Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's Valentine's Day today, and one thing's for sure: I have a whole lot of love for the people of Gilmore. Since coming to office in 2019, I have proudly delivered over $1.6 billion in community infrastructure and roads projects right across Gilmore, in the local government areas of Kiama, the Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla—from Minnamurra in the north to Tuross Head in the south, to my home town of Nowra and the bay and basin to Ulladulla. These community and roads projects are ones that I have actively advocated, with many discussions with community groups, associations and advocates, and of course I have taken up the fight for these projects.

There's the Nowra Bridge project—$155 million in federal funding for this important new bridge across the Shoalhaven River at Nowra. The Nowra Bridge is set to be across the river by the middle part of this year. So far, 1,900 workers have worked on the bridge, over more than 700,000 work hours. It's a huge boost for jobs and local spending, with 120 workers on site each day. The new Nowra Bridge is set open in the middle of 2024, depending on the weather.

I want to thank all the workers on this very necessary project. I want to thank locals who have put up with some pretty horrendous traffic conditions during construction of the new Nowra Bridge. But I have been very vocal in saying that the government needs to do much more. I said at the Nowra Bridge official sod-turning that we have to get on with the Nowra bypass. Quite honestly, I am dumbfounded that no elected representative before me—and there have been a lot of Liberal ones—has done anything about a Nowra bypass. Sure, they like to talk big on roads, but, when it comes to doing it, their complete failure to do anything about the Nowra bypass has been one of the biggest abrogations of responsibility there could be.

Is the Nowra bypass a New South Wales government priority? No, it's not. In fact, the New South Wales government's Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan doesn't even include the Nowra bypass. The local council, Shoalhaven City Council, wanted it included, but it wasn't. Forgive me, but the New South Wales government has completely failed on the Nowra bypass.

Deputy Speaker, it doesn't matter where you live on the coast—whether it's at Tuross Head, Gerringong, Milton or Bomaderry—one thing is for certain: if you want to go north or south through Nowra, there is only one river crossing, the Nowra Bridge. Ask residents of Nowra, North Nowra and Bomaderry what they think of the bottlenecks and of travelling at a snail's pace to get to their place of work or to school or even to get around on weekends. Locals have certainly told me. Since launching my petition I have received thousands of responses from people, and the stories of frustration with the traffic and the need for the bypass are compelling.

The Black Summer bushfires taught us many things, including that egress along our highway is paramount. We saw and felt what happened when the Princes Highway was cut off during the bushfires: how our one-road-in and one-road-out communities were cut off from access, power and communications; how tourists were stranded on our highway and camped in their cars as, thanks to the love and support of locals, they were brought food and supplies.

When councils consider development applications, good road access to properties is a condition, but our entire community on the New South Wales South Coast has a massive access problem. There is only one way north and south through Nowra, and that is over the Nowra Bridge. If the Black Summer bushfires have taught us one thing, it's that we have to be ready for the next disaster. We have to be ready and able to get people out by providing safe egress, and we have to provide safe access for our emergency services workers and volunteers. That's why the New South Wales government must make the Nowra bypass a priority. That's why the Nowra bypass must be included in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan. Make no mistake: without it, Bomaderry and Nowra will turn into the next Albion Park bottleneck, which routinely saw traffic backed up for over five kilometres in the summer months.

For over 40 years, the bypass has been mentioned. Since 1986, land has been earmarked for the Nowra bypass. It's beyond time to get on with the Nowra bypass. My message to the New South Wales government: make the Nowra bypass a priority. Include it in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan. Start the preplanning for the Nowra bypass now.

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