Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the government for the announcement of the M1-M2 Link, or NorthConnex, as it is now known. I also commend the member for Berowra for moving this motion. It is a great example of the coalition fulfilling a promise we took to the people of the Central Coast at the last federal election, and it is part of our nationwide major roads blueprint.

Lend Lease and Bouygues, who are joining forces with Transurban, are partnering with the New South Wales and federal governments to deliver some of Australia's biggest transport and infrastructure projects, which will deliver real benefits for the people of the Central Coast and for the people of New South Wales. The federal and New South Wales governments will each contribute $405 million toward the $3 billion project.

As a candidate for the seat of Robertson at the 2013 federal election, I fought alongside Karen McNamara, now the member for Dobell, along with other Coalition MPs, in the Missing Link Action Network. I have used the F3, now called the Ml, for many years, including to commute to work on a daily basis. I have experienced the delays and frustrations of congestion, traffic lights and queuing to get to the city. It can be a tough commute. The day begins before the sun rises with the winding drive up Kariong Hill, and ends after dark, often after family dinner time and sometimes after the kids have gone to bed. It has an impact after a while. Although I am privileged to live and work locally now, my husband Chris still heads to Mascot every working day, and he reminds me often of the need to cut travel times to Sydney from the ever-growing region of the Central Coast. It is for these and many other reasons that the M1-M2 missing link has the potential to be the single most important road connection for the people of Robertson.

It has been talked about for decades. But taxpayers just want government to get on with building the transport networks our nation so desperately needs. Under the former Labor government, projects were often announced—and we heard a little bit about this earlier—but Labor has a strong track record of announcing projects but not actually delivering them. Unlike the former Labor government, we will deliver on our promises instead of just talking about them.

NorthConnex will be one of the roads of the 21st century that shows why infrastructure will be a hallmark of this coalition government. The Prime Minister said that as a government we are working with every fibre of our being, every waking moment, to try to ensure we build the infrastructure that Australia needs. This is a concrete step towards building this missing link.

We can now say that NorthConnex is expected to be completed in 2019, with construction on the project to begin next year. NorthConnex will include the construction of a nine-kilometre-long twin tunnel connecting the M1 and M2. It will be a tolled motorway linking the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills. As part of the future-proofing of NorthConnex, the motorway will also be designed and constructed to allow direct connections to be built to the M2 east and to enable a move to three lanes each way in the future if required. Based on forecast traffic figures, I understand these connections may not be required for a few years, but it shows just how this project will deliver for the future.

Crucially, the tunnel is expected to remove up to 5,000 trucks off Sydney's roads. One of these roads is Pennant Hills Road—not an artery in my electorate, but one that is well known to all commuters from the coast. It is consistently slow and heavily trafficked. Over 10,000 trucks each day are forced onto Pennant Hills Road due to the absence of a motorway-grade link. NorthConnex changes all that. This project boosts the efficacy of freight movements and improves safety, air quality and noise levels for residents and businesses impacted by this corridor.

NorthConnex will make it possible for commuters and freight trucks to bypass more than 20 sets of traffic lights. It will also give vehicles travelling by road from Newcastle to Canberra and Melbourne the ability to reach their destinations without encountering a single traffic light. For the people of the Central Coast, this will mean shorter commuting times of up to 15 minutes. This will bring real relief for the thousands of families in my electorate. With more than 30,000 local residents leaving the Central Coast every day for work, that is 15 minutes each way that has a daily and direct effect on families.

My commitment to the people of my electorate of Robertson is to fight for a future where more choice and more opportunity abound. I am passionate about making sure the experience of my husband, whose round-trip commute takes over four hours a day, does not have to be the future experience of my young family or the future experience of tens of thousands of other families on the coast. NorthConnex is part of that solution. We are getting on with delivering this vital project as we deliver the infrastructure of the 21st century for the Central Coast.

See this speech in context