Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the government building the roads of the 21st century to the benefit of businesses and families in my electorate of Robertson? How do these measures strengthen our national economy?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Robertson for her question and I do appreciate her interest in the fact that the Premier of New South Wales, I and the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development came together yesterday to announce that the missing link between the M2 at Pennant Hills and the expressway at Hornsby was finally going to be built. Construction will begin within 12 months at least, possibly by the end of this year, and within five years this long-overdue part of our national road system will be completed.

This is good news for the member for Robertson. It is good news for the member for Dobell. It is good news for the member for Bradfield because his electorate will no longer be consumed by traffic. It is even good news for the member for Paterson because people will be able to drive from Newcastle to Melbourne without going through a single traffic light. And, yes, the long-suffering member for Berowra—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is too much noise on my left.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

will also appreciate this good news, as will his constituents.

This is a three-lanes-each-way road tunnel which will finally join up this important part of our national road system. It is a $3 billion project. There will be $405 million contributed by the Commonwealth, with the same amount from the state government. I want to say to the member for Grayndler that, yes, the money was committed under the former government. They talked about it; we are delivering it. They talked about it; we are building it. That is exactly what is happening.

This new tunnel will cut out 21 sets of traffic lights. It will save the average motorist 15 minutes in travel, and it will take 5,000 trucks a day off Pennant Hills Road. It is good for families because less time spent in traffic jams means more time at home; it is good for business because less time spent in traffic jams means more time at work; it is good for the environment because less time spent in traffic jams means less pollution; and it is good for communities because no longer will these communities of northern Sydney be divided by the Pennant Hills Road traffic canyon. Traffic in a tunnel is not traffic which is choking local roads and local communities. But, above all else, it is good for our economy. We will unclog our economic arteries. That is what the roads of the 21st century are—they are clear arteries for a strong national economy. That is what we are doing—we are building a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Prime Minister. I refer to his re-announcement yesterday of the arrangement between federal Labor, of $405 million, and the state conservative government, of $405 million, for the F3 to M2 link. In yesterday's re-announcement, which followed the signing of the intergovernmental agreement on 21 June last year—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member will put it down!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

did you add a single dollar or a single metre of road as a result of your re-announcement yesterday?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say, as the Prime Minister rises to answer the question, that there was a lot of argument in that question. However, we will allow it to stand, but that prop will be removed and not be seen again.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When it comes to promising or delivering, I want to be a deliverer. When it comes to committing or building, I want to be a builder. That is what this government is; it is a government that will get things done. There was all this talk from members opposite. The building starts now and the building starts under this government.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You will not be surprised, Madam Speaker, that I am seeking leave to table the 21 June intergovernmental agreement signing photograph.

Leave not granted.