Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must apologise in advance for sounding a bit like a cracked record. I thoroughly commend the comments from the member for Macquarie—my twin electorate, if I can call it that, teamed with Macarthur and with, perhaps, Lindsay between. We have similar issues. I rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2017-18 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2017-18. Many may see them just as money-shifting bills, but I see them as another example of where this government's priorities are, and that is with big business in the form of unnecessary tax cuts. This government has no interest in investing the money where it will truly make a difference and change the lives of everyday Australians.

We heard earlier the member for Bradfield boasting about his government's commitment to infrastructure. All I can say is: that is a joke. Despite constant rhetoric from the minister that they're investing significantly in south-west Sydney, when questioned in question time today he couldn't list one public transport investment in south-west Sydney, reaffirming that this government's commitment to infrastructure does not extend to my electorate of Macarthur, in south-west Sydney—where infrastructure is lagging well behind the rest of Sydney—or to other electorates that surround the electorate of Macarthur. Werriwa, Macquarie and Lindsay are all sadly deficient in infrastructure that could be provided by this government and by the New South Wales state Liberal government.

In fact, south-west Sydney has been completely neglected, whether it's by the federal or the state government. It's clear there is a complete disregard for the people of my electorate, and that disregard extends to all the surrounding Labor-held electorates in western and south-western Sydney. It's clearly inequitable and discriminatory. I've spoken extensively about infrastructure in south-west Sydney. I again must sound like a cracked record, but I'll continue to speak about it until we get some equality and equity in infrastructure development and we finally see some action.

There's really been nothing fair about the distribution of infrastructure around New South Wales. My electorate of Macarthur is expected to more than double its population over the next 20 years to over 600,000 people. When I first moved to Macarthur with my family in 1984, there were many farms in surrounding areas. Those farms are now suburbs with names like Gregory Hills, Oran Park, St Andrews and St Helens Park. They're all names of the original farms in what was a farming area. They are now suburbs filled with thousands of people. The developments happened, but the infrastructure hasn't.

My electorate is emerging as one of Australia's fastest-growing cities. We're seeing new suburbs emerge constantly. Everywhere I go there are new suburbs with hundreds of new constituents every month. Late last year, a development proposal was submitted to build more than 30,000 new homes in my electorate along the Northern Road, south of Bringelly Road. That's another 80,000 new residents, approximately. Yet there is no public transport. Our region is bursting at the seams. It's expected to continue growing in population, but we cannot get a commitment to build proper infrastructure that will take into account the projected growth of the area. Despite all these new developments and new residents, we see no action from state and federal Liberal-National Party governments. They've got no foresight. They've got no will.

In addition to the exponential growth of population, we have Western Sydney Airport, which I think will be great for our region, especially for job growth. But this airport will fail unless we have a rail line opening with the airport from day one and road and public transport upgrades that will cater for the airport and the burgeoning population. Yet we have no comment from the minister.

This is a government that clearly spends no time in Western Sydney, because they just don't get it. We get told that they're spending millions in upgrading the roads in the area, but these upgrades are too late even by the time they're built. What we get are roads all feeding into Narellan Road, which is already at gridlock, and a lot of talk about how smart the Turnbull and Berejiklian governments are and what fantastic infrastructure they're providing. We know they're not providing what is required.

There was a recent upgrade, adding extra lanes to Narellan Road. The population growth has already exceeded the capacity of the new lanes. Even worse, the state government's planning to build a truck station along Narellan Road, which is already at gridlock in peak hours. We're not getting what we require. We're not even getting an understanding of what's required.

There has been federal money committed to the upgrade of the Northern Road to build an additional lane each way, making it a four-lane road. But this road's already congested in the morning and in the evening. The roadworks for the Northern Road are completely inadequate and cannot cope with traffic volumes even now. The Northern Road is the one road that connects Camden, Campbelltown, Narellan and the surrounding roads to the new airport and north to the Penrith-Nepean area. This is a road along which 36,000 homes are set to be built, in addition to the new suburb of Oran Park.

The upgrade to four lanes is not sufficient for the additional population, the number of cars that will be using the road and the trucks that will be carrying freight along that road. There has been no commitment to put aside a corridor for public transport, something that I would have thought would be essential with the hundreds of thousands of people who are going to be moving to the area. Yet there has been no commitment from state or federal Liberal governments. It's just too little too late, with a few million dollars spent on roads that are already inadequate.

Our roads are outdated and heavily congested. We really only have public transport to Campbelltown, and our train line is already completely overfilled, morning and afternoon. Trains that are used to service the area are second-class trains, some without air conditioning, something that wouldn't be acceptable on the North Shore or inner city lines.

I can assure the House that there has been no adequate intervention by the state or federal transport ministers to look at how poor the public transport is in the Macarthur area. With the new airport at Badgerys Creek, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do the correct thing—to put in the infrastructure that's required for public transport. Yet we have nothing from the minister. Everyone's concerned with the new airport. Everyone I talked to, from the Greater Sydney Commission to the local councils that surround the area, state members and the general population agree that we need to have a rail connection to the airport when it starts and that we need to have a connection that connects the south, in the Campbelltown-Macarthur area, to the north, in the Penrith-Nepean area. Yet, despite much goading and prodding, there have been no announcements.

The government continues to say they haven't made a decision. But silence is decision enough for them. What the government doesn't understand—

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