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

I am delighted to inform the Federation Chamber that there are lots of good things happening in Warringah right now. Planning is underway for the Brookvale Oval upgrade, thanks in part to the $12½ million federal commitment to this important local project. Bear Cottage, the only hospice in New South Wales for children with life limiting conditions, is being upgraded currently thanks to $2 million that was pledged by the coalition at the 2013 election. As anyone who has been on Sydney Harbour would know, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust is doing a superb job restoring the natural and built heritage of former military sites around the harbour thanks to $100 million plus that was provided to the trust by the former Howard government.

In my maiden speech 22 years ago I said that our area needed a new hospital. Thanks to the good work of the Baird government in New South Wales, that is exactly what we are getting. I also said in my maiden speech that Warringah is the best place in the world to live—until you need to go somewhere else, when you get stuck in the world's longest parking lots. Military Road and Warringah Road remain two of the most clogged arteries in Sydney. For 22 years I have been consistently campaigning for better transport infrastructure and finally there is light at the end of this long tunnel, thanks again to the good work of the Baird government.

In this year's New South Wales budget, some $17 million was committed to the planning work for the Mosman tunnel. The idea is that this tunnel will then link up to a second harbour tunnel, and it will provide a connection between the Warringah Peninsula and the rest of Sydney's road network—excellent work from the Baird government.

The Baird government has been able to do this in part because of the support that the Abbott government gave it for major infrastructure works in Sydney. There was $2 billion plus for WestConnex, there was a half a billion dollars for NorthConnex and there was billions of dollars through asset recycling. Because of the good work that this Commonwealth government has done, this New South Wales coalition government has been able to do better work. In the next couple of years, that will include the Mosman tunnel. This is what happens when good state governments and good federal governments work together. The Prime Minister has said that this will be a term of delivery for our country, and I am confident there will be a term of delivery for Warringah too.