Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to talk about the election commitments made by the Albanese Labor government to my electorate of Lindsay at last May's federal election. I wrote to the Prime Minister and Treasurer six months ago about their election commitments, as I promised my Lindsay constituents that I would keep the pressure on the Albanese Labor government to deliver for us and for Western Sydney. It is a pity that neither the Prime Minister nor the Treasurer has taken the time to write back to me on their commitments for my community. At least the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister did respond, but he did not mention a single project that I outlined or that the Labor candidate mentioned throughout the campaign trail. Rather, it was a standard one-pager on infrastructure investment programs and the government's now-broken promise to complete the 50 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country by May.

The assistant minister did take the time to forward my correspondence in November last year for responses on particulars to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Minister for the NDIS and the Minister for the Environment and Water. However, I am yet to receive responses from any of these ministers on the Labor Party's commitments to my community at the 2022 election.

Very shortly after the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister responded to me, Labor senator Tony Sheldon wrote to households right across my community. He noted sporting equipment upgrades to 10 sites across the electorate and listed one that's actually in the McMahon electorate. The senator also listed Dunheved Road upgrades to begin early this year, which is now not happening. He spoke about an urgent care clinic to relieve pressure at Nepean Hospital; we found out in Senate estimates that the May commitment has now been delayed until the end of this year.

Senator Sheldon listed planning and preparatory works for the Castlereagh Connection between Bells Line of Road and the M7, a synthetic playing surface for Cook Park, and toys and play equipment for Penrith City Council's Mobile Playvan. None of these local commitments stated in the senator's letter had the funding allocation that was committed at the election. Where is the full $8.5 million for an upgrade of Cook Park at St Marys? When the now Minister for Education visited Lindsay during the election as shadow minister for regional services, he said:

… the money will also expand the club house and grandstand, provide disabled access, upgrade the car park, add walking tracks and really good outdoor exercise equipment.

The senator is now saying that Cook Park will only get synthetic fields. Seems like a broken promise to me. The Castlereagh Connection has funding attached by the government, but its page on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts website says a start and finish time are still to be decided.

The No. 1 local priority I have on infrastructure is the upgrade of Dunheved Road, right in the heart of my electorate of Lindsay. My favourite part of Senator Sheldon's letter is him boasting that the Albanese government will upgrade Dunheved Road early this year. In April 2022, council wrote to me to let me know construction would begin in early 2023, but, when I inquired with council in the last few weeks, its website noted construction would now start in mid 2023. When I checked the website today it had changed to late 2023. This is despite the Labor candidate committing millions of dollars to fast-track delivery of Dunheved Road. It seems like a matter of three months since the senator's letter was sent. The project has been delayed by almost a year. So where is the money?

This is a vital upgrade for my community, and I fought hard for $60 million of funding at the 2019 election. When the state government didn't partner with the Commonwealth, the then prime minister, Scott Morrison, and then treasurer Frydenberg agreed to fully fund the project and for it to be completed by council, because it is a council road.

Dunheved Road starts at Richmond Road at Cambridge Park, passes into Cambridge Gardens and through Werrington Downs and Werrington, and ends at Werrington Road and Christie Street. The Labor candidate said on Facebook on 13 May last year that Labor would bring forward the funding to get this project underway as soon as possible. It's a shame that the Labor Party misled my community about fast-tracking the project, which has now been delayed. This is a key corridor for thousands of local people, and I will keep fighting for the project to get started.

Early on in the campaign I took the then Prime Minister, the honourable member for Cook, to the Assistance Dogs Australia National Training School at Orchard Hills in my community to announce a re-elected coalition government would provide $2 million in funding for the Training School. The Labor Party, after some local pressure, decided to match this commitment. I recently met with executives from Assistance Dogs. They hadn't heard from the government about the funding. After I posted this online, the government reached out to Assistance Dogs to let them know the funding would be processed. Before then, Assistance Dogs had been forgotten about by the Albanese government.

I have a meeting soon with council where I'll be following up on Labor's commitments to sporting upgrades and play equipment. Further, I will continue to advocate for my election commitments and for responses from ministers to the letter I wrote to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer six months ago. I made election commitments, if a coalition government was returned, to upgrade Brothers Junior Rugby League Club clubhouse, upgrade play spaces across the Penrith local government area, upgrade the Museum of Fire and upgrade Bennett Park's recreation area in St Marys; to facility upgrades for Nepean Community & Neighbourhood Services; and to the Nepean Area Disabilities Organisation for new flooring. Although I've written to the Prime Minister—because these are such worthy causes and organisations—I have little confidence that the government will deliver on my commitments, so I'll continue to fight for these important projects across my community.

I'm using this speech as another platform for my constituents to be heard by this Labor government that is refusing to deliver for them or listen to what they need. I want to see Dunheved Road fast-tracked, like the Albanese government last year promised my community. I want to see Cook Park get a decent upgrade, like the Albanese government promised the St Marys and Nepean football clubs. I also want the community to have access to a Medicare urgent-care clinic, which the government committed to have in place in two months time. Unfortunately, at this stage it seems the Albanese government are not keeping their promises to the people of Lindsay.

I thank my community for re-electing me. I did commit to not breaking my promise to hold the Albanese government to account. I'll keep fighting for you. We deserve what we've been promised. We deserve so much more. Thank you to everyone across our community. We'll keep up the fight.