Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago, along with the Independent member for Wakehurst at the state government level, I co-hosted a forum to discuss the future of public transport and road infrastructure in Warringah in the wake of the state government's scrapping of the beaches link road tunnel that had been the subject of Commonwealth funding. It was a productive forum, with the NSW Minister for Roads, John Graham, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, Marjorie O'Neill, both in attendance and answering questions from constituents. Key areas covered included buses for our best transport options and ongoing issues with congestion. As we know, through immigration pressure there is pressure to densify and build more housing, but with that must come good infrastructure planning and public transport. If not, the system fails. Whilst in many ways transport is a state issue, action is needed at a federal level.

In 2019, the Australian infrastructure audit ranked the North Sydney Northern Beaches corridor as the fourth most congested corridor in Sydney's evening peak periods. There are currently two projects for the Northern Beaches on the Infrastructure Australia priority list to help alleviate these issues, but there has been very little progress—the North Sydney to Northern Beaches capacity improvements and the Northern Beaches corridor capacity, Seaforth to Mona Vale. I will continue working on this on behalf of our community.