Jim Lloyd (Robertson, Liberal Party, Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2006-2007 and related budget bills today. As honourable members would know, the speaking opportunities for ministers in the House on local and electorate issues is quite limited, so I plan to use the opportunity today to speak on issues that affect my electorate.

But, firstly, I would like to commend the budget and commend the Howard government’s sound economic management of this country. Economic management has an impact on the lives of each and every one of us in Australia, and the fact that we are now running significant surplus budgets and that we have paid off Labor’s $96 billion debt has a positive impact on all Australians. By paying off that debt, we are now saving some $8 billion in interest payments, and all of us who have a credit card debt realise what a waste it is when you are paying interest on that debt. That $8 billion can now be turned back into infrastructure building and into positives for the Australian community.

It is also interesting how there is an expectation now that when the federal budget comes down there will be tax cuts—benefits the Australian government can provide to the Australian community. That is very good, but I guess I am at an age where I can remember the fact that, when previous governments brought down their federal budgets, people used to have this fear and trepidation of the Australian government bringing down its budget, particularly when Labor was in office. People would say: ‘What’s going to increase? What taxes are going to increase?’ I remember the front pages of the Daily Telegraph 15 years ago when they would say: ‘Smokes up. Beer up. Petrol up. Increased taxes.’ They covered a whole range of issues about what the Australian government was taking away from the community. How that has changed under the Howard coalition government. Now the expectation—and the rightful expectation—is that the benefits of sound economic management will be returned to the Australian community in increased infrastructure spending and increased tax cuts. In fact, some $36.7 billion in tax cuts are being returned to the Australian community.

A good, sound economic position enables us to invest in infrastructure. Obviously, as the federal government’s Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, I was delighted that we were able to secure an additional $307.5 million for the very popular Roads to Recovery program. This program provides additional money to all the 703 councils around Australia. The initial four-year program was for $1.2 billion. This current four-year program, now with this additional $307.5 million plus the additional $100 million for the strategic component of Roads to Recovery, means that over the next four years there will be approximately $1.7 billion for local councils to invest in local communities.

Certainly in my own electorate and on the Central Coast of New South Wales this means that Gosford City Council will receive an additional $968,000 on top of the funding they would have received for this year. Neighbouring Wyong Shire Council will receive an additional $903,000. Importantly, this $307.5 million will be paid in advance to councils. It will be paid this current financial year. All councils have works programs. They all have jobs that they can start working on straightaway, so the money will be paid to them to get on with the job.

Another part of the budget that I was delighted to be able to announce as the federal roads minister was the increase in funding for the widening of the F3 freeway south of the Hawkesbury River. As honourable members would know, a large percentage of the population and residents of the Central Coast commute daily either by rail or road to Sydney for employment. It puts significant pressure on our community life. Those who drive to Sydney can spend an extra three or four hours of their working day travelling—1½ to two hours in each direction. It puts a great strain on their families when they are trying to provide for them.

One of the major objectives that I have had since being elected to parliament some 10 years ago was to ensure that we had three lanes each way on the F3 freeway, to end the congestion that happens on a regular basis. We have been successful in widening the F3 in the Mount White region, and that has made a tremendous difference, but we still have the bottleneck south of the Hawkesbury River. I am very pleased that we have been able to announce that $105.8 million is available to widen the freeway south of the Hawkesbury River.

This project had a total cost of $132 million, and I am very pleased that the New South Wales government is contributing to this project for the first time. Under our AusLink agreement, there is now shared funding on the national highway network, and I am pleased that the New South Wales government are now contributing. It means that we can fast-track this project. Already preconstruction activities are under way, including the stripping back of the rock cuttings, and it is now expected that this project will be completed and open to traffic by mid-2008 or towards the end of 2008—in about two years time. It will make a very significant difference to the families on the Central Coast who commute down the F3.

Of course, I was also pleased that—again, under the roads portfolio—we have been able to announce a continuation of the black spot road funding program. This is also a very successful program which, to my surprise, was scrapped by the previous Labor government. One of the first things we did when we came into government in 1996 was to reintroduce this very important program which does save lives. One of my major objectives as roads minister is to save as many lives as we can on our roads, whether it is our local roads or our national highways. We still lose far too many people on our highways. Even though under our National Road Safety Strategy we have reduced the road toll significantly over the past few years, there is still a lot more to be done. One of the ways in which we can do this is through the black spot program.

In the electorate of Robertson, my electorate, we will be able to provide to the councils there $1,290,000 from the Australian government over the next financial year for black spot improvements. That is part of the $44.5 million in the current financial year. In recognition of the success of the black spot program, the Australian government has extended the program for a further two years to 2006-07 and 2007-08 at a cost of $90 million. I am pleased that my electorate could also benefit from the black spot program.

Whilst we are talking about Roads to Recovery, there have been so many positive comments from councils all around Australia, and I have a couple of those comments with me. The Loddon Shire Council in Victoria, when talking about the Roads to Recovery program last year, said:

It is one of the best programs that has ever been introduced to support the maintenance and upgrade of local road infrastructure in rural areas. The Howard government, and particularly your ministry, are to be congratulated on understanding the needs and finding the resources to support rural councils.

Another comment that I really did appreciate was from Paul Bell, the President of the Australian Local Government Association, ALGA. At his roads congress in 2005, he said:

We very much appreciate the federal government’s assistance for this task, and will continue to work with the Australian government to ensure this program continues to address the massive backlog in local road maintenance work.

Another result of sound economic management and the fact that we actually have a surplus for the Australian government to be able to invest in infrastructure has been the Australian investment in water infrastructure. Obviously, in many parts of Australia, we are suffering significant water shortages, and New South Wales is no different to many other parts of Australia. The Central Coast is one of those areas where you would not expect droughts as such—we are on the coast and we do get a fair bit of coastal rain—but our water supply is being depleted and is now under 20 per cent. This is a real worry for a rapidly growing area, where we have significant investment, a massive increase in residential construction and new businesses coming to the Central Coast all the time.

I am very pleased that we have been able to secure Australian government funding of $6.61 million towards the construction of a water pipeline between the Hunter and the Central Coast region. This is a massive project. It is some $37.76 million in total. The project involves the construction of a pipeline between the two water supply areas from the Hunter and the Central Coast. It will have a capacity to transfer some 20 megalitres of water per day. I understand that is about one-quarter of the Central Coast daily usage, so it is very important. The Hunter system, because it has a major river involved in the system, replenishes its water supply much quicker than the small catchment areas of the Central Coast. So, even in times of water shortages, there will be water available from the Hunter system that could be utilised for storage and use on the Central Coast. This agreement between the two areas will benefit and serve a population of some $800,000 people. One of the objectives that I have as a local member on the Central Coast is to ensure that we can secure our water supply and ensure that we do not restrict growth, investment and job creation on the Central Coast, because we still have far too many people who are commuting from the Central Coast to Sydney. We need more local jobs and local investment.

Speaking of investment and returning the surplus back to the community, again because we have managed our economy well the Howard government were able to create the Investing in Our Schools program, which is in addition to the money that we provide to the state governments to run public education in the states and territories around Australia. Certainly the Central Coast schools have benefited greatly from Investing in Our Schools. In one of the latest rounds, I was able to announce that some 15 schools located in the Robertson electorate will be receiving $1,450,587. It is a very important program.

I will list some of the benefits for some of these schools. These are for what in many cases are relatively minor upgrades, maintenance or facilities that possibly the P&C would have had to raise money for because the state governments were not providing these facilities. These are just some of the grants. The Gosford Christian School at Narara is receiving $68,000 for the completion of fire precautions at their wood tech area. The Brisbania Public School at Saratoga is receiving money for installation of airconditioning so that the children are not sitting in hot conditions or in freezing cold rooms. They are receiving $89,454. We have the Chertsey Primary School, a great little school in a unique area where there is a whole socioeconomic range of families, some from underprivileged areas and some from middle-class areas. They are also receiving money for installation of airconditioning: $94,329. Gosford High School, for a shade structure and classroom and ICT upgrade, is receiving $150,000. Narara Valley High School is receiving money—and this is a project that I had supported and fought very hard for the money for—for the installation of a school stage: $99,999, close enough to $100,000. They have a wonderful musical group and they have a great performing arts section at that school. I could go on, but people are looking at me here and saying that time is of the essence. I just want to commend the budget and the appropriation bills to the House and highlight how important this is to the people of Robertson.

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