Thank you very much Mr Vaile, to Mrs Carnell, the Chief Minister of the ACT, to my many Ministerial and Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentleman.

At various stages of our history the notion and the ideal of nation building has always captured the attention and the affection of Australians. It was the notion of nation building that drove the founding fathers towards federation almost a hundred years ago. And it will, of course, be very natural, as we come towards the centenary of federation, that we think of the great nation-building events that have occurred in the past and also turn our gaze to the nation-building events of all kinds that will shape our future. And many of the policies of the Federal Government are built around the ideal, the continuing ideal, of nation building. And it is in the context of building the nation’s economy, in an even stronger way, that next week I will have something to say about the Government’s exciting plans to reform Australia's taxation system. But I’m not about to give you a sneak preview of that today. That will come next week. But it is true, as Mark Vaile said, that we are experiencing, literally, the rebirth and the revival of rail in Australia.

The rail system that the Government inherited a couple of years ago was in need of change and reform and there was a very large financial blackhole involved in that system. But we have followed a very clear strategy to rebuild rail in Australia and largely, as a result of that, the private sector is now reinvesting in rail throughout our nation. The Alice Springs-to-Darwin and the Melbourne-to-Darwin inland railway offer, potentially, enormous benefits to our nation. And by announcing today the Canberra-to-Sydney consortium to proceed to the confirmation stage, another building block is being laid in the revival of Australian rail.

The proponents contend it will be achieved at no net cost to government in keeping with the original condition. And they estimate that the benefits to the nation will be in the order of $5.9 billion. There will thousands of jobs created. There will be immense regional development, particularly in the communities of Goulburn, Campbelltown and the Southern Highlands.

And before announcing the consortium that has won the right to proceed to a confirmation stage, I would like to pay a tribute to the four consortia that put forward proposals. All four consortia provided quality submissions that were visionary in their scope. I also acknowledge publicly the members of the Joint Project Control Group, chaired by Ron Brown, which has made this announcement possible. In consultation with New South Wales and the ACT, the governments have accepted the recommendation of the Independent Project Evaluation Committee. It is with great pleasure I announce Speedrail as the successful consortium for the Very High Speed Train rail link from Sydney-to-Canberra.

This train is to travel at up to 320 km/h to complete the Sydney/Canberra journey in just 81 minutes, offering, in every sense of the word, a competitive alternative to air travel. The $3.5 billion project proposed by Speedrail will be one of the largest infrastructure projects in Australia's history. Moreover 80% of the resources needed to complete the project, by the year 2003 will come from within Australia. Thousands of jobs will be created during the construction phase. Speedrail will now enter a confirmation phase with the Federal, New South Wales and ACT Governments to confirm access and financing arrangements to allow the project to commence.

Ladies and gentleman, this is a bold and visionary initiative. And while the Canberra to Sydney bids were assessed solely on the basis of the criteria set down for this stand alone project, a Canberra-to-Sydney line does leave open the possibility of extension to other cities. Accordingly I have asked Mr Bob Mansfield to establish a committee to examine the possibilities for expanding the scope of the Very High Speed Train transport in Australia. My Government is immensely proud to have played a major role in creating the environment in which the private sector feels encouraged to invest in the future of Australia and Australian transport.

I would like to pay particular tribute to the energy and commitment of Mrs Carnell, the Chief Minister of the ACT. She has been a very powerful advocate of this project and I congratulate her for that. I did speak to Mr Carr yesterday afternoon and he regrets not being here but he asked me to convey to the gathering the total support of the New South Wales’ Government towards the project. And I’d also like to acknowledge the presence of the former Minister for Transport and Regional Development, John Sharp, who played a very significant part on the part of the Federal Government in the inauguration of this project.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I said at the beginning of my speech the notion and the concept of nation building has always been very close to the hearts of Australians. It drove federation almost a hundred years ago, it drove the great waves of post war immigration after World War II, it has driven many decisions by many governments and it has driven many investors who care about the future of our country. And it is entirely appropriate as we approach the Centenary of Federation that not only we reflect on those events that have built the nation in the past and given us what we have now, but we also embrace those projects and those ventures and those policy changes which will further build the strength of the nation as we go into the 21st century. Speedrail is a pragmatic and visionary expression of that theme and that concept of nation building.

I congratulate the successful consortium, I thank the others who contributed, I wish all those involved great success and I assure the project of the unrelenting and continuing support of the Federal Government. Thank you.

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