Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've spoken on the issue of infrastructure in south-west Sydney many times before. It's a crucial issue for the people of my electorate of Macarthur, as over 70 per cent of workers travel outside the electorate every day for work. It's also important for the growth of Sydney as an international city. Housing development in south-west Sydney has provided many jobs for the people I've cared for in the last 34 years. I believe that we can develop Sydney further and help it become a truly global city, but we must provide a quality lifestyle for all of our citizens. This should be a priority for government, not a secondary consideration.

I'm speaking today of my extreme disappointment at the poor record and poor planning for public transport infrastructure in the greater Macarthur region. There's nothing fair about the distribution of infrastructure around New South Wales. The greater Macarthur area is expected to double its population over the next 20 years to over 600,000 people. Bordering on the Macarthur area is Western Sydney Airport, which, if successful, will be a huge boost to jobs and development in the area. However, the new chair of the government owned company building the airport, Paul O'Sullivan, has been warned not to build a 'Wright Brothers, NBN-type' airport.

Everywhere I go in my electorate, there are new suburbs with hundreds of new constituents every month. In spite of this, there is no public transport being developed. To be fair, both sides of politics have been guilty of poor transport decisions over at least 60 years. For example, there was a rail line from Campbelltown to Camden, which I remember well, which would have been ideal for the many new suburbs on the way. However, this was scrapped by the state Labor government in 1963—an absolute tragedy for the area. However, now, in 2017, we've had rapacious development for a number of years without any meaningful action on public transport. We should question why this has happened.

Despite all these new developments and new residents, we see no action from the state and federal Liberal governments. They have no foresight at all. What we get are roads all drawing into Narellan Road, already at gridlock, and much, much talking about how smart the Turnbull and Berejiklian governments are and what fantastic infrastructure they are providing, when we know that they're not providing anything of the sort. One has to ask: who are they working for?

All concerned with the new Sydney Airport agree that we need to have a rail connection when it opens. Yet the government will not commit to this. In spite of the strenuous efforts of all concerned to make the government commit to a rail line to Western Sydney Airport, it is not forthcoming. Governments have wasted billions of dollars gained during the recent housing boom. Much of the money has come from south-west Sydney but very little returned. The overbudget light rail that the Liberal government is building down George Street will do nothing for south-west Sydney or the new airport. The WestConnex motorway is a huge drain on state coffers that offers very little for Macarthur. Unfortunately, a light rail to Parramatta, again, does nothing for Macarthur or for Western Sydney Airport.

We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do the correct thing by Macarthur residents and provide public transport services so desperately needed. If we are to be connected to our neighbours, we need: (1) a rail link to Western Sydney Airport open when it opens; (2) a north-south Western Sydney rail link from Campbelltown, through Narellan and on to St Marys in Penrith; and (3) completion of the Maldon-Dombarton rail line connecting us to Wollongong—which is almost completed now, so it should happen. It's no longer time for talking or complaining about there not being enough money. There is money for other services, but there doesn't appear to be any for south-west Sydney.

Many people from my electorate have to spend more than three hours a day travelling to and from work. The roadworks to the Northern Road are completely inadequate and cannot cope with traffic flows, even now. I have been to so many presentations by planners, councils, the Greater Sydney Commission, UrbanGrowth, MACROC, state planning, private consultants, mayors, ministers and malcontents. The language is marginally different but the message is the same—public transport is what will bring all of this together, but no-one is prepared to have the vision to commit to it. We need another JJ Bradfield, the builder of the Harbour Bridge and the underground railway, to show the vision needed. It is very questionable whether this government has any of the foresight required.