Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to put on record my condemnation of two decisions of the newly elected Minns government in New South Wales. We haven't had a Labor government in New South Wales for a very long time. The recently elected New South Wales Labor government announced that they would not be proceeding with the Sydney Metro line extension from Rouse Hill to St Marys, which ultimately goes to the Western Sydney Airport. I believe that's an unbelievably bad decision given the time and effort the federal government have put into ensuring that Sydney has a second airport and that the proper transport links to one of Sydney's fastest-growing corridors are ready in advance. I call on the members for Greenway, Parramatta and McMahon to come forward to state their position on the new Labor government's decision to abandon a key piece of infrastructure for Western Sydney.

Further to this, the second decision I mention today, which I'll have more to say about, is the incoming Labor government's announcement that they will not increase the dam wall at Warragamba Dam, Sydney's main water source. Not only is this a huge flooding risk for the Penrith and Hawkesbury valleys, affecting corridors of growth for people with the floods that we've seen in recent years when we've had La Nina. Flooding in these areas is impacting people's houses and communities. With the population increases that we're going to see in Sydney, will we once again go back to a situation where Sydney will be without water when the next drought comes? I believe that a Labor government coming to office and cancelling two major infrastructure projects for Western Sydney and the future of Sydney is short-sighted and will stand them in bad stead in the future.