We're building a strong, prosperous Australia.
It is a massive project! A new era of forward thinking.
- Truly big-picture stuff.
- We have a national to-do list.
A major infrastructure project.
It's an incredible, transformative opportunity.
We're spending more than any government has ever spent.
An extraordinary figure of - $10 billion.
- $35 billion.
- $44 billion.
- $75 billion.
This is a nation building - Nation building.
- Nation building.
- Nation building.
- Nation building.
Nation building.
- What's it called again? - Second Start.
And why are we doing it? All departments are being encouraged to provide work to mature-age job seekers.
And when we say 'mature-age' We're not allowed to ask, but I think he's pretty old.
He opened a door for me.
- Albert.
- People call him Bert.
- Has he got any skills? - He's got seven grandchildren.
- Yeah, not technically a skill.
- I'll find out.
- Oh, and Jim and - Oh, that timer switch.
- It's cost saving.
- It's ridiculous.
- Jim and Rhonda will the here at two.
- Yep, got it.
- Can I get you some lunch? - Oh, just a sandwich.
- Focaccia or wrap? - Or a sandwich.
- I'll see what they can do.
- Okay.
NAT: So, that means we have to go back to the original plan with the pipeline running through here.
- But that was part residential.
- I know, not my decision.
Ash, compulsory acquisitions? What are we looking at? In terms of houses, we need to lose, um, three.
- Guess that's not too bad.
- In the first street.
- Right.
- There's another four behind them.
My guess, we'll have to look at compensation.
- And a nursing home.
- Can you not leave such big pauses? Sorry.
And a park.
- Is there another route? - This has come from Geotech.
Our job is to get on with preserving the corridor ASAP.
Okay, I think that's it.
COURTNEY: Oh, one more thing.
The tweet? - What? - Remember? From the meeting.
- What meeting? - With the comms team.
Just remind me.
We were asked to increase our level of stakeholder engagement and you nodded.
- Did I? - You did.
- What was I nodding about? - They want us to tweet.
- And I nodded? - Yeah.
So, tweet what? Projects we've got on the go, announcements.
We could mention those houses we're knocking over.
- I don't think so.
- What about the ring-road extension? What about it? We could post a tweet of the site access works No, no, not started on the tweet, started on this, the corridor.
- Yep.
- Hashtag "now".
VOICE-OVER: But now the future is here.
Airlink will transform forever the way our city meets the sky.
Airlink, one more way we're getting the job done.
Getting-the-job-done.
gov.
au.
- What do you reckon? - It's pretty impressive.
You should have been at the focus groups.
Positive? Some of the 18-to-35s actually applauded.
- When do you announce this? - Oh, we're hoping for the Budget.
It's going to be a great look.
Federal money getting a jump on the slow states.
- Only two weeks away? - I cannot wait.
We're this close to signing off on the deal.
Have you had a chance to look at the contract? - Yeah, yeah, I have, yeah.
- And? It's a lot of money.
That's what the Auditor-General said.
Here we are, trying to get the job done, these negative Nellies come along quibbling over a few dollars.
3.
5 billion.
- 3.
8.
- What? We had to throw in a few sweeteners just to grease the wheels.
Sorry, what's this got to do with us? We hit a bit of a roadblock.
Still - I thought you'd greased the wheels.
- Ah, unions are arcing up.
- Oh, no surprise there.
- Yeah, threatening to pull the pin.
Meanwhile, the consortium reckon they're gonna lose money on the whole deal, they're ready to walk.
Sounds like a stalemate.
Yeah, through in the Auditor-General's report, it's even more of a stalemate.
You can't have What? Any chance you could sit down and have a chat with him? Me? We need an honest broker to step in and help him see sense.
Oh, I guess I could call them.
- Grease a few more wheels.
- I'll see.
- All right, good man.
- Okay.
- What's this? - KATIE: Lunch.
- It's a za'atar.
It's Lebanese.
- I asked for a sandwich.
- It's a Lebanese sandwich.
- But a sandwich.
- It's all they could do.
- Okay.
COURTNEY: Bert's here the whole week, so if there's anything you need help with You just sing out.
You look busy.
Oh, for sure.
Thanks.
- Can I get you a cuppa? - A cup of what? - A cup of tea.
- I haven't had a tea in ages.
- And a bickie? - A bickie? - That'd be great.
- On its way, love.
Thanks, Bert.
He called me 'love'.
Do you want me to file a report with HR? No.
Got a call from the minister's comms unit.
- They're still waiting on your tweet.
- When did it become at my tweet? Well, it's from your account.
- What am I supposed to say? - Whatever you want.
All right, write this down.
Exciting news.
Port Botany Freight Rail Duplication Initiative ranked high priority after business case gets interim approval.
- Okay.
- Yeah - What? - A little dry.
- It's called 'infrastructure'.
- How about we write it like this? Bot Rail Dupe ranked high P.
Hashtag "smashing it", hashtag "hectic".
- See, that's fun.
- Do you know what it means? No, but if you want to get retweeted I want to get on with my day.
Just send them what I said.
That's the last I want to hear of it.
"Dupe".
REPORTER: A rail link from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport to the city could finally be a step closer WOMAN: Victorians desperately want it, frustrated by the congestion MAN: We should be building these sorts of things MAN 2: A train would be very helpful.
MAN 3: This is long overdue.
WOMAN: It's been in the works for almost 30 years.
MAN 4: A lot of talk, but not much construction.
WOMAN 2: And a direct train line to the airport is the only answer.
MAN: Now, coffee? We have an in-house barista.
- Oh, no, I'm fine.
- Sure.
So, thanks for agreeing to see us.
No, happy to make the time.
It's a very exciting project.
Yeah, we just want to ask about a couple of specific clauses.
You won't find much fat in there, we've already cut this thing to the bone, but, sure, go ahead.
- Okay, Scotty? - Yep.
I'll have a soy latte.
- About the contract, the clauses.
- Oh, yep.
Uh, what exactly does this figure represent? "Overages".
That's just general on-costs, contract management fees.
- 2%? - Small beer.
$7.
5 million.
Well, in the general scheme of things, it's a round of drinks.
- Yeah, per year.
- Two rounds of drinks.
- Exactly.
- Keep going, Scotty.
What about this? Financing contingency, 4.
5%.
- Again, a round of drinks.
- Where do you drink? Well, you've got to factor in inflation.
Venezuela? Inflation here is 1.
5%.
But averaged out over the life of the project Yeah, I guess what I'm trying to do is work out how the cost of this thing has blown out so much.
I wouldn't say blown out.
$3.
8 billion.
It's 4.
1.
I think you've got an old draft.
Yep, the point is, it's a hell of a lot of money.
Look, you can nickel-and-dime us all you want.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room.
- Cost of drinks.
- Cost of labour.
The unions are killing us.
I mean, you want to shave a little fat of this contract - I want to shave a lot of fat.
- talk to the union.
Yeah.
I'm not done yet.
Shall I get us some food in here? Uh, yeah, I'll have a sandwich.
- Tapas? - Ooh, tapas.
Great.
BERT: Just taking orders.
- Cuppa? - Sure.
Thanks, Bert.
- Oh, that looks fancy.
- Yeah, fully interactive.
I'm just struggling to find the orientation menu.
- What does that mean? - Well, which way north is.
- It's that way.
- What menu did you use? No shadows, Southern Hemisphere.
- Yeah? - Midday.
Got to be that way.
- Right.
- Now, how do you have that? Oh, white and one.
- Bickie? - Yeah, yeah.
Oh, actually, Bert, how do I - TONY: Tony.
- SCOTT: Scott.
We've just been asked to run an eye over the contract, see if there's any room to move.
We're not the ones who need to move, mate.
They all try to crunch you.
That's why I've stepped in here.
Right, yeah.
Can I just ask you about a couple of clauses? - Whatever.
- A 36-hour week.
- Sounds right.
- But you get paid for 56 hours.
You try toughing it out here on site.
- (COFFEE MACHINE HISSES) - Yeah.
No, it must be pretty hard.
You've demanded a $120 travel allowance.
- Our boys have got to get there.
- But "there" is here, in the city.
And it's payable, even on rostered days off.
Sure, but how many of those are there? - 42.
- 48.
I think you'll find that's an old draft.
- 17th? - Nah, we've updated since then.
They've updated it? Okay.
I thought you blokes were keen on this project.
Well, I think everyone wants it to proceed, we're trying to work out how the costs have blown out.
Hard to pin these things down.
Yeah, I've pinned down total labour charges.
- They're double the original budget.
- You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
Peanuts? That guy is going to be on $120,000 year.
- What price for safety? - 70,000? Ha! What are you going to get for 70,000 bucks? I don't know, a high school maths teacher.
You've also got a $90 a day penalty because of portable toilets.
I will not compromise on worker safety.
How is a portaloo compromising on personal safety? This is the thing.
You blokes sit around in your air-conditioned boardrooms, try toughing it out here on site.
Yeah, who's currently toughing it out out here, though? - Hot weather policy.
- 30 degrees? - It was forecast 35.
- Unsafe conditions.
- Is it? - MAN: See ya, Paul.
- See you Monday.
- Nah, it's RDO, Monday.
- See you Tuesday.
- Good on you.
Yeah.
- Mate, you want to make some savings? - Yep.
Get serious with the top end of town.
- We're not budging.
- Okay, all right.
Well, um, thanks for your time.
Yeah.
No, let's go.
Bert I hope you don't mind, I just did a bit of a tidy up.
Sure.
- So, there were some plans on my desk.
- All in here.
- Sorted by project and date.
- Really? Yeah, I used to do a bit of this sort of stuff.
- That's amazing.
- Cuppa? - And a bickie? - On its way, love.
- Thank you.
- Could you do my desk, Bert? - (GASPS) - Nat, do you have time for Sarah? - Who's Sarah? - From the minister's comms team.
She's the one you nodded at at the meeting.
- It's about your tweet.
- I thought we sent that.
They're worried it might lack a bit of cut through.
- She just wants a quick catch-up.
- For a tweet? Yep.
She can fly down tomorrow.
(GASPS) Nice to see you.
Come on in.
Now, you did all the legal work on this? - I'm still doing it.
- Yeah, I cast an eye over the deal.
- A very exciting project.
- Very.
Yeah, it's just that cost is becoming a bit of an issue.
The government still want to get it up? - It seems so.
- Oh, good.
- What do you mean, good? - Oh, just "good".
Yeah Anyway, from a legal point of view, could we cancel it? - You said what? - Could we cancel it? - Why would you say that? - I'm asking it.
- But aren't they about to announce? - Well, they're close.
I'd hate to see such a great initiative fall over.
Yeah, but legally could we cancel this thing? Could or should? Could.
'Cause I don't think you should.
- I wouldn't.
- Yeah, but could we? We're after a formal legal opinion.
Oh.
Well, you'd have to ask, uh - You.
- Oh, yeah.
- Look, at this late stage - Well, nothing's been signed.
we'd advise against it.
Sorry, is that legal advice or friendly advice? - Both.
- Yeah, but just legally.
I mean, it's a very exciting project.
- Very.
- I heard the focus groups went well.
Extremely well.
No, the focus groups went really well.
Um Oh, did I tell you I spoke to the engineering consultants? - No.
- They're worried.
- What about? - The project not getting up.
- In their opinion, we should proceed.
- Did you mention the current cost? Oh, I don't think they're worried about the cost.
- It's not their money.
- Oh, that explains it.
Anyway, the point is, they think we should proceed.
- Very positive.
- Right.
It's two slices of bread with food in between.
It's called a sandwich.
- Or a calzone? - No.
A what? - Or a gozleme? - What's a gozleme? - It's like a spanakopita but Turkish.
- No.
Just a sandwich.
I'm still looking.
Oh, and have you got anything for Bert to do? - Not really.
- Can he get you a cuppa? He just did.
Hey, where are those bickies from? - Home-made.
- They're lovely.
- They're not gluten-free.
- Great.
I'll get him to clean up the plans room.
He used to be in Public Works.
- Oh, good.
- And he knows where north is.
- Wow, yeah.
- Here he is, The Fixer.
- Come on in.
- JIM: How'd you go? Bash some sense into those unions? I actually met with the consortium first.
- Great idea, get some ammunition.
- Jeez, these look nice.
I spoke to a few of the parties involved.
- Well, this is what we needed.
- Getting the job done.
- We might need to cancel this thing.
- What?! Or at least find a cheaper way to build it.
- I thought he was The Fixer.
- You asked my opinion.
- When we're this close.
- It's blown out to $4.
6 billion.
Just between us, the Treasurer's prepared to go to five.
Throwing at money at a project's no solution.
- Well, it's worked in the past.
- Many times.
What happened to getting the job done? But surely we only build this thing if the benefits outweigh the costs.
- Well, that's one measure.
- What's another measure? Focus group applause.
Look, we're 13 days from the Budget, ad's been done, logo's been approved.
- The business case is looking good.
- You completed a business case? - Well, we'll look good.
- Show me.
- No! Oi! - Show me! Tony, Tony, Tony - (MUTED VOICES) - Might just give them a minute.
It's not ready, it's not ready.
All right, what if we managed to trim some costs? Neither side's willing to budge an inch.
But if we can get them together with The Fixer Jim, they're at each other's throats.
Oh, so are the PM and the Treasurer, they still managed to meet.
I'll make a few calls.
Might just grab a couple of these.
- BERT: There you go.
- Oh, a saucer! Oh, and another of those superb shortbreads.
- Carol made a fresh batch.
- Oh, yum.
Oh, and while the lass at the front desk was out.
.
Mm-hm.
I took a call for you from some chappie at the minister's office.
He was quite het up about some project you were stopping.
Yeah? I said he could telephone back when he could be a little more civil? - This was the minister's office? - Yep.
- And who did you speak to? - Brad? - That's the minister.
- Well, he should know better.
Right.
Oh, thanks, Bert.
Oh, Katie, can I just a quick word? Thanks, yeah.
We have to keep him away from the phones.
He was helping Courtney.
He just referred to a federal minister as "chappie".
- The minister just rang back.
- Is he still angry? No, he wanted to apologise.
To Well done, Bert.
There are some people here to see you.
- What people? - Ah, from Transway.
Marcus and members of the consortium.
- To see me? - Yeah, I think Jim organised it.
There's also Paul from some union.
- Where are they? - The boardroom.
- Together? - Mm-hm.
Jesus, who did that? They'll tear each other's throats out.
- Why? - Can you Get Scotty, get Scotty! - Oh, Okay.
- Tell him to meet me in the boardroom.
Okay.
Scott! COURTNEY: (OVER PA) Attention, all staff.
Lunch has arrived.
Lunch has arrived.
- Oh, Tony! - Yep? - I'll put your fajita in the fridge.
- Yep, whatever that is.
(MUTTERS) Sorry, sorry.
- Ah, there you are.
- Here's trouble.
I didn't realise you were all arriving at the same time.
We heard that there could be a few issues from your end.
Figured the best thing would be to all get together and see if we can't find some common ground.
- You never know.
- Right.
- So, uh, why don't we make a start? - Yeah.
- Would you like to - No, please, after you.
- Are you sure? - Absolutely.
Okay, yeah, let's, um let's all make a start.
We might have been a little tough on some of those site allowances.
Well, you're just looking after your members.
But we can look at reducing some of those weekend penalty rates a little.
Make it, uh, 12%? - Ouch.
- What do you mean, "Ouch"? It's 1%.
I'll try and sell it.
Well, if you get that up, we might be able to cut the contingencies - Careful.
- to six? - Ooh! - What do you mean, "Ooh"? It's half of 1%.
It's, uh - Well, if it gets the project up - Yeah, well, we can't say yet.
- We saw these focus groups.
- Very positive.
Applause.
I think there might be a little bit of room to move with our integration costs.
- Could we do that legally? - If it gets the project up.
- Legally? - Oh, I'll have to check.
Well, it's got to sell to our board, of course.
- Don't cripple yourself.
- No, we want to get this thing up.
- We all do.
- We've all got to take a hit.
- Yes, you're right.
- Now, consultancy fees.
- I.
.
- Perhaps we - Sorry.
Please, after you.
- No, after you.
It might be close, it it's tight.
Maybe.
- Are we close? - MAN: It feels like it.
Keep going.
Jim and Rhonda are here.
Shall I put your banh mi in the fridge? - Depends what it is.
- A pulled pork Vietnamese roll.
I said sandwich.
I found a place, but they need 24 hours' notice.
What? Yeah.
Come in.
How'd our meeting go? Fireworks? - No, they all seemed quite happy.
- Great.
Yeah, and I think I've worked out why.
- Because we're getting the job done? - Because we're getting screwed.
- BOTH: What? - They're all in this together.
What are you talking about? Everyone's making ridiculous money off projects like this, not just the consortium and the unions, it's consultants and lawyers and financiers.
Then they dump the cost back on us.
- Who's us? - Us, the taxpayer.
- Ah! He's gone rogue.
- Take Transway.
Lucky to have them on board.
They've allowed for double the inflation rate, triple the financing costs.
- Gotta make a dollar.
- Then there's the unions.
Well, here's your problem.
Every contractor on this project will make triple the industry average.
As long as it gets the job done.
Two years later than it should be done.
There's no incentive to make it cheaper or faster.
In fact, the longer it takes, the more money they make.
- So, it's a win-win.
- No, it's a win-win-lose.
- Who's the lose? - Taxpayer.
I don't see their signature on the contract.
No, it's on the cheque.
Look, it's 12 days till the Budget, just get the job done.
- Just give me a little more time! - All right, but get your skates on! All right.
So, this is what we've got.
(READS) "Port Botany Freight Rail Duplication Initiative "ranked high priority after business case gets interim approval.
" So, what do we all think? (SOME MUTTER) - I don't know.
- Where's the narrative? Where's the backstory? It's a tweet, it is not a telemovie.
Let me ask you this, Nat.
What are we trying to do here? Double the capacity of the rail line to meet So, we're building for the future.
Well, I guess.
And who is building for the future? Well, the coordinating authority is made It's the minister.
Exactly.
How's this? "Who will plan and build for Australia's future? "This minister won't stop at anything until the job is done.
" - Hashtag "botany rail duplication".
- Hashtag "NBA".
- Hashtag "smashing it".
- Yes! Incredible.
- I think we've got it.
- Yes! - Nat? - Yep, sure.
Press send, swipe right, whatever.
- Great.
- Oh.
- What? - It's too long.
Let's go again.
- Okay, I'm up for it.
- ASH: Let's do it.
You know what? We're gonna have to go through this line item by line item.
- Mind if I eat? - Sure.
Mind if I open a window? - What is that? - Kimchi.
Korean cabbage.
- Where's it from? - Korea.
- No, no.
Where did you get it from? - They deliver it.
You want some? No, I've got something Vietnamese in the fridge.
Let's make a start.
Sure.
I want to strip out anything that looks like fat.
Do a complete construction budget from first principles.
With concrete and rolling Like, make labour costs 15%.
So, start with the original costings.
- Exactly.
Go back to the orig - KATIE: Sorry.
Just wondering, have you got anything for Bert to do? He could deodorise this room.
- Shredding? - He's already done it.
We could ask Courtney.
Actually, I've some photocopying I need.
We've got a huge project, Bert, its confidential, but it's a rail link to Tullamarine Airport.
You've got your work cut out for you there.
Yeah, I just need some copies of that.
Thank goodness for computers, eh? We used to do all this stuff by hand.
Did you? You've worked on that sort of thing? - No, not at your level.
- 35 years at the Board of Works.
That was a while ago, Katherine.
We're just trying to trim some things out of the construction budget.
You're welcome to have a look if you wanted to.
I'm a bit rusty, but maybe I could cast my eye over a few of your figures.
Oh, that would be fantastic.
- That's a high price for cement.
- Is it? Ooh, yeah.
Well, Katie will find your desk, Bert.
I have to find a couple of sharp pencils.
Okay.
- Tony! - What? You wanted something for him to do.
- But that'll take days.
- And he's using pencils.
Well, he offered.
NAT: That was a complete waste of time.
But if we are going to engage with our stakeholders Stakeholders? Have you seen the NBA Twitter account? There were more people in that meeting then we have followers.
- Yeah, but once you start tweeting - I'm not going to start tweeting.
Do you want me to try and shorten it? 140 characters.
All right, get rid of some words, then send it.
- To the comms team? - No, just send it.
(PHONE RINGS) KATIE: He came in at six this morning.
He wanted something to do.
- Tony! - What's he holding? Is it one of those things where you measure your shoe size? Jesus, I think that's a slide rule.
- What's that? - It does calculations.
On shoes? - Where are you going? - To get him a cup of tea.
Good news, Tony.
I found a place that can do sandwiches today.
- Really? - And they deliver.
Like, an actual sandwich? - Yes.
- With bread, with crusts? Yep, it's some retro thing.
Yeah, it's not retro, it's - Okay, well, a ham sandwich.
- What type of ham? - What? - Smoked, Virginia, English, honey - English.
- With relish, mustard, chutney? - Relish.
- Type of relish? - Katie, can you do the rest? - Margarine, butter? - Butter.
- Salted or unsalted? - Katie, it's a sandwich.
- Have you got a moment for Bert? Oh, yeah, sure.
Come on in, Bert.
It took a bit longer than anticipated.
- Are you done? - A bit rusty, I'm afraid.
- Sure.
- So, I had a look at the figures.
This project's been around for ages.
- The rail link? - Yeah.
Back of the envelope, I reckon you can do this for under two.
- Two what? - Billion.
- Which bit? - All of it.
- As in the enabling works? - No.
All of it.
Like, where the trains start to finish? Mm.
Scotty, can you come in here? If you use precast steel for the spans you can maintain that line capacity for a third of the cost.
- That's incredible.
- Guys, your lunches are here.
- Oh, great.
- Bert.
Scotty.
- Thank you.
- And, Tony, here's your sandwich.
It doesn't look like a sandwich.
- It's stacked.
- How do I eat it? - I could ring them.
- I just want a sandwich.
- I'll give them a call.
- Thank you.
- What's that? - Corn beef.
- With bread? - What one? Could I? Now, concrete is interesting.
They're saying 400 to 500 million, but that was the old days.
- More expensive now? - Cheaper.
Yeah, you bring in slabs.
Rapid build system.
They do it in China.
- So, it's overbid? - About half.
- What? - Not counting the other things.
- What do you mean, "the other things"? - Like financials.
I spoke to Les, an old mate from Treasury.
- Mm-hm.
- You've got a triple-A credit rating.
You could issue a 30-year government bond at 3%, 2.
5%, raise the funds overnight.
In fact (LAUGHS) Now I'm prattling.
No, keep prattling.
Keep the prattle up.
Well, this might be old school, but with all this project management and consultancy and legals, why don't you build it yourself? What? How? Set up your own works department and project management team.
- Where? - Oh, over there.
I could tidy it up myself.
You hire and fire, control costs, finish the whole thing in under two years.
- Two years? - What? - Yeah.
- That's impossible.
I tell you what, this cake is unbelievable.
Just hear me out.
Bert's come up with a revamped proposal.
- Who? - Bert.
His wife made that cake.
We go back to the old days, the way we did it 40 years ago.
Set up a good, old-fashioned works department.
- Who? - Us, the government.
- But that's not our job.
- Building infrastructure? No, well, we help other people do it.
That's the beauty of the whole public-private Harnessing market forces, getting the job done.
- Yeah, four times the real cost.
- As long as it gets done.
Tony, we've got a finely tuned system here.
It's a terrible system.
- But if it ain't broke - Do you know what rent-seeking is? I don't want to know.
It's gaining private benefit through the manipulation of political processes.
- Sounds like Aussie know-how to me.
- Just take a look at it.
Has anyone else seen this? - No.
- Is that in pencil? - Yeah.
- Oh, God.
- Is this the only copy? - Ah, yeah, it is.
I'll photocopy it.
No, I can do it, I can do it! I can do it! You're busy, Tony.
- Oh, just stop it! - You're busy.
I'll do it.
(TWITTER ALERT ON PHONE) (ALERT REPEATS) Ash? (ALERT REPEATS) - What? - What's that sound? - What sound? - (ALERT REPEATS) - That sound.
- It's a Twitter alert.
- But I'm not tweeting.
- Yeah, but you're being tweeted at.
- Is that good? - Oh, shit.
You can't be serious.
Read it again? (READS) "Who will plan and build Australia's future? "This minister won't.
" "Stop at anything until the job is done.
" - You said get rid of some words.
- What am I gonna do? On the plus side, you're up to 50 followers.
- What is it? - What you ordered.
- I ordered a sandwich.
- That's right.
- Where's the bread? - It's not bread, it's pangrattato.
Grated bread in the ham and cheese.
But I want the ham and cheese in the bread.
That's aioli dressing and that's kasundi relish.
- You know what? I'll have it later.
- Okay.
I've got Rena from legal on the line.
- Okay.
- No, she wants to talk to Bert.
Oh, he's sharpening his pencils.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Oh, and Jim and Ronda are here.
I see them.
Yep.
Come on in.
Okay, we had a chat to the PM about this crazy DIY proposal of yours.
Did you tell him it was going to save him $3 billion? - Yes.
He was furious.
- But we've got some good news.
Had a word to the people at Transway.
They've spoken to the unions, and it looks like we can get this thing built for a click over five bil.
- When you say "click" - 6.
2.
I don't know how any of them are going to make a cent.
- Same time frame? - No real change.
- Four years? - Maybe a click over.
The point is, getting the job done.
- Yeah.
- Have you got any more of that cake? MAN: G'day, good evening, happy Budget night, wherever you happen to be.
MAN 2: Tonight the Treasurer is drawing a line in the sand.
MAN 3: The Treasurer says this Budget is about helping all Australians.
WOMAN: Infrastructure will also form a major part of the Budget.
MAN 4: Infrastructure spending's going to have to be a key out of this Budget.
WOMAN 2: Found a raft of infrastructure projects.
MAN 5: An infrastructure package.
WOMAN 3: This is nation-building infrastructure.
Did you watch the Budget last night? - I couldn't look.
- The rail link was announced.
- Was it? - $7 billion.
What are you looking for? Those manila folders with the little tie-up things.
Oh, actually, Bert will know where they are.
- Oh, didn't you hear? - No, what? - He's not coming in anymore.
- Why? - They axed the Second Start program.
- When? I think it was one of the Budget cuts.
- Katie - It saves money.
- Is Nat in? - She's gone to see the minister.
Well, I've got some good news for her.
From the Geotech team.
- They've finished the costings? - No, they're following us on Twitter.