Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a real privilege to be here today with the two visionary and innovative ministers for infrastructure that represent the Abbott federal government. Western Sydney is under an incredible revolution—an innovation revolution. The University of Western Sydney has done phenomenal work in relation to the innovation corridor, starting with the integrated health hub down in the Campbelltown-Macarthur region, going up to the Sydney University campus in Camden. Oran Park Town has been accredited as the fastest growing town in Australia, and there is the south-west growth corridor, where 300,000 people will be moving over the next 10 years. In my electorate of Lindsay, there is the Sydney Science Park—a 280 hectare facility that will be home to 12,200 jobs in science and biotech—smart jobs; jobs for the future.

Of course there is the Western Sydney science centre and the Sydney IQ business park which will see 6,000 jobs also in innovation and science. Going out to the north-west growth sector, the north-west growth sector is home to the Sydney Business Park. The Sydney Business Park is going to be the biggest business park in the southern hemisphere. These are some phenomenal achievements and wonderful things. We are seeing an innovation revolution come right across to the people of Western Sydney. My question is going to be very much about how we can support this innovation, how we can support this growth, how we can support jobs of the future. It is great that we have inspirational leaders and business communities that are coming in and investing. The Sydney Science Park alone through the Baiada group is $2.5 billion of private investment over and above the value of the real estate. This will be in Luddenham, which is on the corner of The Northern Road and Elizabeth Drive, which I am sure both ministers are very aware of because it does form part of a $3.6 billion package which will make Western Sydney move.

Greater Western Sydney is home to one in 11 Australians. In fact, greater Western Sydney is the third largest economy in Australia. Greater Western Sydney has 240,000 local businesses. The business incubator, which is part of the Sydney IQ business park and the Werrington Park Corporate Centre, is a partnership with the UWS—federal government investment was in there as well—and now people like Google are coming in to work out how we can create the Googles of tomorrow.

But you cannot just have this wonderful ideas unless we have infrastructure that that links it altogether. But Sydney has been stymied. We had a former Premier in Bob Carr, and I believe he was in another chamber in this place, who is famous for saying 'Sydney is full—there is no more infrastructure, Sydney is full.' But do you know what we have seen? We have seen a gridlock, also known as Parramatta Road. Two-thirds of the people of Western Sydney have to commute every single day, one-third all the way into the city and one-third into Greater Western Sydney. No longer is this good enough. We need jobs in our areas. Previous planning has designed things like dormitory suburbs in outer Western Sydney. We want jobs for our children. We want jobs for the future. By 2020 less than five per cent of manufacturing will exist in my part of Western Sydney. The dream of parents in my community is to see their kids be successful and have a better life than themselves, which is a noble aspiration of every generation, and that is why we need to build infrastructure for the 21st century.

But it is not just about infrastructure, it is also about the jobs of the 21st century and working on these things together. My questions to the ministers are all about this. How can we continue to get New South Wales moving? How can we allow for jobs in Western Sydney to grow and prosper, and get Western Sydney to really lead our country? How can our infrastructure also allow for people in Western Sydney to be able to commute much more efficiently into the city, because right now Parramatta Road is not acceptable. If you live in my part of Western Sydney, trying to get out through Pennant Hills Road for your Christmas holidays is absolutely diabolical. What if you want to get to the airport? If you are doing it in peak-hour traffic, then try to do it under two hours; in a non-peak hour period it might take you 50 minutes. These things are destroying our country's efficiency, our productivity and our ability to compete. That is why we need the infrastructure of the 21st century and we need ministers with vision to step up and fight for our infrastructure so that the people of Western Sydney can get the jobs they deserve.

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