Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Then the shadow minister for infrastructure and roads for Labor said this project needed to happen. This government rushed to re-announce its election commitment again. But would you believe it? There's still no money. The people of the Hunter have seen absolutely no leadership from this government on the M1.

This project must be a priority for this government, and it must be an urgent priority for Transport for NSW and the New South Wales government as well. I know from the department that the federal government is where the hold-up is. Those opposite have absolutely no intention of fast tracking this project, and it must be fast tracked. It should have been done 15 years ago. It should be started tomorrow—today in fact! The Hunter is dealing with the fallout from this pandemic. We need jobs and investment now. This piece of infrastructure alone will create jobs. It will create investment and it will create the ability for people to move through the region and to get to their small businesses—to get to their jobs and to get the big freight moving across our country. How can the government pat itself on the back when vital infrastructure like this, that has been promised for over 15 years, has not been followed up and built? They talk a lot about jobs and delivery, but we've not seen a jot from them about the M1. The federal government's own department of infrastructure website is now predicting that the expected start of this project will be mid-2023, with completion blown out to 2029. This is totally unacceptable. They need to get on and fast track this project, right now.

The mind-blowing incompetence is just incredible. Those opposite will blame the bureaucracy and they will blame each other, between states and the federal government. But, at the end of the day, the buck stops with this federal government. And when you compare it to Labor, who got on and delivered things like the Hunter Expressway, that is carrying traffic right now, today, it took a federal Labor government to put funding into that project. It also took a federal Labor government to properly invest in the Pacific Highway. John Howard invested $1.3 billion over 12 years. We invested $7.6 billion in half that time. The people of Paterson and the Hunter know who will fast track this project. The M1 needs to be done. It will be done by a Labor government, unlike this Liberal government ,who make empty promises and don't fund them.

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