Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Today in the company of the member for Hunter I participated in the announcement locally of the Hunter expressway, a project of $1.65 billion. This is a project that those opposite, as the member for Paterson will know full well, promised in the 2004 election. And what did they do after the 2004 election? Nothing. In 2004 they made a bold promise about funding this road, much needed in that local area, and those opposite when in government did nothing. What we have done in our first year of office is commit funding for this project, announced today conjointly with the government of New South Wales, with construction commencing in the year 2010. I notice the member for Paterson constantly interjects. He doth protest too much. He has been sprung and spotlighted by this one—and it is not all that difficult to spotlight the member for Paterson from time to time, although there is less of him these days!

The member for Paterson is a classic illustration in this place of members saying one thing in their electorates and doing nothing about it in Canberra. He said in 2004 that he would have this road project funded but nothing was actually done about it in the subsequent term of office.

The project will cut travel times between Newcastle and the Hunter by 28 minutes; relieve congestion between Newcastle and the towns of Thornton, Maitland and Rutherford, with forecast reductions in traffic from a level of 60,000 vehicles now by 15,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day; support the growing Hunter region, where traffic is forecast to grow at around four per cent per year; and meet the growing freight task of the region, which is forecast to increase 30 per cent in coming years. The project will support up to 800 jobs directly in its construction. This is part of our long-term plan for the construction of network 1 to provide a proper freight network right across the Australian east coast.

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