Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question. As one of the champions of Western Sydney, she knows that Western Sydney will play a vital role in the economic growth of our country in the years ahead. It is already, with two million people, Australia's fourth largest city area. It is an area that will continue to grow. One in two people living in Sydney will be living in Western Sydney before too much longer. That is why that region needs a major capital investment, a major commitment to building better infrastructure. It is a call that has been crying out for some time and which the previous government left unanswered.

But this government, the government that is going to build the infrastructure of the 21st century, has answered the call. There is a commitment for $3.5 billion worth of new road and infrastructure activities in that area. This will transform Western Sydney: upgrading its existing roads, building new motorways and building the kind of infrastructure that a city of two million people has a right to expect and, in particular, also building for them an airport. What cities around the world of two million people do not have an airport of their own? A key part of this major investment will be the new Badgerys Creek airport—

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