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

Well, the process has been going on for decades, and there's still no answer and no commitment. That's what you say, Trent, but look at your own electorate which is overburdened with public transport options. Look at the hospitals in your electorate that are given billions of dollars to expand, yet Campbelltown is given a few hundred million dollars and Nepean is given a few hundred million dollars. There is inequality in the decision-making by your government and the Berejiklian state government. No matter what you say about it, we need action now. You're moving hundreds of thousands of people into the west and the south-west; you're not providing infrastructure. It's time to be honest with people.

Experts and bodies such as Infrastructure Australia see the rail link as a no-brainer, and yet we're going to be left in the position where we'll be retrofitting public transport at a much higher cost and a much lower quality. If the government thinks that the new airport can rely solely on roads, they're sadly mistaken. They're kidding themselves, and I've already spoken about what a disaster our roads are.

There's no real effort in making sure that the rail links are properly planned. There's talk of an underground railway, which we know is 10 times more expensive than an above-ground railway, yet we've been given no real reasoning for why there is a delay in developing the rail corridor.

For people in my electorate, the top priority is public transport. To travel by road from my electorate to where many people work—the inner city, the North Shore, the Eastern Suburbs—can take over two hours each way, so people are spending three to four hours of family time travelling because of the lack of public transport. It's time to stop all the talk. The studies have been done and the experts have given their opinion, yet we still have delay. There's money for services to the North Shore, the Eastern Suburbs and the inner city where billions of dollars are being spent on light rail and the northern rail, but there isn't money for south-west Sydney. This is another example of this government's inequity in distribution of resources.

I've seen so many presentations by planners, councils, the Greater Sydney Commission, UrbanGrowth, MACROC, state planning, private consultants, mayors, ministers et cetera who emphasise the importance of public transport, yet we have no decisions. It really is time to make a decision. The language is marginally different, but all the exports agree: we need proper public transport planning for south-western Sydney; and it's time to start doing things now, not later.

We need to stop the unequal treatment of the people in south-west Sydney. It's very rich for the New South Wales Liberal government to continue to say: 'We have to wait.' 'We have to wait.' 'We have to wait.' Yet the people of my electorate and the surrounding electorates are made to pay the all-too-high price for this lack of proper planning for infrastructure. There is no doubt there is a housing boom in south-west Sydney and many people and many companies are making lots of money; however, very little of that money is flowing back into the electorate for proper infrastructure.

The overbudget light rail that the Liberal government is building down the middle of George Street is a perfect example of how the government is prepared to spend money on very wasteful projects but not spend money on vital projects in south-west Sydney. The WestConnex is another issue.

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