Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I have the book here. The honourable member for Shortland was just reading it. I am aware of it and it is one of the things I am looking at now in thinking about this whole issue of transport planning. I thank the honourable member for his intervention by way of a question and comment and for directing me to that report. Thank you.

The Northern Rivers is forecast to be the fastest growing region in New South Wales over the next 20 years. The current population is projected to increase by over 60,000 to approximately 333,000 by 2031. In addition, 51,000 new homes are forecast to be required and an additional 32,500 jobs. That is from the New South Wales Department of Planning. It is quite a strong growth area.

The Pacific Highway, which we hear a lot about, runs through my electorate of Page and my neighbouring ones of Cowper and Richmond, and it is one of my local roads that I use frequently, so it is not just the Pacific Highway; it is a road that I have to traverse when I am driving around the electorate. That was why I was pleased that during the 2007 election campaign federal Labor committed to the continued upgrade of the Pacific Highway to the tune of some $2.5 billion. That includes upgrades in the following areas: Tintenbar to Ewingsdale, Woolgoolga to Sapphire, Sexton’s Hill, the Alstonville bypass and the Ballina bypass. They are all now part of the AusLink 2 package, with some money having come on line in the budget this year to kick-start them.

It is very pleasing when I am driving around to see the extent of work that is happening with the Ballina bypass—and also with the Alstonville bypass, because $13½ million was allocated in this budget to allow that to get started. People in Alstonville are pleased that they are finally seeing a project that they have long desired, advocated and lobbied for. I have to give credit to them and the Alstonville Bypass Action Group, led so ably by Bob Wilson, for their efforts. It was something that they were promised and had commitments to. Things had not happened and now it is finally happening, so they are quite delighted. It has quite a potted history.

Recently, or post budget, I hosted a visit by the federal minister, Anthony Albanese, and his then state counterpart, Eric Roozendaal, to launch the substantial works of the Ballina bypass. I also hosted a visit to Alstonville with the local mayor and the Alstonville Bypass Action Group so we could at least detail that project and say, ‘Yes, it’s all systems go.’

I also have the Summerland Way in my electorate. The Summerland Way is about 199 kilometres long and it runs from Grafton up to the Queensland border. There is a Summerland Way action committee, which is a really old committee. They have been operating for many, many years with the same effort, energy and dedication, trying to make sure that that road got upgraded. They are led by a very able leader at the moment, Councillor Lindsay Passfield, from Kyogle Council. I attend their meetings, and recently my colleague the honourable member for Forde also attended one of the meetings because we are looking at the development of that Northern Rivers-South-East Queensland nexus and what can happen there, and we are turning our minds to some planning issues on it, along with the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils. To that end, we have also met with the honourable member for Richmond, which takes in that other area in the Northern Rivers.

The Summerland Way connects with the Pacific Highway at Grafton. I would be remiss here if I did not say that the local community in Grafton have been calling for a second bridge crossing for years. The bridge that crosses the Clarence River, which connects South Grafton and Grafton, is a very narrow, windy route with a big bend in it. They actually got that bridge at the same time as the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built because then there was a movement that was agitating and saying, ‘Hey, what about us?’ We are pretty good at doing that in Page, and they actually got the bridge at the same time. But they do eventually want a second bridge. They have been promised that over the years, but it has never been delivered. I put on record here the community’s desire to have another bridge there.

The New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority did a study in 2006 and found that generally, while the Summerland Way is an important priority in terms of safety, the safety upgrades should be directed to the Pacific Highway. I cannot help but agree that the safety upgrades have to be directed to the Pacific Highway, because we all know of the safety issues and the tragic deaths that have happened on the Pacific Highway, but I have to be mindful of the Summerland Way and the fact that it does need an upgrade. In another place many years ago I was able to secure money for the Summerland Way to the tune of $50 million. That was surprising to a lot of people because it was not a major road, because it was not seen as a major election priority and because of things like that, but I got a commitment of $50 million to be implemented over a four-year period, with the first $12 million coming on line in six months, and it happened. That was under Premier Bob Carr. That allowed the Pacific Highway to upgrade. It also meant that the federal government then gave some money to it. The member at the time was the Hon. Ian Causley, and I know he then got some money federally that was added to that mix. So it is one of those roads that we have given particular attention to.

I would like to mention in closing that in my area there is an organisation called Coast to Coast 100, set up as a national safety organisation. It started around heavy vehicles but has now extended to safety. It is run by a local woman called Lyndal Denny. It has gone national, and it is targeting driver behaviour and safety on the roads. The heavy vehicle package correctly targets the infrastructure, and her organisation targets the safety. It is about us, about speed, about fatigue and about things like that. Ms Denny is promoting a national safety hotline. I have a copy of some of the material; she has sent it to a lot of members of parliament. I have given that to the federal minister, Anthony Albanese, and asked him to consider it. I am not sure if it is the way to go, and I said that to Lyndal, but clearly we need to be giving more attention and more effort to the issue of safety. We have to be responsible people when we are on the road. It is just directed towards that.

See this speech in context