Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to continue with my remarks from my speech this morning on the impact of the previous government's FBT announcement on the Victoria Park motor vehicle trading hub, by making some further general points about the car industry in Australia and the car industry in my electorate.

I get the impression that some people at the local council level would like to see the car industry in Victoria Park move on. I reject this. The car industry is a fantastic part of our local economy, and if we want to see this area continue to thrive, employ people and attract people to Victoria Park we need to support the car trade industry as part of the diversified local economy.

Victoria Park should be a centre for small business. It can be a restaurant hub. It can be a centre for junior sport and elite sport, with a new stadium and an AFL training base going into Victoria Park. It can and should have a thriving motor vehicle trading centre as it has a long and rich history of that. That is a positive plan for Victoria Park and that is what I and the Liberals will continue to campaign on at a state and federal level.

There has been some talk recently about the decline of the car manufacturing industry in the eastern states and particularly the merits or otherwise of import tariffs into the future. This industry was always protected when it first evolved, due to factors surrounding the need to be ready for any wars that eventuated. The need for protection is now long gone and, with the decline of the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, I would support a move to look at the tariff reductions that have been in place to protect the industry as and when it is no longer required.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the most urgent matters for residents and businesses in the northern end of Greenway is the issue of the Riverstone rail line overpass. It is one of the few remaining level crossings left in metropolitan Sydney. It consists, amongst other things, of a boom gate and an unworkable set of traffic lights—a configuration that results in endless queues and a hopeless traffic situation, with heavy vehicles queued up down the main street and across the station.

On Sunday, 9 February, hundreds of local residents attended a public forum organised by Blacktown City Council, where the RMS represented its options. This public forum was for members of the public to have their say. Council said that it needs certainty for its own development of certain assets that it owns in the Riverstone CBD. Someone was notable as missing in action: the Liberal state member for Riverstone. What a disgrace. It was the most important issue for Riverstone residents and he was missing in action.

His excuse, as reported by Lawrence Machado in News Local on 30 January, was:

"I believe this public meeting will undermine the process run by the RMS," he said. "We want to give everyone the opportunity to have their say and also have a one-on-one meeting with RMS officials."

What a ridiculous proposition. How many thousands of residents live in Riverstone and its surrounds, and who should say all of them would be able to get a one-on-one meeting? It is an absolute disgrace.