CATHERINE KING – MEDIA RELEASE – ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER BILLION DOLLAR INFRASTRUCTURE SHORTFALL – FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Today’s Final Budget Outcome has revealed another billion-dollar shortfall in infrastructure investment, with the Morrison Government’s own document acknowledging that they spent $1.7 billion less for road and rail projects than they promised at last year’s Budget.

The Government’s signature Urban Congestion Fund alone underspent by $572 million, with only $148 million of the promised $720 million getting out the door.  

At his address to the CEDA conference in June, the Prime Minister announced $1.5 billion of additional spending to create jobs and help Australia’s recovery. Today we learn that that announcement didn’t even make up for his own failure to deliver on existing promises.

This underspend brings the Coalition’s total over its 6 budgets in office to around $6.8 billion.

Incredibly, this Government is averaging an infrastructure budget underspend of $1.2 billion each year.

One underspend might be forgivable, but six in a row shows a Government and a Prime Minister addicted to overpromising and underdelivering.

They’re always there for the photo op, never there for the follow up.

In his Budget speech last year, the Treasurer promised that the Morrison Government was “getting on with the job of building infrastructure”.

The Prime Minister and his Treasurer have delivered nothing but more failures and more broken promises.

Coming so soon after scandalous revelations about dodgy land deals at Western Sydney Airport, today’s outcome makes clear that the Government’s infrastructure promises simply cannot be trusted.

This year’s Budget might be full of big promises, but in the end, it will be nothing but more of the same.

FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2020