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

I gladly speak on this motion and second this motion put forward by my friend and colleague the member for Werriwa. I want to thank the member for Werriwa for bringing this matter before the House. She is a staunch advocate for her community and for the greater south-western Sydney community. She truly understands the needs of the people of south-west Sydney. Much like the good people of Macarthur, the people of Werriwa are being let down by this tired, third-term government. The member for Werriwa understands this, and her community is fortunate to have such a strong and passionate representative in this place to stand up against the Morrison government's failings.

The coalition government does not understand the needs of my community of Macarthur, in south-west Sydney. Far from governing in the interests of all Australians, the Morrison government looks after the interests of the privileged few. Under the coalition's tenure, we've witnessed rampant pork-barrelling, dodgy deals, austerity cuts to our hospitals and, indeed, to the ABC, and very little substance in terms of policy. This is a government that would have people believe that responsible economic management is defined as throwing away taxpayers' money on subsidising the operations of billionaire Rupert Murdoch's Foxtel while starving my community of investment and on spending millions of dollars paying to developers 10 times the cost for land in south-west Sydney. The Morrison government's contempt for my growing community has been demonstrated once again in its recent budget.

My community is experiencing exponential growth. The coalition government knows this, and it is, in fact, by their design. This is their design for development in south-west Sydney, yet they're failing to provide adequate infrastructure. There's no rail link to Western Sydney airport from my electorate of Macarthur. My electorate of Macarthur is the electorate that is growing the fastest and has the highest population increase, yet there is no rail link, and, in fact, the corridor that was previously preserved for a rail link has been built over. There is a rail to Leppington that could easily connect to Western Sydney airport. The government has completely ignored this. It's an absolute disgrace. All those new suburbs of Gregory Hills, Oran Park and Arcadian Hills have been left without public transport links to Western Sydney airport. This is a tragedy that is opening up in front of our eyes, yet this government is doing absolutely nothing.

Koala habitat in south-west Sydney is being destroyed as we speak, yet this government is doing nothing in the electorate of Macarthur to protect the only disease-free urban population of koala bears in the country. They're doing nothing. My sports club of Eagle Vale, which doesn't have adequate change rooms for boys or girls, was denied funding in any of the sports grants and any of the community grants. Hornsby council got over $70 million to turn a quarry into a park, yet my sports clubs can't even get change rooms. It's disgraceful. This government is content with allowing Macarthur and south-west Sydney to be transformed into money-producing organisations for their developer mates, but they are not putting in adequate infrastructure. We have one school in my electorate, Oran Park, that has over 40 temporary classrooms—over 40 classrooms stacked one on top of the other. The people of Macarthur deserve better.

There is a moral imperative here on the government to provide infrastructure in the most rapidly developing community in Sydney, yet they're doing nothing. It's staggering that the government is not planning on leaving a legacy for future generations in south-west Sydney with proper public transport, with proper schools, with proper hospitals and with proper educational facilities. Our local economy is crying out for investment. We need local jobs and we need our local businesses to feel supported and to grow. Families in my community are feeling the highest levels of mortgage stress in the country, yet what this government and what the state government does to them is put increasing tolls on roads that they need to travel long distances on to get to work. It is a disgrace. This government has misused taxpayers' money at the expense of the quality of life of those in south-west Sydney. (Time expired)

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