Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to present a petition. The petition does not meet the requirements of the Petition Committee, so I am using this time available to me to explain the reasons behind this petition. The petition’s signatures have been collected by a gentleman by the name of Des Downes in Tumut, known to most as ‘Demon Des’. Des sat in a wheelchair and collected these signatures for the upgrade of Gocup Road. The fact is that Gocup Road has been an issue for well over 20 years. There has been regional development taking place in and around Tumut and the forestry areas and there has been a need for the significant upgrade of Gocup Road for those 20 years.

However, it has been most pressing over the past 10 to 15 years, since the advent of many of the industries in Tumut. Tumut is not in my electorate, but Gocup Road is also in Gundagai, which is part of my electorate. And now we have come to a point whereby the businesses that were enabled to be established in Tumut through both the federal and state governments have now been severely compromised. There has been an enormous expansion, and as a result of the shutdown of all of the rail links between Gundagai and Tumut and many other areas, we have seen the concentration of trucks on that road. You have several hundred B-double truck movements a day on a road that is ill-equipped to meet the demand of the timber industry. It needs to have a focus on regional development.

When we were in government, in the last election campaign we promised that we would provide $11 million towards an upgrade because it was then determined that it would cost around $22 million to make the roads safe—to put in passing lanes and to widen shoulders and to enable the industries that are servicing the forestry industry, and which are serviced by this road, to be able to be competitive with their product. After the election, we were then in opposition and that commitment was not met.

Now, through the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, we have been quoted an amount of $83 million to do this road. It cannot be expected that Tumut Shire Council and Gundagai Shire Council could meet $83 million out of their rate revenue. It is simply impossible for two very small shires to be expected to meet $83 million out of their rate revenue. Even if you put together all of the financial assistance grants and all of the Roads to Recovery grants to both shire councils, it would not amount to $10 million, basically, for this road. If they put all of their money in one pile, it would still go nowhere toward having this road improved enough to enable the competitive business of forestry to take place.

This petition, with 2,152 signatures from local people, which does not meet the requirements of the Petitions Committee, is extremely important because the people of the community are saying, ‘We want help.’ So I am appealing to the New South Wales government to seriously look at and determine this as a regional development issue. This is an issue that is not going to go away. Parliaments over the years have encouraged these expansions to take place. They get enormous tax revenue from these businesses and industries. It is time that the Gocup Road were fixed and completed, and it is time that the New South Wales government and the federal government stopped playing politics with this issue. I am therefore pleased to present this petition.

See this speech in context