Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week a public meeting was convened by Campbelltown City Council to discuss the problems surrounding the proposed funding for the Hume Highway on and off ramps at Ingleburn. The funding of the off and on ramps is a controversial issue for local businesses in Minto and Ingleburn industrial estates, which are being asked to pick up the tab for more than $4 million, about one-third of the total construction cost of these ramps.

This is not the first time I have raised this issue in this place. As a matter of fact, I raised it in the last sittings. There is no doubt that businesses are angry about being asked to pay the construction cost of these ramps, which will allow better transport flow in the local area and direct access to the national highway.

Yesterday we had a debate as to who should fund the developments on the Pacific Highway. Many points of contention between New South Wales and state governments were mentioned by members participating in that debate. But the Hume Highway is somewhat different. There is no argument about who is responsible for looking after the Hume Highway; it is widely accepted that this is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government. Accordingly, it should be the responsibility of the Commonwealth to fully fund the on and off ramps at Ingleburn.

Despite the fact that some have tried to distance themselves and the Commonwealth from the responsibility to fully fund these ramps by saying that the benefit of their construction will primarily be for local transport, this is simply not the case. In an area of population and economic growth such as the south-west of Sydney, it is impossible to divorce the local benefits from national benefits. In 2001 a study by Mason Wilson Twiney, traffic and transport consultants—a study funded, I might add, by the federal government—pointed out that the Commonwealth would consider funding the ramps if it were found that there was strategic transport significance, and the study went on to so conclude.

While the member for Macarthur may feel it is appropriate that every single ratepayer in Campbelltown should bear the cost, I do not believe that this should be the case. Residents have already borne the cost of the federal government’s inaction over many years as they have had to share their suburban streets with trucks entering and exiting the national freight networks in Campbelltown. The residents of Campbelltown have already paid a high price. It is about time that the federal government repaid the debt to the community by fully funding the ramps.

The business communities of Ingleburn and Minto have the right to be upset, but they should direct their anger to the federal government in respect of its failure to fully and properly fund the on and off ramps to the Ingleburn industrial estate.