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

I am really pleased to speak on this matter of public importance today because, far from what members opposite claim, this budget is one that is not only delivering on our commitments that we took to the last election but also delivering on the right priorities that will benefit our nation for all Australians and for future Australians.

Let me remind members opposite of the size of the task we face—I know other members have also reminded members opposite of this. We borrow $1 billion every single month just to pay the interest on Labor's debt. Members of the Labor Party have no plan. Our budget is the only plan to fix Labor's debt and deficit disaster.

We have already improved the budget by around $15 billion over the forward estimates. In contrast to the assertions made by those opposite, let me state that this is not only a responsible budget but also a budget that is delivering on the commitments and priorities that we took to the people of Australia and that we particularly took to the people of the Central Coast. They are the commitments and priorities that reflect the heartfelt concerns that the tens of thousands of people that I spoke to in the lead-up to the last election asked us to address. Let me restate what we said we would do: we said we would stop the boats; that we would build the roads of 21st century; that we would scrap the carbon tax; and that we would get the budget under control. And we are doing just that.

We are not the party with wrong priorities. We are doing what we were elected to do, and in my electorate of Robertson many of the commitments that we made to the Central Coast are already being delivered in less than 12 months. We are delivering on our growth plan for the Central Coast, and the first priority in that growth plan is local jobs. We are determined to generate more local jobs on the Central Coast because we want to see our region thrive. That is why this government is committed to delivering 600 new jobs in the Gosford CBD, including a purpose-built Commonwealth agency building. The ATO has advised that the building is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. As further evidence of our right priorities, we have recent modelling from Regional Development Australia, Central Coast NSW, indicating that the 600 Commonwealth jobs in Gosford will create an additional 1,400 new jobs on top of that. That is 2,000 new jobs in the heart of Gosford and in the heart of the Central Coast within a few short years. As the Treasurer said when he joined me in Gosford last week, this is what the budget is all about. It is about creating jobs. It is about stimulating growth, and everything we are focused on is about jobs and more prosperity for Australian and future Australians. This government is also building NorthConnex, another key item in the growth plan and the missing link that has been talked about for decades and never built. Now, with $405 million from the federal government, it will be finished by 2019.

With 30,000 to 40,000 commuters leaving their homes early in the morning and returning late at night to their families, these commitments have the potential to be a game-changer for the Central Coast. But it is not all we are doing. There is $675,000 in this budget to help address the accident-prone black spot at Langford Drive and Woy Woy Road in Kariong. There is also $3.5 billion to help make Woy Woy oval a civic centrepiece, with a 600-seat grandstand rather than a crumbling structure for our local sporting heroes and sporting clubs.

Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more just how much Labor failed our region, even on so-called signature policies like the NBN. Despite Labor's great fanfare in Gosford in 2013, despite the big red buttons that the minister and the Labor member liked to push, when we came to government last September only 203 premises were actually connected on the Central Coast. We now have 2,600 premises connected to the NBN, more than 7,000 premises passed and work currently underway to connect an additional 10,200.

Last week, the Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull joined me to announce that the NBN will expand its rollout in Umina to pass 54,000 homes in our region in the next 12 months, including in Woy Woy, Umina Beach, Ettalong Beach, Killcare, Kincumber and Saratoga. This is a government that has the right priorities for my electorate of Robertson and the right priorities for Australia. This budget delivers on many of those and it will make the Central Coast a place where I can proudly say we not only live in the best part of the best country in the world but also work in the best part of the best country in the world.

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