Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As with their federal counterpart, rarely does a week go by without another scandal engulfing the New South Wales coalition government—a new day, a new rort.

I've spoken in this House many times about the need for a lift at Macquarie Fields railway station. Despite living mere metres from the station, my constituents are forced to catch taxis to other stations due to the lack of accessibility. Earlier this month, on the other side of Sydney, the state member for Hornsby, Matt Kean, had the pleasure of opening a new lift at Hawkesbury River station. Patron numbers there are 2,900 passengers a week. At Macquarie Fields, it's 10,600—almost four times as many people. The government's own report prioritised Macquarie Fields four spots above the Hawkesbury River, and it has a higher cost-benefit ratio. Despite this, no date and not a single dollar has been provided for a lift at Macquarie Fields. We've seen sports rorts, bushfire rorts, council merger rorts and now we have lift rorts. Once again the coalition were caught out propping up their own seats at the expense of those most in need. When asked about the pork-barrelling, the Premier took a perverse pride in it. Admittedly, she thinks it's part of the political process. Well, Premier, you can't shed your way out of this one. South-west Sydney deserves its fair share.

See this speech in context