Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I note that there aren't any contributions from the other side today—on the appropriations bill, no less. The member for Grayndler, the member for Jagajaga and I this week will celebrate and mark the occasion of 22 years in this place. I don't recall—and I think they would agree with me—seeing a situation where government members are not contributing to an appropriations debate: a freewheeling and wide-ranging debate which allows members opposite, members on this side and the crossbenchers to discuss anything at all. It's not possible to be picked up by the Speaker for being not relevant to an appropriations bill.

This is a fantastic opportunity: 15 minutes to talk about how wonderful the government might be doing; 15 minutes to talk about what a wonderful job they're doing in health and education and defending the environment; 15 minutes, maybe, to talk about what's happening in their own electorates—as we just heard from the member on this side—and to talk about the things that have been done. But, apparently, they have nothing to say. They have nothing to say for two possible reasons, if not both. One is that nothing is being done in their electorates. That is one conclusion you might come to. A second reason might be that they are embarrassed to speak. They are not prepared to come in here and defend their own government, a government so dysfunctional and distracted that it is achieving nothing in this country. The truth is that this government has stopped governing. They are self-imploding. They are so distracted by their internals they have stopped governing.

The bad news for the government is that the punters are on to them. They understand it. All they read about on a daily basis is scandal and internal division. Sadly, it looks like they're going to be reading about that for some time to come yet. I can see, already, the member for Warringah and the member for New England sitting up the back there smiling away. If anyone on that side believes either of those gentlemen—I'll call them that—have put their political aspirations behind them, then they are kidding themselves. So, the future doesn't bode well for all those who are represented by the people on those benches, particularly the members of the National Party, who have completely forgotten people living in rural and regional Australia. Constituents can't be hopeful that anything is going to change anytime soon. It's a disgrace that members are not prepared to either come in here and defend their government or come in here and stick up for their constituents. It's a disgrace, and not something I've seen in my 22 years in this place.

That brings me to some issues in my own electorate which I want to speak about this afternoon. Traffic congestion is not something often associated with regional communities, but the Hunter Region, happily, is growing very strongly, and traffic congestion in the Hunter Region is a real issue. In fact, it is so much of an issue that it would be dangerous of me to single out particular problems. But I'm going to nominate four problems today which I think are a priority: the Glendale interchange in Lake Macquarie, the proposed Singleton bypass, the proposed Muswellbrook bypass, and the proposed Cessnock ring road and our aspirations to link Cessnock proper to the Hunter Expressway. These projects are important not just in terms of traffic congestion; they will unlock the further economic potential of the region. So they are traffic projects but they are also economic projects.

It is extraordinary that the 11 councils, the 11 local governments, in the region unanimously support the Glendale interchange as the region's No.1 infrastructure priority. That is pretty extraordinary in a large region so diverse in its communities. They unanimously support the Glendale interchange. A Labor government funded it here in Canberra. The Lake Macquarie Council has been prepared to put its money where its mouth is—and I think the contribution they are offering is $6 million or $7 million. But we can't get conservative governments in Canberra or Sydney to take the project seriously. It's time they did take the project seriously and recognised the economic benefits that will flow from the completion of the Glendale interchange and the wonderful difference it will make for commuters moving from one side of Lake Macquarie to the other or from the western side of Lake Macquarie to the Newcastle CBD.

The second project is the proposed Muswellbrook bypass, which has been under consideration since 1988—at least, that's when I first became aware of the issue. The CBD of Muswellbrook is still inundated with trucks moving up and down the New England Highway. Mayor Martin Rush and the council there are doing a wonderful job of revitalising and beautifying the CBD and making it an attractive place to shop and visit. But it is very difficult while it remains the main thoroughfare for heavy traffic and indeed vehicular traffic on a daily basis. Labor was funding the planning of this project when last in government. But since the election of the Abbott government, and then the Turnbull government, the project has come to a grinding halt.

The next project is the Singleton bypass. Every morning, even when in Canberra, I tune into ABC Radio Newcastle—

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