Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to take this opportunity in the House to officially throw my support behind the need to rebuild an important local infrastructure project—namely, the Boscawen Street bridge in Wallsend. Wallsend is a central commercial hub of Newcastle's western suburbs. It's a dynamic and growing place, home to thousands of hardworking, decent, salt-of-the-earth Novocastrians. But it's gone through some pretty rough times, especially in the aftermath of the deadly June 2007 storm.

While everybody knows that astonishing image of the Pasha Bulker ship grounded on Nobbys Beach, the lasting devastation of this storm was felt, perhaps, most deeply in communities like Wallsend. Nelson Street in the central business district was absolutely smashed. Water inundated many shops up to four or five feet deep and even breached second storeys in some of those business premises. The clean-up took weeks. Sadly, some people went out of business entirely, and indeed some shops remain empty to this day. Many business owners remained but watched their insurance bills skyrocket. It's been nearly 12 years since the superstorm wreaked havoc on Wallsend, but every time it rains hard the people of Wallsend—the residents and business owners—are on tenterhooks wondering if this is going to happen again. Importantly, the Newcastle City Council has developed a flood mitigation plan, but remedies don't come cheap, and implementation is most certainly beyond the financial capacity of local government. Wallsend is being held back, and this won't change until something is done.

That's why today I'm throwing my support behind the $300 million project to rebuild Boscawen Street bridge so that it doesn't continue to trap floodwater. I'd like to send the loudest possible message that I can that this project deserves backing. I know there is an enormous groundswell of community support already. The hardworking state member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery, has been a great champion for action, and I know that our community is 100 per cent behind her, but we need to dial this up a notch and shout it so loud that even those here in Canberra get to hear the message. So today I'm encouraging everybody who wants to see this bridge finally rebuilt to get on my website and sign the petition, send a letter to the paper, shoot me an email or post something on Facebook to let me know that this matters to you, because together we can get this done.

Boscawen is one of the three bridges that need rebuilding, along with Tyrell Street and Nelson Street, in Wallsend. Specifically, a number of issues have been identified with the current structure, including the low clearance on the bridge, the handrails and the intermediate piers, which have a high chance of trapping cars, shopping trolleys and items that come down through the drainpipes, causing blockages. To solve this, the bridge has to be reconstructed. It has to have those piers removed, creating a single-span bridge which would improve the flow capacity in large flood events, allowing for the future channel-widening project.

While council has already allocated funds for the Tyrell Street bridge rebuild, it is seeking funds elsewhere for Nelson Street, and I would like to see the federal government pitch in to fix Boscawen Street bridge. I've already had discussions with the lord mayor about this project, and council has submitted a formal application for funding consideration to me. I've also started the conversations with my federal colleagues about just how important this is, but the reason I'm talking about this project today in the House is that there's a federal budget coming up in a few months, and this presents a great opportunity to put pressure on this government to commit to a very worthwhile local infrastructure project that is beyond the capacity of local government to fund alone. The economic and social wellbeing of an entire community is affected by the health and wellbeing of that central business district in Wallsend. That's why the Boscowen Street bridge needs to be rebuilt.

I'll make sure that this message gets back to government members so they can understand what this funding would mean to our community. Given we are so close to an election, I will, of course, also impress upon my Labor colleagues the importance of this project. I think we've got a great chance. It's a great project— (Time expired)