Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a local government area that is 3,000 kilometres square, roads matter. I want to highlight the major funding role the Albanese Labor government has in supporting Hawkesbury City Council to improve local roads. This is on top of the tens of millions of dollars in disaster funding that has passed through to council through joint state-federal arrangements for road repairs.

Let's go through a quick list. One of my key election commitments was $11.2 million to improve local roads. Hawkesbury council has added $7 million to that program. That means 15 roads projects have started or are being delivered over the next 12 months. I'll run through some of the roads that council has chosen sections of: Kurmond Road, Kurmond; Argyle Street, Blackman Crescent, Berger Road and White Place, South Windsor; Grose Vale Road and Riverview Street, North Richmond; Comleroy Road, East Kurrajong; Spinks Road, Glossodia; Bowen Mountain Road; Oakville Road, Boundary Road and Scheyville Road, in Oakville and Maraylya; Wire Lane, Freemans Reach; and Packer Road, Blaxlands Ridge. I'm very pleased the Albanese government is the major funder of these improvements.

The Black Spot Program also provides a source of funding for Hawkesbury council, another program we've increased funding for. The most recent round is $3.6 million for safety improvements at five known crash sites. They are at Old Pitt Town Road at Oakville, Freemans Reach Road, Tennyson Road, Spinks Road and Hanckel Road. The same program has previously provided more than a million dollars to upgrade part of St Albans Road and half a million dollars for Francis Street in Richmond.

One of the really key sources of roads funding for Hawkesbury council is Roads to Recovery. Many of the roads you've seen already repaired in the Hawkesbury have been done under this funding. We're progressively doubling funding to $1 billion annually—twice what the Liberals provided. This means that the Hawkesbury can count on $9.6 million for Roads to Recovery over the next five years. It starts with $1.4 million this financial year and continues to rise over the life of that five-year agreement. You'll have seen some of the funding in action, with work on Old Pitt Town Road at Oakville and Spinks Road, Glossodia, and East Kurrajong Road is also on the list, with a million-dollar investment.

Hawkesbury council is responsible for arranging for the work to be done, but there is no shortage of funds for the roads they've chosen as their priorities. This is serious funding, provided to your Hawkesbury council so they can do a better job of fixing the roads they're responsible for. Of course, this is on top of all of that council funding. There is funding for the New South Wales government. There's the $100 million we're providing to New South Wales to upgrade sections of Bells Line of Road plus the $400 million for the 'Richmond Bridge and approaches' major project.