TRANSCRIPT: ABC RADIO WITH AMY O’HALLORAN, 10 OCTOBER 2024
Subjects: Sheahan Bridge Upgrade Delays
E&OE
STARTS: 3.58PM
AMY O’HALLORAN
Thank you so much, Michael, for taking your time this afternoon to speak to me. Can you give me an update on what's going on with the Sheahan Bridge?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, there's not much of an update to give to be perfectly honest and I've reached out to Catherine King, who is the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development and Local Government, to ask why hasn't work started on the upgrades to Sheahan Bridge. The reason for the upgrade is due to the northbound bridge being unable to carry what's called High Productivity Freight Vehicles — so they are restricted by length and weight. But they are the sort of vehicles, the sort of semi-trailers, that carry a large volume of our goods around the country. They need a pre-approved limit and this is stifling productivity along what is obviously a vital freight corridor between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The former Coalition Government, well, we committed $16 million in the March 2022 Federal Budget. And, of course, we had that backed up by the New South Wales Government. They contributed $4 million towards the development of a final business case. But, unfortunately, what we've seen from this Federal Labor Government under Anthony Albanese and Catherine King as the Minister is they've held up large lots of infrastructure projects. They put a review in, what was supposed to be a 90-day review in, before the budget, before last, so the 2023 budget. That 90-day review then stretched out to more than 200 days, and ever since then they've scrambled to find workers, they've scrambled to find engineers, they've scrambled to put the infrastructure pipeline back on track. And the Sheahan Bridge, obviously, is one of those projects which has now slipped through those cracks. So, I've asked the Minister where it's up to, why hasn't it been progressed? And this project was due to be completed in mid-2024. Well, that's come and gone, and it needs to happen.
AMY O’HALLORAN
And you mentioned before that you were the one who was backing it up two years ago during the 2022 Federal Budget. Can you tell me if you're frustrated? How are you feeling about how it's been pushed back so much?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, there was money contributed when I was the Deputy Prime Minister. In the March 2022 Federal Budget that money was confirmed and nothing has happened since and so it needs to happen. It needs to be put back on the table. Where has the money gone? Why hasn't the work started? Why hasn't the work been completed? They're the questions that need to be asked and, you know, this shouldn't be all that difficult. It's a final business case. Obviously, it's needed, the project is needed, because it is stifling getting goods up and down the Hume Highway. It's one of the busiest corridors, if not the busiest freight corridor in the country and this simply isn't good enough.
AMY O’HALLORAN
And why is it taking more time?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I don't know. I don't know. That would be a question you'd have to put to the Minister. She did put in a 90-day delay just prior to the 2023 Budget and because of that, projects blew out and we lost a lot of workers. Inland Rail was stifled. We lost a lot of days work on all number of projects, whether they were busy highways or whether they were smaller byways in regional and remote Australia. We had a stall of more than 200 days on any project while the Government did what they are normally doing — and that is just these reports are collecting dust in their in-trays, whereas what we should be doing is digging holes and getting projects happening, putting bitumen down, fixing up roads that are desperately needing fixing, building the sort of airports and seaports that are enhancing those projects. What we did during our nine years in Government, I mean, we had $110 billion when I was the Deputy Prime Minister, $110 billion of projects in the pipeline. 1,213 projects underway. And what we were doing — we were supporting 100,000 workers and all that stopped prior to the 2023 May Budget. It all stopped while the Government then went and reviewed every project and then it blew out to more than 200 days. It's just simply not good enough and we see projects such as the Sheahan Bridge, we see other projects, large and small, just stalled for no good reason.
AMY O’HALLORAN
And you mentioned that it's just not good enough, so communities might be thinking the same thing, so what, I mean, is someone pressuring the Minister to...
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I've certainly written to the Minister. She certainly knows where I stand on this, but it's up to the Minister to say why these sorts of regional projects have been shelved. Hopefully, it's just in her in-tray. It hasn't been completely stopped. But what we need to see is — we need to see workers on the ground. We need to see high-vis workers out there doing all the sorts of things that they were doing when we were in Government. And I know just, you know, you even drive up along a lot of country roads and highways and byways, and you see those audio-tactile lines — and that was part of a $3 billion road safety upgrade that I did towards the end of the global pandemic, COVID-19. And that is saving lives. But we did it. We made the decision. We got on with the job. We rolled out the project. And it's now effective. It's doing what it needs to be doing. And there are many people who would understand and appreciate just what a difference that made. But the roads have never been worse. And sadly, the road toll is just going up and up. And, you know, there is a correlation between the two. So, what we need to do is we need to get on board with those projects for the sake of regional Australians. Because they are always overrepresented in the road toll statistics. We need to make sure that the road projects that were down pat, that were indeed funded by either the former Coalition Government, certainly the former Coalition Government when I was the infrastructure minister between 2018 and 2021, we need to put those projects down and get them happening.
AMY O’HALLORAN
And like you mentioned, this project is going to save lives and take down this road toll. Can you tell me from projects you've seen in the past how much longer people should be waiting, just an estimated time?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, this project in particular is going to increase productivity flow. It's going to increase the ability for High Productivity Freight Vehicles to be able to use that road. It's for those trucks, those semi-trailers, without a pre-approved permit. So that is going to increase productivity. I'm not suggesting that this project is leading anything towards the road toll because the Sheahan Bridge is a safe bridge, it's a good bridge. It's made such a difference, the duplication of the Sheahan Bridge, to freight movements right up and down the Hume Highway. But this particular project, this particular northbound bridge, being unable to carry those High Productivity Freight Vehicles without a pre-approved permit, is stopping and stalling those trucking companies from doing what they do best. And when our trucking companies aren't able to do these sorts of things, it stalls and stifles productivity. It actually... You know — truckies — they keep this nation fed, they keep this nation moving and we owe a debt of gratitude to our truckies who are doing so much good. We saw what they were able to do during the COVID pandemic when, you know, everybody needed more groceries than they probably thought and everybody needed 10 rolls of toilet paper every time they went to the toilet. I mean, it was a situation I can remember well. I was the Transport Minister and I do thank the State Ministers at the time for doing what they needed to do to get that logistics code in place so that we were able to get freight up and down the highways and over state borders in particular and indeed vaccines and all the rest out to particularly rural and remote areas. So, I acknowledge the State Ministers, many of them were Labor Ministers, for the efforts that they went to, but this particular project lies at the feet of the Federal Labor Transport Minister and Catherine King needs to explain why this freight project hasn't been ticked off and why it hasn't happened. It was supposed to be finished by mid-2024 and we're still waiting.
AMY O’HALLORAN
Wonderful.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Thanks, Amy.
AMY O’HALLORAN
OK, all the very best.
ENDS: 4.07PM