Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am thrilled to speak today about the Jervis Bay flyover project, which has now moved onto the major construction phase. Last week, I was honoured to join with the federal Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, Kristy McBain; the member for South Coast, Liza Butler; the New South Wales Premier, and the New South Wales minister for regional roads to mark this occasion. It is, after all, a significant achievement that has been a long time in the making and one that I am proud to have joined with the community years before to help make a reality. I pay tribute to local community organisation Vincentia Matters, in particular, Liz Tooley, who has spearheaded the successful community campaign.

The Princes Highway-Jervis Bay intersection is the busiest and most crash-prone intersection to the Victorian border. It has been the location of 15 crashes over the past five years, resulting in six serious crashes. It is the main gateway to Huskisson and Jervis Bay. In peak times, locals and tourists know all about the long queues that can be seen backed up on Jervis Bay Road. But what did the local Liberals propose all those years ago for this intersection? A roundabout, and the community had their say about that—that it just would not be good enough.

A community petition was started for a flyover, which quickly gained signatures. I gladly walked that petition around the streets of Vincentia. It gained over 14,000 signatures. It was then-New South Wales deputy opposition leader Yasmin Catley who presented the petition in the New South Wales parliament. Let me be clear, it was the community I wholeheartedly supported that was responsible for the current plan for the Jervis Bay flyover. I called for federal funding to be brought forward and was pleased to secure $100 million in federal funding delivered by the Albanese Labor government, together with $64 million by the Minns Labor government. The total project cost is $164 million.

The new intersection upgrade will deliver a grade-separated flyover style intersection and an overpass across the Princes Highway with a roundabout on each side of Jervis Bay Road to deliver safer and smoother connections it. It will include a multimodal facility which will include parking, park and ride, and pathways. This upgrade will expand the Princes Highway to two lanes in each direction on the approaches to the intersection, longer entry and exit lanes, and free-flowing access to the highway when travelling north and south. At least 110 jobs will be created during construction, with contractor SRG Global Civil delivering the project to be completed in up to four years. I cannot wait to open the Jervis Bay flyover, along with my community.