Rudd told a Perth business group yesterday that if the Gorgon Gas Development was delayed, he would look at using the revenue stream from the Pluto gas fields to service the fund which could receive up to $100 million in federal government revenue each year.
Rudd said the fund would help build the economic and social infrastructure of WA’s north – a vital part of the long-term future of the state’s resources sector. It would also examine the future of the state’s port access roads.
Projects that could be examined by Infrastructure Australia and the WA Future Fund include:
“We will have Infrastructure Australia established within the first 100 days of a federal Labor government, if we form the next government of Australia, and within the first year we will have developed a priority infrastructure projects list,” Rudd said.
“Here in the west, so much money is generated for the public revenue in Canberra out of these great resource projects. But… not enough of that money is given back.
“Most recently, $340 per head was allocated to the west by the Federal Government for infrastructure projects compared with the national average of some $480 per head in the other states and territories.
“That’s not good enough for a boom state like Western Australia.”
Rudd said Labor would also allocate revenues directly to the WA Infrastructure Fund from Pluto royalties.
“[Gorgon and Pluto] are two big projects for the future and what we’re saying is we need to take a part of those funds, allocate them specifically to the west so that the future platform for growth can be built here, so that prosperity is not just contingent on the current mining boom but it is set up for the future as well,” he said.
“Through Infrastructure Australia, we have a plan to ensure that the infrastructure gaps for Australia are plugged in the future.
“If we fail to do that, all the expert advice is that we have a major problem on our hands.
“The Committee for the Economic Development of Australia said that the backlog in infrastructure for water, energy and land transport alone is around $25 billion.”
But Prime Minister John Howard and federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane both attacked the plan. Howard said Rudd did not understand the depth of the resources boom and Macfarlane adding it was “ill-conceived”, according to a report in today’s West Australian.
Macfarlane said Rudd should instead persuade the WA Government to stop hoarding huge surpluses but Premier Alan Carpenter said the Federal Labor policy recognised WA’s vital contribution to the national economy.
Howard used a report published yesterday, which predicted the China boom would go on for 20 years, to attack Rudd’s understanding of the resources boom propelling the WA economy.
He said Rudd was talking down the resources boom, giving up on the benefits it offered.
Rudd said the proposed WA infrastructure fund would be administered by the Federal Government but managed “conjointly” with the WA Government.
“Through Infrastructure Australia we will identify a set of priority projects right across the country,” he said.
