Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the motion moved by my good friend the member for Werriwa. However, as to this motion, I think she's actually living in a little bit of a parallel universe when she talks about Western Sydney as somehow missing out on its share of infrastructure funding. Let's just have a look at a few things underway in Western Sydney at the moment. We'll start with the Liverpool Hospital. A $790 million upgrade will see a new integrated cancer centre, an expanded emergency department and enhanced neonatal and intensive care, maternity and critical care wards. It will be both a health and academic precinct—$790 million. And that's just Liverpool Hospital.

In addition, a $632 million upgrade to Campbelltown Hospital is already underway. On top of the upgrade to Liverpool Hospital and the major upgrade to Campbelltown Hospital, there's also a $1.3 billion upgrade to Bankstown hospital. They're all underway now by the New South Wales state government in cooperation with the coalition federal government.

Then we come to what is probably Australia's biggest infrastructure project at the moment, Western Sydney airport. It's a $5.3 billion project. I would encourage anyone who hasn't been out there to go out there and have a look at the massive amount of land works currently underway. We've got something like 4,000 construction jobs during the construction phase. When it's finally opened, we'll be looking at something between 20,000 to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs at Western Sydney airport. But, of course, Western Sydney airport, like all airports, is put at risk by some of the reckless policies that we see, such as the rush to zero emissions. Until someone can explain to us how airplanes are going to work with zero emissions, all these airport developments are at risk.

We also have, not only the Western Sydney airport by itself but also an $8 billion rail project underway in Western Sydney. That's 23 kilometres of new rail line, which will create six new stations. We'll have an airport metro rail line running between the airport and the new stations at Luddenham, Orchard Hills, St Marys and the new airport business park. From this we expect another 14,000 jobs. So, to the idea that Western Sydney is missing out, the facts are the exact opposite. To anyone who wants to have an idea of the development going on with Western Sydney infrastructure, I encourage them to look at the new development at Edmondson Park, with the new railway line, the new roads, the new infrastructure and the new school. I would encourage everyone to have a look out there and see the massive development. It's slightly outside my electorate, but I go through that area maybe once or twice a year, and when I drive through it now I am always shocked at areas I thought I knew reasonably well. With the amount of development that is going on out in that area, it is hard to recognise.

If we want to encourage business growth, ultimately the government can only do so much, and we're seeing that in Western Sydney with billions of dollars spent on new hospitals, new railway lines, new road construction and new airports. Ultimately, it comes down to businesses prepared to take the risk—that is, to put their own capital on the line. There must be a risk reward ratio in there that encourages people to innovate, try new business ideas and experiment. That is what we need to encourage in our society. With that, we need lower taxes, less red tape and less government regulation to take the weight off the shoulders of Australian businesses. That is the only way we're going to get the economic growth that we need. And we face a new playing field. The Chinese advised on the weekend that they are prepared to double their economy by 2035. That is what we have to compete with in this nation. (Time expired)

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