Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Within my electorate there are many issues that face the people of the Sutherland shire, issues which have been initiated by the state government: the threat of a desalination plant, the cancelled F6 Freeway, the choked traffic arteries, trains that do not arrive on time and are dirty, and policing problems, of which the most high-profile example is the race riots in Cronulla. To address those issues I am pleased to see that, in recent developments in the Liberal Party, Malcolm Kerr was re-endorsed to run as the member for Cronulla; Graham Annesley, a high-profile former NRL referee and executive, was preselected as the Liberal candidate in Miranda to run against Barry Collier and challenge the Labor Party’s poor record in the shire; and Councillor Steve Simpson was re-endorsed in the seat of Menai. These three will certainly challenge the state government and their appalling record in the Sutherland shire, a government which ignores the issues that face everyday commuters into the city and the problems of transport and policing, which are abundant and for all to see. I welcome their contribution to the debate within the Sutherland shire.