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

I rise once again to expose the pathetic lack of planning and proper community consultation that has plagued the WestConnex project. Due to the underground construction of tunnels that are required to complete the project, large cracks have started appearing in the walls, columns, tiling and doors of residents' homes. WestConnex has been sending their own contractors to assess the damage—a process that has been deemed unfair by residents, and rightly so. There's serious concern that internal contractors and engineers will favour the concerns of WestConnex over the public.

New South Wales shadow transport minister Jodi McKay has requested that an independent property assessment panel be introduced to help alleviate the concerns of residents and supervise the remediation, reparations and independent appeals, if required. This is common sense, and the New South Wales government should come on board this commonsense proposal. It follows, of course, the underpayment of people who had their properties compulsorily resumed for the project. It follows, of course, the New South Wales coalition government continuing to refuse to consider filtering the exhaust stacks being built in the inner west for the project, while they say that exhaust stacks will be necessary for any road on the North Shore of Sydney.