Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government's latest budget, like every other Liberal budget, has failed the people of my electorate of Gorton. Under this budget, big business gets more but working-class and middle-class people, like my hardworking constituents, will miss out on the services they rely upon. Big business and the banks will get an extra $80 billion in the form of tax handouts, but ordinary Australians will pay for it with savage cuts—cuts to education and cuts to health. This budget is still cutting $17 billion from schools. In fact, it's quite remarkable to think that this government wants to provide $17 billion to banks and yet cut $17 billion from schools. Indeed, it's also cutting $270 million from TAFE.

These budget cuts will leave residents of Gorton stuck on hospital waiting lists for longer and longer. The government's freeze on the rebate for specialists means that Australians will pay even more when they visit the doctor. This budget fails pensioners by cutting the energy supplement and costing pensioners $14 a fortnight. It is forcing people to keep working until they're 70. Can you imagine, Deputy Speaker, having to work until you're 70 before you can get access to the pension? Any budget that gives a handout to big business but hurts pensioners is a bad budget.

The government's budget has failed in many ways, but it has particularly failed the residents of Gorton when it comes to infrastructure funding. Melbourne's west is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. With this growth comes a strain on our resources and existing infrastructure. Despite lobbying from local community and, indeed, the Melton City Council, no funds were made available for an upgrade to the Western Highway between Caroline Springs and Melton. The required upgrade to the Western Highway, including a new interchange to service the Melton West area, is genuinely needed to service not just the local community but the more than 50,000 vehicles that travel in each direction every day. Unfortunately, the government is ignoring this need. Additionally, the Calder Park Drive overpass is a desperately needed piece of infrastructure upgrade that residents in my electorate have been calling out for for years. No commitment has been made by this government to see it happen.

Labor recognises that Melbourne's western suburbs are experiencing significant growth and, indeed, my electorate, the electorate of Gorton, remains one of the fastest-growing electorates in the country. Labor will improve our schools, fix our hospitals and save Medicare. Labor understands that working-class and middle-class people like the constituents of Gorton are struggling, and indeed they're struggling to deal with cost-of-living pressures. Unlike those opposite, Labor will deliver a genuine tax cut—genuine tax relief—for working Australians, and it will stop penalty rate cuts, protect pensioners and improve the budget bottom line.

Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the great unfinished road projects in central-western New South Wales is the road link between Orange and Mudgee and the crossing at Dixons Long Point. Indeed, I often refer to it as the 'Holy Grail of unfinished road projects', because people have been trying to get that crossing built and that road fixed for 100 years—and it hasn't been done. It's a very important link, because, if we can get it paved and get a new crossing over the Macquarie River, it will drastically reduce the travel time between Orange and Mudgee, which at present takes about two hours and 20 minutes. At the moment, most of the trip on the crossing is dirt. To get across the Macquarie River, you literally have to drive through it, which means it's four-wheel drive only. I crossed that river a week or two ago and, although the river is low, it is very hazardous. Four-wheel drives often come adrift and, indeed, there are some famous pictures of them floating upstream.

If we can get this road fixed and a crossing installed, it will link these two great regions. It will link them for tourism, for health services and also for mining services. Both Orange and Mudgee are world-renowned wine-producing areas. It would complete the wine trail, so folks will be able to come out from Sydney, go to Mudgee, and then take the link across to Orange, or do it in reverse. A lot of work has gone into getting this link prepared for a concerted push for funding. I think we have a window of opportunity to do that now, especially with the Roads of Strategic Importance announcement recently in the budget. A consultant's report has been prepared by Cabonne Council. In fact, two of them have been prepared.

A lot of work has gone into it. I will be meeting with Cabonne Council next week to go through that report. After we have the meeting with Cabonne Council, it's then a question of drawing all tiers of government together. So I'm talking about the state government, the federal government and the local government, including Cabonne Council, Orange City Council and Mid-Western Regional Council, which are based in and around Mudgee. It's going to take a concerted effort. All parties will need to have some input and help to do some heavy lifting, because it's not just a simple case of installing a crossing; the road actually has to be made safe. If you put a crossing in there, without fixing the approaches, there is the danger that inexperienced drivers, particularly those from urban areas or younger drivers, may not be able to deal with the steep inclines on that road. So it's not just the crossing; it needs to be the approaches as well. I think we can do it. I think our window of opportunity is now, if all parties can work together. Now we have the consultant's report. The time to get down to brass tacks is fast approaching, and I can't wait to get this project moving.