Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

To quote Elvis: 'A little less talk, a little more action, please.' I heard the member for Corangamite say, 'We've made these recommendations,' 'We've made these promises,' and 'We've made these announcements.' But we don't see that they've done anything. They've been in government for five years and they want to come in here—day in, day out—and keep condemning Bill Shorten and the opposition as though they are in charge. I say, let us be in charge. We'll move further than talking points and being a talking head standing up here and talking about what you're going to do and start doing something for the people of this country.

Western Sydney, where I'm from, is home to two million Australians. We are part of this City Deals program. We have hardworking, generous, vibrant communities that contribute to the huge success of our city, our state and our country. We are the third-largest economy, but not enough is being done to support the people I get to represent here. City Deals are designed to bring together the three levels of government, the community and private enterprise in order to create city and place based partnerships.

To have a successful city deal we need a shared vision for growth, reform and improvement, a negotiated and customised approach across the whole of government, transformative investment rather than just saying we're going to do something and writing it on a piece of paper somewhere, institutional and governance reforms for sustained improvement, innovative financing and value capture. But what is the reality for me and for the people living in Western Sydney? We are waiting. We are waiting on the detail; we are waiting on the collaboration. I regularly get to meet with the mayor and the general manager of the city council. We have no detail. They've been asked to sign away on a deal that they've not seen the full effects of and asked to sign on the dotted line without any kind of consultation whatsoever.

City Deals looks great on paper. It's what is going to happen on the ground that will be what makes the difference and what will make a difference to the people who live, work and play in Western Sydney. How out of touch could this mob be when they say they just want the councils to sign off and accept what they're getting! The New South Wales Liberals are spending $2.5 billion on rebuilding stadiums. I was there for a Western Sydney Wanderers game with 10,000 people in a stadium that seats 90,000, and they're complaining that these people have to wait too long to queue up for a pie. What I would say is: try being a patient in the Nepean Hospital, the hospital that is the most under pressure hospital in New South Wales. Try waiting for a surgery; try waiting to have your kid's tonsils taken out. You are waiting for over a year, watching your child in pain, watching them go through infection after infection, missing school time, missing social time and missing crucial development time. And this lot is worried about waiting in a queue for a pie. Give me a break.

The people of Western Sydney and Lindsay need investment. We need trains—and preferably, if we're not being too wishful in our thinking here, trains that run on time, are air-conditioned and are not at standing room only when they arrive to pick up passengers at Penrith train station. The changes to the train timetable add about 15 minutes for commuters already spending over an hour commuting one way. We need the north-south rail link to support growth for Western Sydney and open up a huge economic opportunity by linking the north and the south. We need long overdue public transport links for those who live in these areas and have suffered a public transport deficit. We need equitable—not equal but equitable—access to transport. Western Sydney needs investment in the Outer Sydney Orbital, the M9, which needs to be done without more tolls. We are already facing a cost of living that is two per cent higher than that of our cousins who live closer to the city. The new M4 toll, the toll we already pay for, is back for another 43 years, and you only need to drive down that road to see that people are not using it, because they cannot afford the extra cost burden that it adds each year to their already burdensome and bulging household budget.

We already have a major jobs and infrastructure deficit. To improve people's lifestyles and the outcomes for their families and themselves, we need jobs that people only have to commute half an hour for. Workers in Lindsay who are based in Sydney face a two-hour commute one way. That's an extra four hours a day just commuting to and from work. I often get the Western Sydney slag stereotype and people saying that people in my electorate don't work hard enough. When you add four hours to their already eight-hour work day, they are working incredibly hard under incredible pressure. Western Sydney needs a city deal that serves them, is made by them and is represented by them. People sitting at the table making decisions about Western Sydney should be from Western Sydney. We should not be lectured to by those in the east telling us what we deserve.

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