Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

PHILLIPS () (): One of the main issues that people talk to me about in Gilmore is the state of our roads. It doesn't matter if they're local roads managed by local council, state roads or roads with federal funding. People don't really distinguish between them. They just want their roads fixed. After being battered by natural disaster after natural disaster, we have over 97 landslips and thousands of kilometres of roads with pothole damage. It's a big job for our local councils: Kiama Municipal Council, Shoalhaven City Council and Eurobodalla Shire Council. So, as the federal member, I am doing everything I can to help. That's why I was delighted to announce last week that the contract to fix the Jervis Bay Road and Princes Highway intersection, or the JB flyover as it is commonly known, was awarded. Yes, the construction phase has started to fix this notorious intersection, which has the worst crash history and near-miss history from Nowra to the Victorian border.

I was proud to walk the streets in Vincentia in 2020 with the petition to have a flyover for this intersection, while I note that at the time my Liberal counterparts wanted a roundabout. I secured $100 million in federal funding and I've worked to get this project off the ground since 2019. They would not listen to the community when local people said they needed a flyover. But I spoke with the community, I heard their concerns and we worked together to make sure we got a flyover. I'm proud to be delivering the Jervis Bay flyover. I want to thank, in particular, Vincentia Matters for advocating so strongly for this vital upgrade.

Recently I had the honour of announcing close to $11 million in infrastructure betterment funding under federal and state disaster recovery funding arrangements. Betterment funding was something I advocated for on behalf of local councils because councils came to me saying they wanted to build back roads and infrastructure better so that they were more resilient to natural disasters. Importantly, that helps councils and ratepayers.

I'm pleased to have been able to help with: $4.497 million for the betterment of Jamberoo Mountain Road, Foxground Road and Wallaby Hill Road in the Kiama local government area; $4.447 million to rehabilitate 4.9 kilometres of Illaroo Road, North Nowra, from West Cambewarra Road to 200 metres past Browns Mountain Road, helping Shoalhaven City Council; $210,000 to help upgrade stormwater drainage, pits and pumps at David Berry Hospital; $763,926 to make better the Basin walking track, which provides a five-plus kilometre regional-level walking track which was completed in February 2022 and was well used by all individuals, including the less abled and the elderly, prior to the February-March storms, and this of course helps Shoalhaven City Council; and $1.058 million for the betterment of North Head Drive, Moruya, which includes design, reconstruction and stabilisation of the embankment adjacent to this regional road, which sees over 4,000 traffic movements per day, so it is much more resilient against future natural disasters, dramatically decreasing the frequency of road closures and, importantly, removing the risk of rockfalls on passing traffic and cyclists. This is helping Eurobodalla council.

I have also ensured the bringing forward or advancing of $10.8 million for Shoalhaven City Council to fix disaster impacted roads as well as $40 million delivered to Shoalhaven City Council to help fix local roads. There is certainly a lot to fix, but I'm getting on with it and providing as much federal funding as possible to assist our local councils and state to fix our roads.

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