Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Gilmore was one that got it from the Labor side, as well as Lyne and Farrer. I will take the interjection that claims that, remarkably, they have more seats. The nature of the parliament itself is very close in relation to the numbers on both sides of politics, but the reality is they have shamefully skewed their spending towards the coalition, demonstrating that it's politics, not actual need, for why this has happened. It was not need at all, and this is wrong.

The member for Mackellar might be closer to getting the money that he needs, but in Western Sydney—where we see people being crammed on trains and roads and where they don't have investment in local public transport that could be done by the federal and state governments together to, for example, improve the parking around train stations to encourage greater public transport use—it is not there. It is not there at all in the places that need it. Instead of decongesting the Western Sydney rail line, the New South Wales government is going to spend $20 billion on the Sydney Metro West, which goes to Parramatta—that's as far west as it'll go—but won't put in the money that makes a difference.

Today the 'minister for roundabouts'—I think Alan Tudge is his name—got up and announced that the coalition's idea of congestion busting in Western Sydney is to build an airport. I'm sure a lot of Western Sydney residents will catch a plane to the CBD! But the reality is that they're not serious. They cannot seriously argue that an airport is going to decongest Western Sydney traffic or public transport. They have not put in anything seriously in terms of the M9—the other major motorway that's needed—or opening up the major traffic pressure point between Mount Druitt and Parramatta every morning, which is one of the worst-congested roads in the country according to Infrastructure Australia. They are not putting in money to decongest the rail line. It is an absolute joke that they can claim, in urban infrastructure terms, that the building of an airport is going to make life easier for one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.

This is not a government that is serious about relieving congestion through urban infrastructure investment. They're not seriously investing in infrastructure now to help the economy or to deal with infrastructure black spots. This is a government more interested in advertising itself than fixing problems.

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