Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is wonderful to be here today to talk about Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2015-2016 and related bills. Following on from the previous speaker, I will be outlining the plans that we, the coalition, have for the future. It is wonderful to have here in the chamber my good friend the member for Mayo, who has been strategising these great plans to get Western Sydney moving again—for example, the $50 billion infrastructure package that will create so many jobs for the people of Western Sydney. But I guess for those opposite jobs are not that important.

It is wonderful to be part of a government that is building a stronger Australia. The 2015 budget is the very next step to ensure the long-term economic growth to build a stronger, safer and more prosperous future for all Australians. I probably do not need to remind all of us in the House of the legacy of those opposite: the $667 billion gross debt that is projected to rise. But I like to look at the positive side. In the words of Winston Churchill: 'Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.' To grow our economy, we must grow jobs; to create jobs, we must look to the sectors and find the opportunity. I agree with Professor Michael Porter:

Innovation is the central issue to economic prosperity.

You can look right across the packages and the programs that we want to bring in to create innovation and smart jobs for the people of Western Sydney. That is exactly what this budget is all about. We can look at the small business package—the smallest small business package in our nation's history—that will reduce taxes and create opportunities. It was really wonderful to have the Minister for Small Business in Lindsay on Tuesday last week. He was so well received. He was able to meet and talk with so many of the small business people in Western Sydney. Under those opposite, over half a million—500,000—jobs were lost in small business. That is just not sustainable.

It is not just in small business where we need to look for jobs. I would also like to applaud the work of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Alan Tudge, who came out to Lindsay only a few weeks ago. We conducted an Indigenous business forum talking with local Aboriginal people who are making their own way, building their own businesses, employing other Aboriginal people. It was wonderful to see that spark. After the meeting with the parliamentary secretary, that group of 20-odd Aboriginal business owners in Western Sydney now want to build their own Aboriginal chamber of commerce in Western Sydney. That is the opportunity that this budget and the programs from this side of parliament provide to the people of Australia.

The next very big piece of the budget is the government's $50 billion infrastructure program. It is quite timely to have the member for Mayo, who will be the architect of much of this investment, in the chamber today. A lot of that will be spent in Western Sydney—and you can look at some of the reasons why, particularly as a result of those opposite. Phillip O'Neill who is a professor at the University of Western Sydney made an address on 19 April 2013 where he stated that, between 2006 and 2011, the region of western Sydney lost 6,842 jobs in manufacturing. The electorate of Lindsay will see less than five per cent of traditional manufacturing. No longer can we look at Western Sydney as a place for traditional manufacturing. We need to think bigger. We need to think greater. We need to work with partners like the University of Western Sydney to build an innovation corridor—jobs like biotech. This is going to be the sort of terminology that will be spoken about by the people of Western Sydney.

This infrastructure spend will go further. It will invest $3.6 billion in a roads package that will be shared with the state government. This $3.6 billion road package will deliver so many jobs and create opportunities for organisations like the EJ Cooper group, or Baiada, who will invest, over and above the value of their 280 hectares, $2.5 billion in the people of Western Sydney. The science park will create 12,200 jobs in biotech—12,200 jobs that will be in places like agribusiness and smart agribusiness. This is exciting news for the people of Western Sydney.

Furthermore, we will be investing $1.1 million in the planning of the Northern Road from the M4 up to the Great Western Highway. This is an area that has caused so many challenges for so many people every day of the week. The federal government is also lending $45 million to the state government to build the Werrington arterial road. Now, this will take a lot of pressure off the Northern Road intersections on the M4, as well as the Mamre Road intersections on the M4. The sod-turning for that project was on 9 March. A $35 million extension of Mulgoa Road will help the pain point just outside the plaza, under the railway bridge, so that when this project is finished the flooding under that railway bridge should be a far-distant memory.

With regard to black-spot funding, we have invested $160,000 in a single-lane roundabout at Phillip and Gascoigne streets in Kingswood; $80,000 for pedestrian safety measures along Parkes Avenue between Victoria Street and Werrington Street in Werrington; $60,000 for a stop safety island at the intersection of Dunheved Road and Tasman Street in Cambridge Park; $60,000 for a median island and curve realignment on Kurrajong and Boronia streets in North St Marys; and $40,000 for median island and stop signs at Terry Brook Road and Fifth Avenue in Llandilo—in fact, $6.1 million on Roads to Recovery across the region. This is a fabulous achievement and this will mean so much to all of us who live in Western Sydney.

But the innovation corridor really is, I think, the most spectacular piece of what this government has achieved for the people of Western Sydney. The innovation corridor will travel from Narellan through Penrith, all the way up to the north-west growth sector, linking the north-west to the south-west.

One of the pieces that have made this project of the innovation corridor so real is the free trade agreement with China and the memorandum of understanding between the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and the University of Western Sydney. This enables the University of Western Sydney to commence clinical trials on Chinese medicines to find ways to propagate or synthesise the active ingredients and to then commercialise these medicines. This will create so many wonderful jobs for the people of Western Sydney. Working with a university that really does see a bright future for our region is very, very exciting. Furthermore, the government have paired with the university and supported $3.1 million for 10 research grants. This is really important research. Additionally, the Werrington Park Corporate Centre, the first building of the Sydney IQ facility, is predicted to have 6,000 smart jobs, again in biotech. This project commenced with a $13.573 million investment from the federal government and will initially employ 450 to 500 people.

Lindsay is a family community and one of the youngest electorates in the parliament. One of the things that we have been known for a very long time is our sporting prowess. We as a government have supported the families of Western Sydney, including the families of Lindsay. We have been supporting the children to play the sports that they want to play. We have been upgrading fields right across the region: to Hickeys Lane Rugby League fields, we provided $45,000 to improve the playing surfaces; to the Andromeda Oval in Cranebrook we have provided drainage and upgrading of the playing surface, another $25,500; at the Grey Box Gum Reserve, we resurfaced the No. 2 oval and we have built an awning and a clubhouse, another $60,000; $26,000 towards the Andrews Road Baseball Complex, where we have constructed fencing and also built some tiered seating; $20,000 towards the Hunter Fields at Emu Park, where we have provided lighting so the children can now practise and play at night-time; and $90,000 to the Jamison Park netball courts in a shade structure and canteen upgrades.

This is a wonderful achievement because a lot of people think that Rugby League is the No. 1 sport in Penrith, but it is our third biggest sport. Netball comes in first, with soccer coming in second. Our netball courts in Penrith at Jamison Park attract many state and national titles to playing there. This is a great investment in netball for all young women who play netball right across our country. We have also invested in all the different sporting champions who have played for and represented our region right across the country, with some $4½ thousand in individual grants. They include people like Georgia Britton, Emily Imber, Cheyne Easthorpe, Samantha Thrupp, Amy Kellett, James Dare, Elise Izzard, Brennan Rymer and Aimee Carlin, just to name a few.

When I talk about the entire sporting package, I think the jewel in the crown is what will be the Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre. It will essentially be like an indoor rugby league field on a sprung timber floor. Think about how many netball courts that is, how many basketball courts that is. But it is not just a sporting facility. This facility will be paired with, once again, the University of Western Sydney to come up with innovative sports science to ensure that we produce elite athletes in Western Sydney. This facility will also be the third biggest exhibition space in New South Wales once it is completed: Darling Harbour, No. 1; Homebush, No. 2; and this facility in Penrith, No. 3. Having those sorts of high-level conferencing facilities available to the people of Western Sydney will do so much for creating jobs—once again, smart jobs for the people in Western Sydney.

But we have done so much more. It was only on Tuesday last week that I had both the Assistant Minister for Social Services, the minister looking after the NDIS, Hon. Senator Mitch Fifield; and the state Minister for Disability Services and Ageing, Minister John Ajaka, in Lindsay, where together they signed a memorandum of understanding that will bring forward the rollout of the NDIS. It was so exciting to have those two men there in Lindsay, signing something that is going to mean so much for children right across Western Sydney. In fact, the 2015 budget provides $20 million to fund the NDIS packages of up to 2,000 young people with a disability in the Blue Mountains and Penrith regions. This is exciting news and it is great news for children living with a disability, their parents and their carers. I would also like to thank Lisa Moffat, from the Kurrambee School, who is holding a parents' forum in the coming weeks to help parents of children with a disability with the transition into the NDIS. I would also like to commend the work of the NDIA, who have already commenced operations in the Penrith region to help families transition to what is going to be a really wonderful program to help so many of our young people living with a disability.

With all this investment in growth in the region it is very important that we also talk about the what it is going to mean for the environment. We now have our green armies on the ground. At the last election we promised to invest $15 million in Western Sydney to protect much of the Cumberland conservation corridor to link essential areas of biodiversity together. I would like to thank the reference group that has come up with the key pieces of land that we have acquired. It was wonderful to have the Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, in Lindsay a few weeks ago to have a look at the first pieces of land in Londonderry that will provide this conductivity. These pieces of land had been untouched for 30 years and were in very good condition. They have large trees which are wonderful habitat for so many of our wonderful native flora and fauna.

Further to this, we will see one million trees being planted in Western Sydney. This is very good news for the environment right across Western Sydney. We have 15 Green Army teams. I would like to thank the Deerubin Land Council and also Muru Mittigar, who have been providing training and opportunity to so many local Indigenous men and women who are participating in these Green Army programs. It is nice to see the synergy of these different groups working together and providing the essential needs to the environment in Western Sydney. I could go on; there is so much more to talk about. For instance, we recently held an ice forum which was attended by over 100 people from the local community who came to talk to us about how we can end the scourge of ice in Western Sydney once and for all. Over the coming days, we, with this community of experts, will be producing a 28-page report that we will be handing to the national task force.

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