The federal Labor opposition has announced that, if it wins the next election, it will introduce a National Rail Plan to help co-ordinate all rail projects in Australia and help local manufacturers secure a larger slice of government rail contracts.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten announced that almost $6 million would be committed in Labor’s forward estimates for the Plan, which is designed to link federal funding in rail infrastructure projects to objectives including co-operation between states on procurement and delivery via local manufacturing.
“Labor believes that investment in rail should create local jobs and boost our domestic manufacturing capability – rather than just flowing to overseas industry competitors,” Shorten said.
“With more than $100 billion to be spent by governments and private companies in rail-based public transport projects throughout Australia in the next two decades, a national plan is critical to ensure we harness the massive opportunities for this investment.”
The various projects that are in the national infrastructure pipeline – including the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, Brisbane’s Cross River Rail, the Perth Metronet, and the Inland Rail freight corridor – will require over 1100 new trains and trams over the next 10 years, according to shadow infrastructure and transport minister Anthony Albanese, who said that Labor’s Plan would provide a “blueprint for co-operation” between state and federal governments, business and unions.
“According to the most-recent census, between 2011 and 2016, the number of jobs in Australian manufacturing fell by 24 per cent to about 680,000,” Albanese said.
“The expansion of rail provides a chance to reverse this trend and create thousands of new, well-paid jobs, including apprenticeships for young people.”
Albanese pointed to the example of the Victorian government’s partnership with Evolution Rail, the private consortium building 65 new high capacity metro trains and employing 1,100 locals.
“That includes 100 apprenticeships – 100 young people earning a wage while learning skills that will last them a lifetime.
“This is the sort of investment Labor would aim to promote under a rail industry plan.”
As part of the plan, Labor would, if elected, establish an Office of National Rail Industry Coordination – which would carry national audit of the adequacy, capacity and condition of passenger trains throughout Australia, and develop priority plans for train procurement, including a delivery schedule for the next decade – and reinstate the Rail Supplier Advocate to boost the share of small and medium-sized business of future rail contracts.
“A key element of the plan is to seek to create certainty for manufacturers by ironing out the peaks and troughs in market demand through better co-ordination on procurement between state governments,” Albanese said.
“If every state government orders a new fleet of trains at the same time, local industry cannot deliver. Better coordination of tenders would allow for a steady stream of work that could sustain and indeed grow the local industry.”
The Plan would also establish a Rail Industry Council, which would prevent loss of more jobs and address the need for more local research and development.
“At the same time as the industry is seeing jobs decline, we’ve seen huge projects go to companies overseas – with local manufacturing workers missing out,” Shorten said.
“Labor’s plan will maximise the amount of work that goes to Australian firms.”
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) welcomed Labor’s commitment to the plan, with CEO Danny Broad saying he hoped it would achieve cross-party support.
“This is the first sum of money we have seen committed from a political party to a national rail plan,” Broad said.
“We would welcome bipartisan support for such a plan in the national interest.”
Indeed, Broad noted that elements of Labor’s plan resembled the ARA’s National Rail Industry Plan released in September 2017 at a Ministerial Roundtable, which comprised Coalition ministers Darren Chester, Arthur Sinodinos and Paul Fletcher.
“Since then there has been wide support for the Plan. However, this has been the first significant financial backing we have seen specifically earmarked for a national rail plan. We would welcome Coalition support in the upcoming Federal Budget,” he said
“Labor’s Rail Plan embraces many of the key elements ARA has been actively advocating for, including involvement of COAG and a coordination group to engage government and the rail industry in progressing implementation.”