Radio interview - ABC Radio Goldfields-Esperance

IVO DA SILVA, HOST: Patrick Gorman is the Federal Member for Perth and serves as Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, and he joins us on the program. Good morning, Mr. Gorman. How are you?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Ivo. I am well. How are you? And I hope your listeners are well.

DA SILVA: Yes, we are. It's a beautiful day here in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Now, going to start off with water security. It's an ongoing issue here in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, which still relies on the 566km-long Goldfields Pipeline for its drinking water. For several years now, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been lobbying Canberra for 9.5 million, as part of the National Water Grid fund, to begin stage one of its $92 million Waterbank project, where it will build new dams to harvest stormwater and grow supplies of recycled water to irrigate public spaces. Essentially, it's designed to drought-proof the city. Now, looking at the Budget papers, we can see the National Water Grid Fund has been allocated $1.3 billion over the next five years, of which $106 million is earmarked for WA. Can you tell us if the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is getting any of that funding?

GORMAN: I have met with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and I understand the needs and the challenges, particularly in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, when it comes to making sure that you've got water for all of your citizens and all of the businesses that rely upon it. They have done an excellent job of putting their case forward. I'm not in a position to announce the final recipients of that money, but as you just outlined, there's a good amount for Western Australia when it comes to essential infrastructure and essential services in this budget. And I'm sure that the Minister for Water will have more to say in the weeks and months ahead -

DA SILVA: Do you know when that would be announced, the recipients of that National Water Grid Fund?

GORMAN: I don't. There's obviously a lot of different pieces that come out. What we've got to do now is get the allocations that are in the Budget into the Parliament. We did that last night. When it comes to Ministers then announcing final recipients of a range of those programs, I'll leave that to them.

DA SILVA: Now, housing. A big component of the Federal Budget is housing, and with that, new builds as a priority. Given that Kalgoorlie-Boulder has seen a 26% increase in house prices just in the last year, how will new houses be built, given the challenges of a limited construction workforce and limited access to available land? What is the plan for the Goldfields and can you detail that?

GORMAN: Yes, so one of the things that we've put in this budget is a new $2 billion fund to help local governments open up more land for development and to get more infrastructure that's needed to get those shovel-ready projects going. Now, a quarter of that fund is reserved for regional communities and I'd really encourage the city to get in and get applying for that fund. It builds on some of the other things we're doing. A range of our social housing accelerator program, which across the whole of the O'Connor electorate delivers some 88 social and affordable homes. We've also got the support for first home buyers through the 5% deposit scheme. Again, across the O'Connor electorate, 1,443 Australians have been able to buy their first home thanks to that scheme. And the other piece is some of the work that we're doing around making sure that we get better-educated, higher-skilled people, if they're coming through our skilled migration program, to make sure that we do have the skills that we need -

DA SILVA: I guess - 

GORMAN: - I recognise - 

DA SILVA: - Yeah, I guess the problem that we have is that we have such limited housing, at the moment, to get those people to come and actually build the new homes, it's very much a catch 22. So, how do we, how do we get these new builds into regional WA?

GORMAN: Well, what we want to do is make sure that we can get the skills we need, whether that be through the free TAFE programs that are building up the skills so that people, locally, can go and get the skills they need to then work in the construction industry, which is one of the great opportunities - good secure jobs and the ability for people to give something back. I think there's real pride if you're building homes for your fellow Australians. The other piece is that we'll continue to work with the state government. They're obviously doing some innovative things around modular builds. We've got funding to support some of those initiatives that we recognise there's more that can be done to help get housing, whether it be temporary or permanent housing. And we have done what, it would have been easier for our government to not engage in some of the more complex tax conversation that we've chosen to engage in -

DA SILVA: Going -

GORMAN: - we have chosen to go into a discussion about, making sure we've got a tax system that means that your listeners can buy a home and that that dream can be available for more Australians, not fewer.

DA SILVA: Going to the Midwest and Wheatbelt. It says in page 70 of the Budget papers number two, that there is funding to deliver Australia's host country infrastructure obligations for the Square Kilometre Array Radio Astronomy Project. But papers don't clarify how much. Do we know what the exact number is and how much is this investment?

GORMAN: Well, the Square Kilometre Array Project is, of course, a project that has spanned many years and many governments, and we continue to invest in it. I think one of the things that is always a challenge coming out of Budget night is that there are things we want to show that there is an ongoing investment for. But sometimes, particularly when it's a project that is not just an Australian project and there are international obligations, we're not in a position to outline exact dollar figures on Budget night. But we want to send a clear message to the people, the scientists and construction workforce who’ve worked on that iconic project that's telling us things that we never knew about our own universe. We want to make sure that we're clear that we will meet our obligations for its ongoing build and maintenance.

DA SILVA: It's 16 minutes to 8 o'clock. You're hearing from Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, talking about the Federal Budget which was delivered last night. There's $1.2 billion over the next five years for WA in rail investment. The government had said that this will include upgrade to the Australian Rail Track Corporation's network, AKA the Trans-Australia Railway line, which has been cut by severe flooding events in recent years. Can you tell us what's being done there to shore up this vital east-west rail link?

GORMAN: Yes, I think we've all, wherever you are across Western Australia, everyone has felt those disruptions over the last few years. There's a significant infrastructure package in this, on top of some total of $20.8 billion of funding that goes to the Western Australian Government, including the 9.5 billion of GST payments. Ivo, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have a figure -

DA SILVA: Yeah.

GORMAN: - on that particular project -

DA SILVA: But it is -

GORMAN: - and - 

DA SILVA: - an important one, especially as a national project, as well.

GORMAN: It is. One of the themes of the Budget is resilience and recognising that actually, whether it be natural disasters or global economic shocks, we've all felt where Australia is strong and where our communities are resilient, but also where there's more to do. That is a vital rail link, and you've got in Anthony Albanese one of the most passionate Prime Ministers - probably since John Curtin was catching the train from Perth all the way over to Canberra - you've got one of the most passionate Prime Ministers for investing in rail, and we’ll continue to do that. But on your specific question, I think sometimes as Members of Parliament, if I have a specific answer for you, I just need to say that -

DA SILVA: Yeah, no -

GORMAN: - I have to go and ask, and I'll see Catherine King, the Minister for Infrastructure, later today and I’ll [inaudible] -

DA SILVA: Make sure she contacts -

GORMAN: - that -

DA SILVA: - the station, I would love to have her on.

GORMAN: - [inaudible] to know what's happening. And maybe, and I'm sure next time she's in Kalgoorlie she'll pop into your studio.

DA SILVA: I'm sure she will. One last one, because this is something that is big for the Goldfields-Esperance region. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is one of Australia's biggest outback cities and a massive economic driver amongst the national resource industry. It's massive for local and a national employer. Why is there not a bigger focus on such important economic region? Why isn't there more in the Budget for this, for our region?

GORMAN: Look, I would say when it comes to the massive contribution that the region plays, we recognise that. It's one of the reasons for the last few months we've had a real focus on fuel and fertiliser security. This Budget, $7.5 billion for a new fuel and fertiliser security facility. That means that we've both got more supply and more storage. When it comes to the diesel fuel storage, we're upping the Australian fuel security reserve to 50 days. That's essential. Similar, upping the jet fuel to 50 days. That's on top of the fuel that's already out in the market available for customers to purchase. That's been our focus for the last few months. I think your listeners would know why that is, it’s because sometimes we want to talk about what additional economic activity we can drive, but we really just wanted to keep central regions like the Goldfields moving to make sure that we had the supplies that people need. And that's been the appropriate thing for us to focus on. Just as we've done for those who were filling up their cars this morning, we've still got that halving of the fuel excise. For all of us who rely on heavy transport to get our goods and services, the heavy user charge for vehicles is down to zero for three months. That's where the focus has been, and I think that is exactly where your listeners would have expected it to be for the last few months.

DA SILVA: Mr. Gorman, thank you so much for your time.

GORMAN: Ivo, thank you very much.

DA SILVA: That was Patrick Gorman, who is the Federal Member for Perth and services the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, speaking about last night’s Federal Budget.