Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Monday evening I was privileged to attend the first meeting of the Prime Minister's committee for Western Sydney. I would like to take this opportunity to commend our Prime Minister for his focus and vision in supporting the future of our region.

What I took out of the discussion was that there was a consensus that we need to look at infrastructure planning from a whole-of-Western Sydney perspective. The real issue we face in Western Sydney is that we simply do not have enough jobs in the area. Too many local residents are forced to commute long distances into the Sydney CBD and back again in the evening. Time spent commuting is neither productive nor healthy, and it takes time away from being spent with families.

An airport in Western Sydney can be the catalyst to get the infrastructure and development we need to kick-start our region, but it must be supported with the right enabling infrastructure first. Western Sydney is the growth engine of New South Wales—it is booming. But to optimise the growth potential we need investment and we need attention. Along with the necessary rail and road infrastructure, we need to get many government departments, both federal and state, relocated to support our major growth centres in Liverpool, Campbelltown and Penrith. This will also benefit the taxpayer as it will lower the cost of the leases that are currently in place. In my mind, the process is about putting together a jigsaw for Western Sydney for the decades to come.