormous amount of work we did in the rail space when we were in government, and I'm sure that as an opposition we'll continue to work with the government to see these outcomes realised.</p> <p class="speaker">Andrew Wallace</p><p>Firstly, I just want to acknowledge the presence of the minister in the chamber this afternoon. I've been fighting for heavy passenger rail to come into the Sunshine Coast since I was elected to this place in 2016. I should say also that the member for Fairfax and I have been working assiduously on this. When the Sunshine Coast was first developed over a hundred years ago, people settled inland, in what is now the hinterland. The rail line was built in the hinterland. That rail line is now well over a hundred years old. From Beerburrum, it is only a single track going north, and it's interesting that that same single track going north—I want to acknowledge the former minister for infrastructure and cities, who has just walked into the chamber and who the member for Fairfax and I worked very closely with when we were in government.</p><p>The people of the Sunshine Coast have been absolutely screaming out for this project. We are the ninth-largest city in the country. We are growing exponentially. When I move around the electorate, as I often do, and hold my listening posts, infrastructure, road and rail are very constant issues that are brought up by my electorate, because at the moment there is no rail actually on the coast, unlike, say on the Gold Coast. If someone who lives on the Sunshine Coast, right on the coast, wants to jump on the train and go to Brisbane, they have to travel more than 25 minutes inland to catch a train. Over 100 years ago, that's where the settlement was. Nobody wanted to live on the coast. Everyone wanted to live in the hinterland. That's obviously changed, and we've got more than 80 per cent of our population living on the coast rather than in the hinterland, so there is a misalignment there with public transport.</p><p>One of the major problems that we have in my electorate is the lack of public transport. I also want to acknowledge the member for Fairfax, who's just walked into the chamber. It seems that everybody who's had something to do with this project is in the chamber. You know what they say: success has many parents, and failure is an orphan. But I do want to acknowledge the member for Fairfax and the work that he has done, and, of course, I acknowledge the former infrastructure minister. But do you know what? I'm going to give credit where credit is due, because the current infrastructure minister—and I hope she's not the current infrastructure minister for too long; no offence, Minister, but we'll be doing everything we can to take the job off you—has retained the $1.6 billion that the former infrastructure minister worked so hard with the Treasurer and the Prime Minister to get in the budget.</p><p>I think that for as long as I am on my two feet I'll remember where I was. I was actually having a shave, and I had a phone call from the former infrastructure minister. There I am, looking in the mirror and having a shave, and he says, 'Congratulations, Andrew: you've just got $1.6 billion in the March budget.' I think I cut myself at that point when he said that, and I said, 'Paul, did you say "billion" with a b? ' and he said, 'Andrew, that's "billion" with a b.' I knew that our hard work with the member for Fairfax had paid off, and I want to thank him and thank all those who were involved in that project, because this is a project that has been such a long time in the making.</p> <p class="speaker">Bob Katter</p><p>Did you get anything built?</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
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