Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question and acknowledge his advocacy not just for his community but indeed for the road safety outcomes of Lyne and, indeed, regional Australia right across the nation as well. He knows full well how important this is. He has worked tirelessly in his community to get the Harrington Road intersection in Coopernook, on the Pacific Highway, upgraded. This $60 million project involves the construction of a full-grade separated interchange. This will make the road safer for all who use it. In conjunction with the state government we now are fixing it, and it will be finished by 2024.

Local community members were very pleased with the announcement, as the member for Lyne knows. Michael Parson said: 'Just the best news to wake up to'—he probably also listens to Moffee in the Morning!—'We have been lobbying for this for a long time now. Many lives will be potentially saved.' Councillor Kathryn Bell said: 'Excellent news. The Harrington community and motorists will be pleased. There may be dancing in the streets.' The infrastructure rollout is about making travelling around our great country safer, including, particularly, regional Australia.

We have added another $1 billion to the road safety 'use it or lose it' program. These works include rumble strips, shoulder sealing, upgraded school-zone signage, separated cycleways, median and run-off barriers, raised pedestrian crossings, resurfacing, better road markings and the clearing of vegetation near the road—as well as those all-important audio tactile line markings. They're the things you'll hear if you stray slightly out of your lane: foomp, foomp, foomp, foomp, foomp. If you're going fast, it's foomp-foomp-foomp-foomp-foomp! That's what they do! And they save lives—I hear the member for Rankin—they actually do save lives. It's so important.

I was travelling on the Newell the other day and they were laying those lines, not just in the daytime but at night-time too. It's creating work for local councils. It's creating work for local small businesses. It's creating opportunities and local procurement—and it's all part of the $110 billion infrastructure rollout across the nation over the next decade. The budget that Treasurer Frydenberg announced on Tuesday night facilitated an additional $15.2 billion of works, creating the opportunities for an additional 30,000 workers, already there's 100,000 workers, as part of the overall 10-year plan, because the government—the Liberals and Nationals—have a plan. We've got a plan for infrastructure. We've got a plan for a more secure future out of the pandemic. It has been very, very difficult. We all know that. It has been very, very challenging, but I commend the member for Lyne for his advocacy for infrastructure and particularly for getting the Newcastle airport off the ground. (Time expired)

See this speech in context