Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

People in my community on the Central Coast have been waiting for this government to fix the road through Wyong for years. It's a bottleneck that can take over half an hour to clear on a busy day and even longer when there's an incident on the M1.

We've been calling out for this upgrade for years and we've only seen a small amount of funding for planning works. But, last week, after years of campaigning, coasties finally got the news they've been waiting to hear. After almost a decade in power and on the eve of an election, the government finally bowed to community pressure and agreed to fix the road through Wyong.

While this announcement is welcome, it is long overdue. My community has been working tirelessly to secure funding for this project. We launched a petition calling on the government to act, held protests by the side of the road and supported this campaign relentlessly. The Morrison government has had years to invest in our region, but they've completely overlooked the north of the Central Coast's roads and infrastructure. Now, at the eleventh hour, they've announced plans for rail and roads and to duplicate a section of the Central Coast Highway. But their track record speaks for itself. Locals want to see action, not more announcements or reannouncements.

The last major infrastructure project on the Central Coast was the M1 upgrade when Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, was the infrastructure minister. Only Labor will deliver for the Central Coast. It's time something was done. My community deserves better.

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