Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm quite outraged by the comments from the member for Bradfield. The new suburb around Western Sydney Airport—guess what they've called it? They're so original: 'Bradfield'. In spite of people wanting an Aboriginal name, an Indigenous name, what did the last government do? They called it 'Bradfield'. That's how clever they are. The only mug in the building today is the member for Bradfield. Ask him about the rail link to Western Sydney Airport from the most rapidly growing area of New South Wales, my electorate of Macarthur. The last government turned away from the electors in my electorate. They did not give them a public transport link to Western Sydney Airport, and yet they're providing a link—no business case required—to the north, to the electorate of Lindsay. It's a shame, completely political, biased and another sign of the terrible infrastructure basis that the previous government worked on. It was all about the politics, not about the need.

I congratulate my friend the member for Robertson for moving this motion. We live in very uncertain economic times. Our government, the Albanese government, acknowledges the importance of good, responsible infrastructure developments. That's why, in the October budget, our government committed to $3 billion in infrastructure projects in New South Wales this financial year and almost $15 billion over the forward estimates. This is important as we've had, particularly in the western and south-western suburbs of Sydney and in country areas, neglect from the New South Wales Liberal government and the previous Liberal-National government nationally. Macarthur's a fine example of this neglect, as are the surrounding electorates of Werriwa and Hume, with the electorate of Hume being woefully represented by the shadow Treasurer. I often hear from residents of Hume that they're not happy with their lack of representation and the lack of infrastructure in their areas. It's a real issue for these three electorates and for many others around New South Wales.

One example of this is the lack of early education investment in the new, developing areas of Macarthur. We're the biggest electorate in the country by population, yet we have a lack of schools, a lack of infrastructure for public transport, a lack of hospitals and a lack of health care. Previous governments, state and federal, have done very little. I recently went to a preschool, Goodstart Early Learning, in Willowdale, which used to be a farm. It's now a rapidly increasing suburb, and the preschool there has over 900 families on the waiting list. That often means that both parents can't work, that children are spending time at private child care and that people are childminding in their homes. It's just a sign of lack of infrastructure spending by previous state and federal Liberal governments. They're not small issues. They are important for our national productivity and important for how we are going to manage the future, which is an increasingly challenging one.

We have some wonderful companies in Macarthur. I've visited places like Woolstar, who make high-quality Australian quilts, blankets and bedding from wool. They've been in Ingleburn for over 25 years and have a thriving business. But their workers need to get to work, and there's very little public transport. They need better infrastructure if they're going to export more of their products. Another fine example is DECO group, which is in Minto and is led by its founder, Ross Doonan. It produces very high-technology advanced coatings and membranes for architectural, signage and other needs, including in the health industry. We have wonderful businesses, but they need to be supported by infrastructure.

I'm sorry to say that previous state and federal governments—Liberal governments—have not provided the infrastructure that my constituents need. Even around Macarthur station, the state and federal Liberal governments argued about a commuter car park. They promised one but it has never been delivered. For the Western Sydney Airport, we need a heavy rail link from Leppington to take freight from the Moorebank Intermodal to the airport and to connect Western Sydney Airport with Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. The previous government turned their backs on us. It's just terrible, what they've done. The most rapidly growing area failed to get public transport links from the previous government. Our government, through Catherine King, is committed to this but we need the state government to come to the party first.

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