Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a number of serious issues facing Western Sydney at the moment as a result of an uncaring Liberal government at both state and federal levels. Western Sydney is home to two million Australians, and the region is our nation's third-largest economy. In Western Sydney we have hardworking, generous and vibrant communities that contribute a huge amount to the success of our city, our state and our country. We have young families building futures for themselves. We have older Australians enjoying their retirement after a lifetime of work and paying taxes. We have tradies who keep our communities going and growing, and we have doctors and nurses and schoolteachers and police who all give so much, day after day, and never ever get the recognition they deserve. We have a community full of hardworking people who know the value of a fair go. They value integrity, and they are also fair minded. We are not affected by nimbyism, nor do we expect too much.

But it seems that, everywhere you look, the state and federal Liberal governments are hell bent on unfair policies that hurt Western Sydney communities. First up is their plan to build Badgerys Creek airport without corresponding conditions and infrastructure that I have been calling for on behalf of my community. From day one, I have been fighting to make sure we get our fair share out of this project if it goes ahead, including a curfew like the one that the eastern suburbs enjoy. I do not understand why residents in the east are spared 24-hour flight movements while communities affected by Western Sydney Airport are being told they are not good enough and are treated like second-class members, asked to put up with flight noise all night long.

It is pretty simple: what is good for the east should be good enough for the west. Just as members of parliament who represent electorates in the eastern suburbs defend their curfew, so too will I keep fighting to make sure that there is some equity on this issue, because Western Sydney already has a major jobs and infrastructure deficit. It would be ridiculous, absolutely absurd, for this airport to be built in a way that does not deliver maximum benefit for the communities that it affects.

That is why the north-south rail line is so important. In fact, completely aside from the airport, this rail line is so desperately needed that it should be built whether or not the airport goes ahead. But, if the airport is to be built, the north-south rail line must be included—it absolutely must be included—as part of this project. This rail line will service the needs of residents living in south-western communities through to those in the north, areas that have seen and will continue to see massive, unprecedented population increases. And, importantly, it will provide a much-needed and long-overdue public transportation link for those who live in these areas and have suffered with the public transport deficit for years.

I will also be fighting to ensure and secure a local jobs plan, because we deserve a decent chunk of any jobs that are created from this airport. Our youth unemployment rate in Western Sydney is around three times higher than the state average, and our underemployment figures are getting worse year on year. There are thousands and thousands of people in my electorate who are desperate to find work, and there are thousands more who do not have but are desperate for additional hours in their casual or part-time jobs. We need a comprehensive plan for jobs in Western Sydney if this airport is to be built. Of course, it will not be the solution to our jobs crisis, but we would be crazy not to demand that local people from our communities get priority.

Those conditions are not unreasonable. They are fair, so I will keep fighting to make sure that my community is listened to. The government seem to have their ears closed when those from Western Sydney speak up, so I will summarise slowly so they have time to take note. We want a curfew just like the eastern suburbs have. We want a north-south rail line that is operational from day one, and we want a local jobs plan to make sure that our communities secure benefits from any jobs that are created.

Another significant issue facing Western Sydney at the moment is the proposal to build a massive incinerator at Eastern Creek. The proposed plant is planned to consume 1.1 million tonnes of waste each year, a scale unprecedented across all of Australia. So now we have become guinea pigs too. This plant will necessitate 168 additional heavy trucks on local roads each and every single day. This will place an enormous amount of pressure on local road infrastructure, which is already starved for funds because of the arrogant and eastern-suburbs-focused Liberal government in New South Wales.

Based on the hurried process of the New South Wales government, we are entirely unsure of the health impacts that this plant will have on local communities. We are entirely unsure of the waste management processes that will be put into place to ensure that hazardous materials are excluded. And we are entirely unsure of what will happen to the 45,000 tonnes of solid ash by-product that will be produced each year. These are issues on top of the environmental impacts of air pollutants that will spread across the entirety of Western Sydney and reduce air quality and the standard of living for hundreds of thousands of people. I want to make it clear to the NSW government that Western Sydney is not a dumping ground for the rest of Sydney's problems. The member for McMahon, the member for Chifley and I have made a joint submission to the Berejiklian government pointing out the flaws in this proposal and recommending it be opposed.

Now just to place on the record here, Western Sydney has had to face off against toxic waste in the east being dumped on us, they want us to suck up a 24-hour airport and now they want us to suffer an incinerator. At some point, the fights are fatiguing and you want to wake these arrogant, incompetent Liberal members up to remind them that we are people and we deserve rights and amenity just like the rest of Sydney.

Another issue facing my community is the recent and shameful decision to reduce penalty rates for 700,000 working men and women across the country. These cuts will hurt my community hard—and in fact a recent report in TheSydney Morning Herald showed that Lindsay was among the most affected electorates in the country. We have a large amount of retail and hospitality workers in our community, and they are now at risk of losing some of their take-home pay in this most unpreceded attack on workers. That is not acceptable. I guess it is not too unprecedented in fact: a lot of my community will recall many a rally to stave off Work Choices in 2006 and 2007—and don't think for one second that they have forgotten how to fight for their working rights and the rights of so many low-paid workers.

These cuts to penalty rates will affect low-paid families that are already doing it tough. Members on the opposite side should face up to the fact that this decision will hurt working families and reduce their ability to make ends meet. They should face up to the fact that this decision will result in struggling families being unable to put food on the table at the end of the week. And who does that serve?

It is truly unbelievable, and how those opposite can sit there and do nothing about it is beyond me. Make no mistake: our nurses, police and firefighters will be next, because this out-of-touch Liberal government has proven that they will not so much as lift a finger to protect the pay and conditions of hardworking men and women, no matter what the consequences are. If they do not change their ways soon, I can see what the consequences will be back the other way, because the voting public will give them one hell of a wallop at the next election. And so they should.

Another significant concern in Western Sydney in my electorate of Lindsay is our chronically underfunded health and hospital system that has led to our hospitals having the worst emergency and surgery waiting times in the state. In fact, as I have mentioned many, many, many, many times before, my local hospital, Nepean Hospital, has the worst waiting times in New South Wales—in fact I have mentioned this hospital so many times in this place that I am sick of talking about it and will probably need admission there myself. I just want to see some relief for the hardworking medical staff and their patients. Waiting times are so long that it is dangerous and does not lead to better patient outcomes.

And the NSW Liberal government has been dragged kicking and screaming on the back of my hard work to announce an expansion—but in five years from now. However, already there are significant concerns and calls from the current board and medical staff that the Liberal government's plans are not adequate to fix our local hospital crisis. Doctors at Nepean have told me the proposed funding will not even cover the current infrastructure backlog, let along address the future needs of our rapidly growing population.

These capacity concerns must be taken seriously, because my community should not have to live with these dangerously high waiting times well into the future. Our local residents must be at the heart of our planning with this hospital—and that means planning for the future, not just planning for the next election cycle.

As I travel throughout my community of Lindsay, I am consistently told that Nepean Hospital is a top priority for locals. Our community deserves quality health services, so I will continue to fight for increased funding for Nepean, which includes higher operational funding in particular so we can actually employ the doctors and nurses we need, not just build new wards that sit empty as is the case at the moment—two unoperational operating theatres that would significantly reduce waiting times are currently waiting and starved of funding and the nurses and the doctors that they need to run them. The fact is that you wait up to 340 days at Nepean for the same surgery that you wait just 27 days for at Camperdown hospital—27 days. How anybody can rationalise that kind of difference is incomprehensible and reprehensible.

All of these issues are important to my community. And, time and time again, my constituents are being let down by the Liberals, who not only refuse to stand up for their interests but actively work against them, treating the western suburbs of Sydney like the poorer cousins of the east and dumping what the east would not in a million lifetimes endure. We work hard, we pay our taxes. We deserve governments who look after us and the things that are important. Once again, I call on this government to act to ensure that the people of Western Sydney in my electorate of Lindsay are treated with dignity and with fairness, and are afforded the same as the east.