02-December-2008
Portfolio Media Releases, Infrastructure
Key Government Ministers appear panicked over vital infrastructure investments.
This morning on ‘AM’ Lindsay Tanner deliberately misrepresented the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, the Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP, when he alleged ‘If Mr Robb is suggesting that we should in some way mandate that superannuation funds invest in particular projects….’
“At no time have I talked of mandating funds to invest. In fact when I raised this on Sunday I said ‘I'm not talking about mandating projects.’ You can’t get any clearer than that,” said the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, the Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP.
“I am concerned that Mr Tanner gets something as basic as this wrong – and he is supposed to be part of the Government’s response to the current financial crisis? Maybe Wayne Swan doesn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder after all.
“It is also a worry that in response to a question about encouraging superannuation investment in infrastructure, Mr Tanner said ‘The Opposition has really gone off the beam over the past few weeks and this is another example of it.’
“Yet just yesterday in Parliament, the Minister for Infrastructure, Mr Albanese, said it was Labor policy ‘to lift public investment in infrastructure… In particular, we have looked towards the superannuation industry…’
“Mr Albanese said ‘Using super as infrastructure investment capital makes sense…’
“This public contradiction is just the latest in the spat between Mr Tanner and Mr Albanese which was first revealed in October when Mr Tanner’s original legislation to establish the various infrastructure funds was pulled by Mr Albanese, minutes before it was to be introduced into Parliament, because ‘it gave him insufficient ministerial discretion over how the money would be allocated.’
“Also confusing is that, despite Mr Albanese self-satisfaction that the Government is doing everything possible to encourage private investment in infrastructure, including through COAG, there have been calls overnight by major resource companies for COAG to urgently overhaul complex regulatory and approval processes to fast-track up to $100 billion of new projects that could otherwise take more than 5 years to approve.”
Media Contact: Stuart Eaton, 0433 298 620