Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Having lived in Western Sydney since I was a kid, I've learned that this is true: you pay a high price for living on the edge of an urban fringe. You face the prospect that governments will massively underinvest in infrastructure that counts. You are squeezed out there because you cannot compete for homes that are close to schools, hospitals, roads and public transport. And then, if you have the temerity to ask for a roadway, you only get it if there is a massive thumping big toll bucket put on the end of it, and you then have these private toll operators bleed you dry, as they are doing in Western Sydney. I represent constituents who pay 40 bucks a day for the privilege of travelling on a toll road. What we're seeing is that these private toll operators have become the modern-day version of robber barons. They are not happy with the profit they're making. Transurban yesterday announced a profit leap of 850 per cent. Their profit leapt 850 per cent. Their share price went down because the investors said they didn't make enough money.

On top of that, you look at the revenue that's coming in on the M7. In a climate where inflation has hardly got a pulse to it, revenue's up 17 per cent, and the CEO said, after my constituents pay 40 bucks a day, that two-thirds spend 20 bucks or less each month on tolls. This bloke does not live on this planet. He's on a different planet, and he should not be robbing Western Sydney residents.

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