Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I make an announcement I thought I would never be making, and that is the commencement of works for Weakleys Drive interchange. Weakleys Drive interchange is at the start of the F3 freeway. It is the junction between the Pacific Highway and the New England Highway and all those communities of Maitland.

Today we announce that the federal government has raised its contribution to $40 million for the Weakleys Drive interchange. This project has been in planning for over 10 years. As members would be aware, state governments actually operate, run and build the federal highways—not the federal government. All we do is fund them. But it seems that the New South Wales state government could not get its planning act together. Some years it would consume half a million, sometimes more, and in this year’s budget it requested only $3 million to do—yet again—more planning. It was once said to me, ‘But Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ but I am sure it did not take 10 years of planning to get a small project like this built.

What we also see with this project is that the New South Wales state Labor government is incompetent in managing projects. This project has blown out from $15 million to $23 million, and now to $40 million, without a sod of soil having been turned. But the key thing is that this intersection will free up traffic flows on the New England Highway and Weakleys Drive. This intersection is congested every morning and every afternoon. It is a potential hot spot for accidents. One of the most worrying concerns is that school children travel through this electorate in school buses to the various schools around the area. I congratulate Minister Jim Lloyd, who has put his foot down and issued a memorandum of understanding to the New South Wales state Labor government supporting the Weakleys Drive project and making sure that that investment is there.

We also need to understand that it took the New South Wales state Labor government years upon years to build the link road, at a cost of $7 million, between Thornton and Beresfield, between Anderson Drive and Thornton Road. This piece of infrastructure was critical because the flyover could not be built until the link road was built. The link road will remove three sets of traffic lights from the New England Highway. One set of traffic lights will remain to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road with safety.

Critical infrastructure like this should not be overlooked, and I glad that we have been able to drag the New South Wales state Labor government, kicking and screaming, to finally turn some soil and get these roadworks completed. The disappointing thing is that, whilst tenders will be called almost immediately, it will be January 2009 before this flyover is completed. As I said, I did not think I would be making this speech in parliament announcing the commencement of works, but I am glad to do so today on behalf of my constituents for whom I have been fighting for so long.