Transcript-612 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin
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9/1312016 Transcript-612 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin ! The Hon Paul Fletcher MP . Minister for Urban Infrastructure • . Home> Fletcher> Interviews> 2016 > Transcript-612 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austi n Transcript-612 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin INTfHVllW I ' ! J , IL (I I (I ?(JI C1 Steve Austin: Queensland's Main Roads Minister Mark Bai ley sought a meeting with Federa l counterpart Pau l Fletcher and other parties over the M1 upgrade at the Gateway merge. You 'd know that money was promised prior to the federal election; the state would like more. Mark Bailey got the meeting, came out of Sydney meeting yesterday saying his federal counterpart is -quote-ripping off Queenslanders, unquote. Well I'll speak with Mark Bailey in a moment, who's still in Sydney, but the Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher was there. I spoke to him early this morning and asked him what they agreed at the meeting. [Excerpt] Paul Fletcher: First of all I made the point that the Commonwealth is ready to put its money forward earlier if that assists the Queensland Government to come up with its 50 per cent share and provide that at a later stage of the project. Steve Austin: So you're prepared to get the project going now? Paul Fletcher: Well we're ready to make our money avai lable now. The 50 per cent funding we've provided, we're ready to provide that cash as soon as possible. The second thing that I asked Minister Bailey to do, and I believe we've reached agreement on this is for t he Queensland Government to go out to construction companies and get from them firm prices as to what they will cha rge, and expressions of interest or a tender process. Now look, the reason that's important is because what we're seeing around the country at the moment is that when we go out to tender on projects, the pricing that comes in can often be better than the desktop estimates that the government officials have prepared, and so I think it's important to see whether we can get firm costings from construction companies on these projects. What the Turnbull Government wants to see is we want to see progress on th is. Th e reason that Karen Andrews and Bert van Manen secured these financial commitments to upgrade the M 1, Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and the Gateway Motorway merge is eecause of the congestion on the M1 and the importance to peo ple in Sou th-east Queensland, indeed all around Queensland of improving this motorway. So just as the Turnbull Government is putting http://m i nister.i nfrastructure.gov.au/pf/i nterviews/2016/pfi023_ 2016.aspx 1/7 911312016 Transcript-Q12 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin $'13 billion into infrastructure al l across Queensland, for example over $7 billion on the Bruce Highway, up and down the Bruce Highway, or up and down the length and breadth of different parts of Queensland, we also want to make sure that there are upgrades occurring to the network in South-east Queensland, where of course as everybody knows, population is growing quickly, traffic levels are high. That's why we have made these financia l commitments. They were announced during the election campaign. We proposed them on a 50-50 basis; that's the standard basis on which funding has been provided for the M1 over recent years by both federal Libera l and federal Labor governments. And it actually ha s been a little bit of a surprise to me that the Queensland Government's response to those announcements was essentia lly to say well no, no, we want more money rather than let's see how we can put in our 50 per cent commitment and let's see how we can get on here. Steve Austin: Well let me interrupt there-State Roads Minister Mark Bai ley is much stronger than that. He's actually accused you-and I'm quoting him, of ripping off Queenslanders, quote unquote. He points to a statement from the then Abbott Government confirming, he says, an 80-20 funding split. Now this is where the key sticking point is. You're offering 50-50 for this upgrade of the M1, he says it should be 80-20, and you re leased this in a statement of December 2014, he's provided us with that statement. Paul Fletcher: Look, I have that statement in front of me, in which then Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss noted that on a range of projects, we were offering an 80-20 funding sp lit on projects-quote-outside of metropolitan areas-close quotes. So the key point here is that then Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss was talking about funding commitments for roads outside of metropolitan areas. Now it's common ground that the M1 runs through one of Australia's largest metropolitan areas, the Brisbane-Gold Coast-Logan conurbation. And so unfortunately the press release which Minister Bailey says establishes some kind of principle that's applicab le here is simply not re levant. Steve Austin: So your point is that Logan City, which is how we ca ll it locally here, that stretch of the M1, that Springwood-Logan City is a city, and as a resu lt the funding breakdown or the funding model is treated as such. Paul Fletcher: That's right. This is a metropolitan area, and the point is that we've consistently, federa l governments have consistently provided funding for the M1 on a 50-50 basis, on the M1 in South-east Queensland, especia lly between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. Th e funding has consistently been provided on a 50-50 basis under both the Liberal and Labor federal governments. But again I make the point, I don't think the people of South-east Queensland are terribly interested in politicians arguing about funding [indistinct]. What they want us to do is to get on with the job of delivering these vital upgrades; that's why Karen Andrews and Bert va n Manen secured funding commitments of $11 O million and $105 million respectively from the Turnbull Government for this Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes upgrade and for this upgrade of the intersection of the Gateway Motorway. Steve Austin: So let me ask-so all up the Fede ra l Government is giving an extra $215 million and you .. http:ffm i ni ster.i nfrastructure.gov.aufpf/interviewsf2016/pfi 023_ 2016 .aspx '217 9/13/2016 Transcript---$12 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin Paul Fletcher: Yeah, there's $215 million of federal money, on the table, ready to spend now on these projects. Steve Austin: And you've offered to bring the project forward so as that Queensland can get it goi ng. Can I ask you, the Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate was at t his meeting in Sydney yesterday; did he make any offer of any sort of contribution for the coast end of the M1 upgrade? Paul Fletcher: Look, Tom Tate made a terrific contribution in yesterday's meeting. Of course, Tom Tate as Mayor of the Gold Coast has led a co uncil which is doing such terrific work in infrastructure and showing remarkable leadership with the Gold Coast Light Rail ... Steve Austin: So what did he offer? Paul Fletcher: And what Tom Tate suggested yesterday was that the Council would be willing to look at potentially a funding contribution in respect of one of the exits. Now it was stated as a principle and we didn't get into the detail, so I don't want to overstate it, but that is what Tom said, and he rea lly offered great leadership in yesterday's meeting, as he has consistently on infrastructure issues. So what I wanted to do out of yesterday's meeting, and clearly what Tom Tate wa nted to do was to say okay, there are issues where the Commonwealth Government and the Queensland Government have taken different positions, but let's see what it is we can do to move forward. And as I say, that's why my focus in yesterday's meeting was looking at recommending that we move forward to go and get firm pricing from constructi on companies, and I believe we've reached agreement to do that. I also made the commitment the Commonwealth's money, a $215 million commitment across these two projects, that money we can make that available real ly as soon as possible. We can frontend load that money if that assists Queensland to come up, the Queensland Government to come up with its contribution at a later stage because what we want to do-what the Turnbull Government wants to do, what Karen Andrews and Bert van Manen want to do is to get the money flowing so that we can get these upgrades on the M1 built and so that we can help address the congestion that people are facing on the M1 so we can get to and from work more quickly, so that tradies can get around and do their work quickly, so that trade can flow and so that thi s road can co ntinue to perform the very vital role of performs for the South east Queensland economy. Steve Austin: Paul Fletcher, thanks for your time. Paul Fletcher: Thanks indeed. Steve Austin:Pa ul Fl etcher is the Fede ral Minister for Urban Infrastructure.