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

Today I rise as a member of this House representing my constituency of Paterson. This week they have been alarmed to hear that $25 million of taxpayers’ money was given to a road contractor to delay the opening of the Lane Cove tunnel in Sydney. The Lane Cove tunnel will open one day after the state election. The contractor has been given $25 million of taxpayers’ money to hold it up.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you against it?

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

Yes, I am against it, Member for Grayndler. I am against it because the government that your wife is a part of refuses to spend money on roads in my electorate. Let me say this: $25 million spent by the state government in my electorate would match the almost $30 million that we have spent on exceptional programs. We have spent $20 million on Bucketts Way and we have seen dramatic improvements. We have given the councils $8 million for roadworks between Dungog, Raymond Terrace and Maitland. We have given $2 million for Lakes Way. How much have we seen from the state Labor government in New South Wales? Zero. The $25 million that has been given in quiet money could have been spent on these projects and would have made a difference. The problem is that the New South Wales Labor government is a city-centric government. ‘New South Wales’, it used to say, ‘stands for Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong when it comes to funding.’ Now it is just stands for ‘S’—the Sydney government. It thinks of nothing outside the Sydney CBD area.

With the roadworks on the Pacific Highway, which are now 50 per cent funded by the federal government, we have seen the Raymond Terrace bypass come into operation since 1996, when I was first elected. We have seen the upgrading that has taken place between Raymond Terrace and Karuah. We have seen the Karuah bypass completed and recently the section between Karuah and Tea Gardens as well. Even though it was part of the original plan, the state Labor government refused to build the flyover. Originally costing somewhere between $5 million and $8 million, it has blown out to $16 million. When you do not want to build something, you just keep jacking the price up. I say to you that when people sit there with no flyover and they see the New South Wales state government spending $25 million of their money on delaying a project until after the election—so that they do not have the inconvenience of traffic jams and problems that have occurred with the Eastern Distributor—they get angry. They get angry because they want to see this flyover built.

Very shortly we will see the work get under way from Tea Gardens to Bulahdelah. This will be an exceptional piece of roadworks, but you will have mainstream traffic continuing at 110 kilometres per hour with no flyover—at perhaps one of the most dangerous intersections in New South Wales. It has been identified by the NRMA as a critical piece of infrastructure. I call on the state government to honour its funding agreements. (Time expired)

Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members’ statements has concluded.