Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

The Commonwealth will continue to engage with New South Wales, and we have made it very clear that we stand ready, if New South Wales does have a request for funding to assist, to consider that very seriously.

But let's be really clear about this. When we came to office, there was $2 billion allocated for works along the Great Western Highway for either end, with some idea—no funding, no planning—that there would be an 11-kilometre tunnel dug underneath the Blue Mountains. Now, nobody—nobody—was serious about that. So there was no solution. There was a false promise—again, given pretty often by those opposite. We'll do the work to try and get this road open as soon as possible, and I'll update you when we've got news about that. (Time expired)

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