Transcript: Press conference, Sydney

Subjects: Anthony Albanese’s decision to turn his back on Western Sydney in a bid to win votes in Grayndler.

PAUL FLETCHER: I just wanted to make some comments about Mr Albanese’s changing position in relation to WestConnex. What we have seen is Mr Albanese choosing to go after Greens votes in Grayndler rather than advancing the interests of people in western Sydney, who desperately need the infrastructure improvements that WestConnex will provide; this $16.8 billion project, which will provide much better connectivity between south-western Sydney, western Sydney, the city, the port and the airport. It will be the backbone of Sydney’s motorways network. Now, two years ago Mr Albanese was claiming on radio that Labor, in the 2013-14 Budget, had provided $1.8 billion of funding for WestConnex. But what we’ve seen this year is Mr Albanese trying to walk away from WestConnex because he’s desperate to secure Greens votes in his inner-city electorate of Grayndler. So this morning, when Mr Albanese was asked if Labor had provided funding for WestConnex on radio he said that they had not, that they had only ever provided $25 million for planning – that’s the opposite of what he said two years ago when he said they had provided $1.8 billion in the 2013-14 budget for WestConnex, and it is clear that Labor in fact did provide $1.8 billion of funding for WestConnex. Now the important issue is this – the Australian people can depend upon the Coalition to deliver vitally needed infrastructure, such as WestConnex – delivering much better connectivity between western Sydney and the city and the airport and the port. The Australian people can depend upon the Coalition to deliver infrastructure – Labor cannot be trusted to deliver infrastructure because they are too concerned with trying to win votes from the Greens in the inner-city. Now Mr Albanese has been all over radio this morning
talking about the Australian National Audit Office looking at WestConnex. It’s a perfectly routine function of the Australian National Audit Office to conduct performance audits. There were 49 conducted in 2014-15 and there’s no problems with that – we absolutely welcome it. But that’s not the real issue here. The real issue is who can be relied upon to deliver infrastructure. Two years ago Mr Albanese was happy to claim credit for funding WestConnex – now he’s denying that that ever occurred – and the reason for that is very clear - he’s desperately trying to attract Greens votes in the inner-city electorate of Grayndler and this is a pattern we see around the country. It’s exactly what we saw in Victoria when the incoming Labor Government cancelled East-West Link for exactly the same reason because they were trying to win Greens’ votes in inner-city electorates. Well governments need to serve the needs of an entire city and the Coalition is determined to serve the needs of Sydney. We are backing WestConnex. We are supporting WestConnex. If you want to see WestConnex get built you need to vote for your local Liberal candidate.

JOURNALIST: Well you just mentioned the East-West Link in Melbourne, but the Auditor-General did make some damning findings about that project and, obviously, it ended up being scrapped. Are you worried that something similar could happen to WestConnex as a result of this?

PAUL FLETCHER: Can I make the point that WestConnex has gone through extensive processes. It’s been recommended by Infrastructure NSW. It was recommended by Infrastructure Australia in 2014. Last year, the NSW Government produced a revised business case with an increase in scope and Infrastructure Australia has considered that revised business case and again recommended that WestConnex should proceed. It has found it has a benefit-cost ratio of 1.7 – that’s to say it produces benefits well in excess of its cost – and that’s reductions in travel time and all of the other benefits that will come from having improved road connectivity from western Sydney and south-western Sydney towards the city, the port and the airport. So we have had extensive processes in relation to WestConnex. Certainly we welcome the Auditor-General having a look at it. It’s a routine part of government that the Auditor-General reviews projects – there were 49 performance audits carried out by the Auditor-General in 2014-15.

JOURNALIST: You can just choose to ignore what the Auditor-General says anyway – you don’t need to take their advice; you can do anything with it.

PAUL FLETCHER: The role of the Auditor-General is an important part of our system of government. But the key issue is this – governments need to deliver the infrastructure that the people expect and that, as our population grows, as Sydney becomes a bigger city, it’s very important that we have a plan for the infrastructure to keep our city liveable, to make sure can get to and from work quickly, so freight moves around our city quickly and efficiently. We have the plan – WestConnex will be the backbone of the Sydney motorway network. That’s why the Turnbull Government is backing WestConnex with $1.5 billion of grant money and a $2 billion concessional loan. Mr Albanese, two years ago, was claiming credit for having funded WestConnex – he’s now running away from it as fast as he can, because he is more interested in trying to secure Greens’ votes in his inner-city electorate of Grayndler than he is in serving the transport needs of western Sydney and the and the totality of Sydney.

JOURNALIST: Isn’t it a little contradictory though? We’ve heard a lot about WestConnex, the plans are taking shape in terms of plans to disgorge a lot of traffic at the bottom of King St – maybe he was for the project in the abstract, but now that he’s seen the detail, he doesn’t like the direction it’s been taken. Is it contradictory?

PAUL FLETCHER: It’s very clear what going on here. Two years ago Mr Albanese was claiming credit for funding WestConnex. He was out there saying that in the 2013-14 budget Labor had put $1.8 billion into WestConnex and indeed it’s in the budget papers. Now he’s trying to get as far away as he can from WestConnex. We saw him in January of this year doing a story with Nine News. Nine reported that Mr Albanese said that he wished he’d never funded WestConnex. What we are seeing is Mr Albanese moving away from WestConnex because he’s trying to secure votes from the Greens in his inner-city electorate of Grayndler. He’s turned his back on the need of the people of western Sydney to try and secure votes in his inner-city seat of Grayndler.

JOURNALIST: The group that’s against the project, the WestConnex Action Groups says that Commonwealth money should be frozen while the audit takes place. Is that feasible, or has the money already been spent. Do you know if that’s something that should be looked at?

PAUL FLETCHER: What needs to happy is that WestConnex needs to proceed as quickly as possible so we can relieve the congestion, we can improve travel times from western Sydney into the city and to the port, the airport and other key points around Sydney. That is what the Australian people expect of their government – to deliver the infrastructure that people need so that our city functions well. That’s why the Turnbull Government is working with the Baird Government to deliver WestConnex.

JOURNALIST: Mr Fletcher, just on another matter if I may, you’re the Prime Minister’s representative on the Liberal Party State Executive. There’s been a push on from two senate candidates there – and they are grappling for fourth and sixth place, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Holly Hughes. Who’s going to win that push and have you intervened to convey the Prime Minister’s wishes that Concetta Fierravanti-Wells be considered ahead of Miss Hughes? 

PAUL FLETCHER: I think what the Australian people expect in this election is that the Liberal Party, indeed every political party, will be concerned about what the country needs. What the country needs is a plan for jobs and growth, for a strong new economy – that’s what I’m focused on, that’s what Prime Minister Turnbull is focussed on and that’s what we’ll be talking about. 
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