Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well-planned infrastructure is essential not only to growing the economy but to improving quality of life, as any government should. The way we plan infrastructure needs to focus on addressing regional inequalities and ensuring that everyone, matter where they live, enjoys a decent quality of life.

My electorate sits almost entirely within the heart of the area identified as the Western Sydney Priority Growth Area, which includes the Western Sydney airport. In the Greater Sydney Commission draft South-West District Plan, published last week, the region was forecast to have a population of well over one million by 2036, up from 715,000 this year. These developments will pose significant challenges for the residents in my area now and into the future, which will rely on a balanced approach to infrastructure to address.

In my maiden speech I said that 68 per cent of the workforce in my electorate travel outside the area each day to their place of employment. The impact that the quality of the infrastructure has on my constituents is magnified intensely. We experience average commutes of approximately 1½ hours each day, which eats into time that could otherwise be spent at home or with family. The way that the government treats infrastructure also says something about its commitment to improving the lives of the many Australians living in outer regions, like the one I represent. The consequences of not effectively addressing the infrastructure needs of our growing outer suburbs are magnified such that they are of concern.

Infrastructure and its centrality in lifting the quality of the day-to-day lives of working Australians and their families was well understood by one of my predecessors in Werriwa, Gough Whitlam. While his government is remembered for many other great reforms, to those in my electorate who are old enough it is best remembered for the National Sewerage Program. Prior to that, there was little or no infrastructure of this kind. Most people were getting visits from the pan man or, if you were really lucky, you might have had septic. People thought muddy backyards and outhouses were the best they could ever expect, given their incomes. In 1973 the number of houses without a sewer connection in Western Sydney exceeded 160,000. By 1978 the number had dropped to well below 100,000. Sewerage went from being something available only to the privileged to being a necessity, which was only provided through the leadership of a federal government that understood the infrastructure needs of our suburbs and worked to ensure a better standard of living through all. My household was one of the many beneficiaries.

What this shows is that infrastructure is as much about long-term vision as it is about having a practical understanding of needs now and into the future. My electorate contains a significant number of logistics and distribution hubs, particularly around Prestons, which are set only to expand with the airport and the intermodal across the river from my electorate. These businesses rely on good quality freight access via both road and rail. The need for a more balanced solution is evident here also, but again I find concerns with the government's approach, allocating funds for some road infrastructure projects but little or no rail investment to assist with the congestion on our roads, which is only intensifying.

If infrastructure is not provided, it will vastly impact on my electorate. Not only are these businesses vital employers for the region but they make significant contributions to assisting unemployment in the region. A fortnight ago the member for Chifley and I visited Mission Providence in Miller. Miller is a particularly challenging community with a higher than average unemployment rate. They identified a number of businesses that were opening up each month they were willing to assist local jobseekers to get back into the workforce.

It was wonderful to spend time with Hang, the manager of the Miller office. She is actually one of the success stories of Mission Providence in Miller. She and I have a bit in common: we both went to the same primary and high schools and we live in the same suburb in my electorate, although I did attend the school many years before her. She started at Mission Providence about 12 years ago as a client and then became a volunteer. She has now progressed to be the manager of the jobactive service provider. Her enthusiasm for her clients and their future is infectious. She and her staff are so positive about each of their cases.

I asked each of the case officers the one thing they would ask for to assist people into employment and their resounding response was transport. In other words, the jobs are being made available by local businesses but the transport infrastructure is just not there to support jobseekers in accessing employment, essentially reinforcing a cycle of unemployment. I have heard anecdotally of many cases where case officers have resorted to offering lifts to their clients because bus services do not start until 6 am, the time when they need to start these jobs.

This is a common story across not only Western Sydney but outer suburbs nationally. A report released last week by the Brotherhood of St Laurence said that transport problems are reported to be the biggest barrier to work for young people—almost 25 per cent, and that issue goes to 80 per cent in the 55-plus age group. Young people in my electorate reflect these statistics, struggling to access employment because they do not have either a licence or a car. In metropolitan Sydney no-one's employment prospects should be so negatively impacted by where they live. This region is not about to grow. It is no longer about planning for the future. There are entire suburbs being built right now and it is the government's responsibility to ensure essential services are in place to meet that demand.

Based on what I have seen and heard so far I have cause for concern. Look at the NBN, the biggest infrastructure commitment at this point, as an example. I already have new constituents moving into greenfields developments in Edmondson Park. These developments were advertised as NBN-ready, but people are moving in to discover that their homes lack any fixed connections, and this includes home fixed-line phones not just the internet.

The new suburbs already struggle with amenities as basic as parking. Edmondson Park has a new railway station, where I spent some time during the election campaign. Already there are many complaints about the availability of parking. The station is barely two years old. It has approximately 450 parking spots in a suburb which will house 5,000 residents in the next five years. Also the suburbs of Horningsea Park, Prestons, Casula, Bardia and Ingleburn use this station. The infrastructure is just grossly inadequate.

West Hoxton and Green Valley in my electorate have been waiting for internet connections for at least 10 years. The Western Sydney airport will be a significant project and has been listed as such by Infrastructure Australia. The airport is expected to host 9,000 jobs in less than 12 years, but as yet there are no plans for a heavy rail line into the airport. There must be significant upgrades to roads to stop the gridlock that will occur with this extra traffic.

The government needs to ensure that it is taking a broad view of the infrastructure needs of our suburbs, particularly in Werriwa. It is necessary to have an understanding of what it is to have a decent quality of life, to have access to employment and to have the ability to spend time with your family every day. We also need to be ready for growth when it happens, not be catching up after it. Simply put: services should have capacity for the populations they are designed to serve.

The alternative of not getting this right reduces people living in my area to long queues on roads, long queues at bus stops, overcrowded train stations and trains, and long wait times at the local hospital. Recently it has been reported that 40 per cent of people presenting at Liverpool Hospital are waiting in casualty over four hours. It is critical that the government gets infrastructure right.

See this speech in context