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

In our part of north-western Sydney, the infrastructure needs have been underinvested and have not been met for years, despite the fact that we have phenomenal growth, with an expected 200,000 people moving into our part of the world. For example, since 2019, I've been pushing for the upgrade of Richmond Road to be able to better carry the number of cars that need to use that road with huge housing developments plus commercial and industrial developments there. In 2026, we are finally seeing the upgrade of that road following commitments by the Albanese government and the Minns government, with over $500 million going into that massive upgrade. Despite the fact that we asked federal Liberal and New South Wales Liberal governments for years to get that work done, the only time the NSW Liberal government sought to upgrade the road was when they made an announcement on the eve of the last state election to put money in, which was a complete and utter disgrace.

Private transport road upgrades are very important. Public transport is just as important. What we need to see is not all the movement happen by cars but also the movement of people via rail. The biggest missing link in the metro is from Tallawong to St Marys, where we do need to see the extension of the metro and we do need to see both federal and state governments chipping in to make that happen. I've been petitioning residents locally to sign up and show that they support this, and they have in their droves. The other good thing has been that we have recently seen that Infrastructure Australia, in their infrastructure priority list, have just acknowledged that extending the metro from Tallawong to St Marys is a nationally significant priority. I don't know why the former Liberal government stopped it at Tallawong. It made no sense and was a bizarre decision. But we've got a chance to fix this up now, and Infrastructure Australia agrees that that should happen. At the moment, people turn up to Tallawong and can't get parking in the commuter car park from Tallawong, The Ponds, Schofields and down to Marsden Park. A huge number of people are trying to get onto that rail network and can't. Infrastructure Australia now saying that this should be upgraded is really important. It is connecting two major metro lines, linking the north-west directly to the south.

There are also all the jobs that will come with it. Importantly, having Richmond Road upgraded plus the metro will unlock the ability to develop the Marsden Park CBD, which will become the biggest CBD in Blacktown and, dare I say, in our part of Western Sydney. We absolutely need that investment. People are dying to see the extension of the rail line plus the other things that need to occur. They've waited too long. They should not be forced to endure any more.

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