Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Victories as a local member come in all sizes, big and small. Small victories are just as important as the large ones, such as helping someone with Services Australia, the NDIS or a visa. But then there are also the big victories—those that impact entire communities, suburbs and regions.

I've spoken many times in the chamber about the rapid, unprecedented growth in my electorate. In many parts of the electorate, where fields and market gardens existed just a few years ago, there are now houses and growing communities. Paddocks have been replaced by rows of houses. Despite this growth, the provision of infrastructure, especially the upgrading of roads, as been woefully inadequate. The truth is there have been improvements in local public transport, such as a 2,000-space car park at Edmondson Park railway station. Getting this car park built was a community campaign over years with my colleague the member for Macquarie Fields.

Another example of a road not fit for purpose is Fifteenth Avenue at Hoxton Park. This thoroughfare, because you can barely call it a road, has been left in the too-hard basket for years by successive Liberal governments at both state and federal levels. Ostensively a rural road, it is no longer fit for purpose given the growth of Austral and the new housing built over the last decade. It is seriously a disgrace in terms of both its condition and provision for tens of thousands of cars that use it every day. Everyday road users are stuck in traffic jams, resulting in massive disruptions to the lives of thousands of people and millions of dollars lost to the economy.

The need to upgrade Fifteenth Avenue has been known for years. I know that because it was an issue I started working on as a councillor more than 12 years ago. The council's expenditure of $100,000 for an external lobbyist just before the recent council election did not get the commitment over the line. What did was meticulous data and, as the New South Wales Premier put it, 'being a pain', but, more importantly, it was federal and state Labor government members who value and respect their community. The council petition, active for several months, fell short of its 20,000 signature target by 18,000 signatures. Despite my constant campaigning over 12 years, successive Liberal governments have ignored our community even after they announced the Western Sydney airport, and Liverpool City Council has been ineffectual.

Well, those days are over. While the Liberals procrastinate, ignore and deflect, Labor delivers. It was my honour on 19 January to host the Prime Minister, New South Wales Premier, New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure and other New South Wales ministers to announce a joint federal and state government funding agreement of $1 billion for Fifteenth Avenue. Let me be specific, this is not a promise to upgrade the road; it is a guaranteed commitment from the budget and it will happen. The announcement that a Liberal opposition will match Labor's announcement is nonsense. Labor understands the needs of Western and south-western Sydney. We understand the commute; we understand the distances between home and work, home and shopping, and home and leisure. We really do get the importance of a well-functioning road network, and I understand because I've lived there all my life and I learned to drive on this road. If the $1 billion upgrade of Fifteenth Avenue isn't enough proof of Labor's commitments to our local roads, it is on top of the $19.3 billion Western Sydney roads package that was announced in the last budget.

Over 22,000 vehicles travel along the congested Fifteenth Avenue every day, with eight per cent of those being trucks. By 2041, it is estimated that an additional 63,000 people will be living in the area. So not only is the upgrade of the road good news for now but it also future proofs it for our future residents, and the benefits for improving the connectivity with the Western Sydney airport are obvious. I genuinely thank the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Premier and Minister for Infrastructure for their support for my campaign. It is yet further proof that, far from forgetting the south-west, it is forefront and foremost in the minds of our government both at federal and state levels, and, more importantly, the funding is in their budgets.