Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Sydney’s rail system has changed little since the designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, John Bradfield, first articulated his vision in the 1930s. Western Sydney’s population has increased fivefold since 1940 and its rail has extended only an extra 20 kilometres. Ron Christie was Coordinator-General of Rail when the New South Wales government asked him in 2001 to compose a long-term strategic plan, now called the Christie report. He warned that more than half of Sydney risked being without rail, creating and reinforcing significant inequalities. One of the proposals in the Christie report calls for an independent agency, Transport for Sydney, to be modelled on the successful Transport for London. Consecutive state Labor governments have neglected Greater Western Sydney and continue to promise and delay projects in line with the election cycle. It is not surprising therefore that many residents of Greater Western Sydney and the local government areas that encompass the Sydney region have completely lost faith in the ability of governments to deliver infrastructure in key parts of our state. It is for this reason that an independent agency such as the suggested Transport for Sydney is so important to delivering real transport and infrastructure results for people in our region.

Recently the state Labor government scrapped its bungled Sydney Metro plan, which has wasted $300 million already with zero result for the people of Greater Western Sydney who helped fund this bungled plan with their taxes. Under state Labor, work on a long-awaited express rail on the Richmond line would not even commence until 2015—20 years after Labor was first elected to government. Without even a commitment from Labor as to when work on the line would be finished, it could easily be up to 30 years before work is completed on the project and before Greater Western Sydney commuters have access to express train services.

People are already feeling the growing pains of increased population pressures. The Labor government’s consistent attitude of policy on the run means that there will be no time for adequate infrastructure planning as our population increases in order to ease congestion in our cities and to provide adequate and equitable transport options for those living on the outskirts. In areas such as the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains local people have no confidence that the Rudd Labor government will deliver the infrastructure required to support population growth. A Labor government who breaks their election promises, who cannot safely put insulation into roofs, who cannot build school halls and who flip-flop on major policy issues cannot be trusted to get this right.

The NRMA may have been outspoken in condemning the state Labor government’s failure to build infrastructure which can cope with Sydney’s growing population. They too acknowledge that, while commuters welcome the widening of the M2 freeway, people would still like to see more public transport so that they can leave their cars at home, helping the environment when they can. It needs to be noted that the M5 tunnel also opened at capacity and now the M2 requires expansion, an expansion that will increase costs for Greater Western Sydney commuters to an astronomical $22 per day once completed. Governments must plan for the future when implementing infrastructure and must keep in mind that the population of Sydney is growing. That is why the coalition’s plan for adequate and considered infrastructure in line with population growth is so important to the people living in Western Sydney.

The coalition is of the view that an efficient freight route from the west to the port is important to encourage economic growth outside the Sydney basin and that it is a piece of infrastructure which will be needed in the long term. Across Sydney, particularly in my area, protecting our way of life by reducing time stuck in traffic and enabling more time to be spent with family is critical. Spending two hours a day in a car to travel 50 kilometres is not a good use of time. We cannot undo the mistakes of years of poor planning overnight. We have to deal with current transport challenges now and learn lessons for the future. Planning for our roads and infrastructure does not simply mean bigger roads; it means improved road safety, integration with rail and other public transport and investing in new ways to move forward. (Time expired)

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