Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise tonight to speak on this very important motion before the House. The North West Rail Link represents perhaps the greatest single failing of any government policy, state or federal, in the last 50 years. When you examine what the New South Wales government has done about the north-west rail line over time, you see that it is the greatest breach of trust between a government and Australian voters that you could possibly imagine.

On 29 November 1998, three months prior to a state election, the New South Wales government promised $29 million for a link from Epping Station to Castle Hill. Since then, the government has re-announced the north-west rail line five times. On 9 June 2005, Bob Carr announced an $8 billion, 15-year Metropolitan Rail Extension Program. This announcement included the North West Rail Link, a new passenger line from Cheltenham to Rouse Hill via Castle Hill, with long-term plans to extend to the Vineyard and Richmond lines. On 20 November 2006, the government re-announced the completion of the north-west rail line by 2017—just seven short years away. The first stage, Epping to Hills Centre, would be completed by 2015—it would already almost be complete—and Hills Centre by 2017. Then the government announced the line in June 2007 with an extension from Rouse Hill to Vineyard Station on the Richmond line. Then the New South Wales state government abandoned all plans to build a north-west rail line.

Why do we need a rail line in north-west Sydney? Why is it a vital component of the social, environmental and economic infrastructure that north-west Sydney desperately needs? It is because the electorate of Mitchell has the highest rate of cars per household of any federal electorate in this country, because there are no available public transport options. You drive, and every adult in your household needs to have a car.

It is not just my electorate. Across the road there are similar difficulties in approaching employment, getting to the city or travelling across Sydney because of a failure of government to plan. We understand that governments can only do their best given the circumstances at the time they are put in, but the New South Wales state government has been in place for 16 years. It has been promised over six or seven times. The rail line has been cancelled, re-announced, cancelled, re-announced, cancelled, re-announced. This is the greatest single breach between a government and an electorate in Australian history. This is holding back the economic development of north-west Sydney. It is placing excessive financial burdens on residents, rate payers and people who have to travel by expensive motorways to and from their place of employment.

I quote some examples of people in my electorate going to work every day. This is based on a 48-week working year. Our motorists travelling to the city are now paying $16.90 a day, $84.50 a week, $338 a month, $4,056 a year just to go to work. I am a fan of tollways and motorways, building infrastructure through public-private partnerships—private motorways that will increase our capacity to get things done in Sydney. However, when you look at the litany of failure of the New South Wales government in these ventures, you see that they are giving public-private infrastructure partnerships a bad name in Sydney. We are losing investment in Sydney because of the failures of the Cross City Tunnel, the Lane Cove ventures and all of the things that are happening with the RTA shutting roads and receiving a payment from a company to force people to use a motorway—something that I think all members here would regard as unethical.

In the shadow of the Penrith by-election, we can see that people in New South Wales have woken up to what is happening in north-west Sydney. It is emblematic of a city that is in disarray because of failures of government planning. I note that the member for Parramatta is here. I know that she would be extremely upset at the New South Wales government for breaching its promise to build a Parramatta-Epping rail link. Growing up in Carlingford, I can record my own absolute dismay at the residents in Carlingford not having a line that goes from Parramatta to Epping. But this is about the north-west rail link. It has been talked about throughout the last 15 years. There is a vital need in Sydney for heavy rail lines in the north-west and south-west of Sydney—particularly the north-west—to meet the growth that government has allowed. Government has allowed massive expansion in the north-west of Sydney. It has encouraged it. It has taxed people for the privilege of living there. Special infrastructure levies have been paid. The money has been collected by government, but the state government of New South Wales has abrogated its responsibility. This federal government needs to allocate any money that it gave to New South Wales for a north-west rail line.

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