Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. The city's north-west metro has opened today, yet in the fastest-growing areas of Sydney's south-west, with the highest disadvantaged population and a new airport, people are paying more tolls for travel and more taxes on fuel levy, have poor rail connectivity and are sitting on freeways that are looking more like large car parking lots. When will the government commit to building the much-needed east-west metro, which will service and connect the people of Western Sydney to jobs and growth opportunities?

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fowler for her question. I acknowledge the 62,000 taxpayers in her electorate who received a tax cut on 1 July and the 61,000 households receiving energy relief. We, of course, on this side of the House know how important Western Sydney is, not just for New South Wales but for the prosperity of our entire nation. As the Prime Minister has said before, Western Sydney is changing. It is changing dramatically, and it's changing dramatically as a result of the investments that are being made to really turn Sydney to the west. It used to focus on the east when it's looking for jobs, and now a lot of the jobs are coming from the west. It's a powerhouse of the New South Wales economy and the economy of the entire nation.

It's why in the budget we committed nearly $2 billion for infrastructure specifically in Western Sydney. It's why overall we're spending $17.3 billion. We're building the airport. It's over 80 per cent complete. I was there just recently with the topping out of the terminal, which is looking terrific, and we'll have more to say about the airport shortly. We're also investing in the metro—close train stations not just to connect the airport but also to connect those important economic zones. We've also invested in the road infrastructure to connect the airports to other parts of Western Sydney.

But, of course, the other projects that we've invested in are $5.2 billion, as I said, for Sydney Metro; $500 million for Mamre Road stage 2; $400 million for Elizabeth Drive; $260 million, obviously matched by the New South Wales government, for Richmond Road; $286 million to upgrade Mulgoa Road stages 1 and 2; $570 million for the Moorebank intermodal project, which is taking the equivalent of 3,000 heavy vehicles off Sydney roads; $128 million for Dunheved Road in Penrith; $190 million to upgrade the Moorebank Avenue and Hume Highway intersections; $100 million for Western Sydney rapid bus infrastructure upgrades; and $95 million to Horsley Drive. We are absolutely committed to making sure that Western Sydney is the powerhouse not just of New South Wales but of the whole of the nation's economy.