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

I rise to speak about the needs of my constituents and the government's attempt at a budget that we saw delivered last night. My community is crying out for investment from this government. We've been plagued by historically above average unemployment and underemployment, and Macarthur residents are doing it tough in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Far from providing support to my community, the government is starving it and stifling economic growth. If the government cared about the rapidly growing south-west of Sydney, they would finally fund the desperately needed rail line from Macarthur to the new Western Sydney airport. This would support the new airport and the families and businesses around it and provide a freight line to take freight from other businesses in Sydney to the new airport.

I'm still holding out hope that the government will finally fund a number of other worthy projects that I have been requesting its support for over the past few years, including our local sporting clubs, funding the Shepherd Centre to open a centre of excellence for Macarthur's deaf children and their families, NBN upgrades, and support for our vibrant manufacturing firms. The government is leaving Macarthur residents behind, and I will not stand by and listen to those opposite champion their abysmal budget as a success. For Macarthur residents, it is a disaster and a travesty. We need infrastructure and we need it now.