Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the Government’s commitment to reducing traffic congestion through:

(a) a $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund, removing traffic pinch points;

(b) better public transport, improving access and liveability in our cities; and

(c) the dedicated Commuter Car Park Fund aimed at improving access to public transport and taking tens of thousands of cars off our roads;

(2) urge the New South Wales Government to commit to further congestion busting infrastructure on the Northern Beaches including:

(a) commencing construction on the Beaches Link Tunnel towards which the Commonwealth Government has already provided $50 million;

(b) investigate the feasibility of a light rail link connecting the Northern Beaches to Chatswood and the city; and

(c) improve the public transport bus system, including extending the B-Line to Newport; and

(3) acknowledges the benefits of local communities having better roads and reliable transport infrastructure as including:

(a) less cars on the road and therefore less carbon emissions; and

(b) faster travel time, allowing the Australian people to spend more time with their families than stuck in traffic.

When I ask my constituents, 'If you could fix but just one thing, what would it be?' the vast majority respond in a time period that cannot be measured. 'Fix the traffic!' The area I represent is a beautiful—in fact, the most beautiful—part of the world and attracts millions of tourists every year. But people's lives are being made—

Mr Husic interjecting—

The member for Chifley often flies over it! People's lives are being made miserable by spending hours each week sitting in traffic. In peak periods, it can take hours to get onto the peninsula and across the Spit Bridge and through Mona Vale Road. The Northern Beaches to North Sydney corridor has seen nearly 5,000 hours of delay so far this year, with Mona Vale Road commuters suffering over 7,000 hours worth of delays this year. That makes the southbound Mona Vale Road route the fourth most congested in Sydney.

But this issue is not just a matter of convenience. My constituents are spending hours each day sitting in traffic instead of spending that time with their families. We must say to ourselves as representatives: if we truly care about the welfare of the people we represent, then we must do everything we can to help people spend less time sitting bumper to bumper on busy roads and more time with their families. Improving roads, including widening and repaving; building new infrastructure, like tunnels and bypasses; and improving public transport are all ways in which we can help people.

State governments of the past have failed the Northern Beaches, have failed Sydney and have failed New South Wales. We've fallen behind the rest of the world for infrastructure development. The Northern Beaches are decades behind where they should be thanks to the Carr-Keneally Labor governments, which cancelled more infrastructure projects than they actually started. The Northern Beaches got nothing in terms of infrastructure for over a decade, other than increased housing targets. At a federal level, the government's $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund is going a long way to alleviating traffic congestion and removing pinch points in our road system, and I know Western Sydney has benefited greatly from this. The federal government have committed $50 million to the construction of the Beaches Link tunnel, and recent announcements prove that the project is moving in the right direction. However, the tunnel is not enough. We need more roads widened and better public transport, as well as new and innovative transport solutions.

There should also be an investigation into an east-west link between Dee Why and Chatswood, as well as Macquarie Park and Mona Vale. This could be in the form of a metro rail link or trackless trams. It is something that is being rolled out across China and could be a credible option for major cities in Australia. The evidence is in: the B-Line is helping, but in the next 10 years it will reach crush capacity, and we will be in yet another position of failure. Following the released Infrastructure Australia report, it is evident that simply adding more buses cannot solve our congestion problems, which is why we need to look to other transport solutions—not more regulation that would place more of a hindrance on people's lives but smarter regulation and smarter policies.

The government must look at other innovative solutions for alleviating traffic congestion. A few months ago, I met with Tom Piotrowski from Southern Cross Drones, who told me of his company's ability to transport medical supplies from Mona Vale Hospital to the new Northern Beaches Hospital, which is currently done by vans multiple times per day. A drone would not only mean less expense, less traffic and getting the blood test back to the patient and doctor faster but also reduce the number of vehicles on the road per trip, mean less pollution and be faster and more cost-effective. We've also seen trial dates announced for Uber Air in Melbourne.

These solutions are not fanciful; they are innovative and they are here now. Alleviating traffic congestion is not just a matter of convenience but also one of environmental sustainability. If we can get more cars off the road through shorter travel times and by diverting consumers onto more sustainable mass transport options, we will also reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The Northern Beaches have been neglected for long enough. It's time that they get their fair share, and I will continue to advocate strongly on this issue.

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