Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak once again about one of the most important road issues in regional Australia: the future of the F3 to Branxton link road in the Hunter Valley. This road between Branxton and Seahampton is crucial to the people of the lower Hunter. It will dramatically reduce the heavy traffic that presently passes through Maitland, Kurri Kurri, Cessnock, Lochinvar and Branxton, leading to major national productivity improvements and a better quality of life for local residents. Many others agree with me. The member for Paterson will speak later on the same subject and, in particular, to a petition signed by 1,048 local residents who rightly believe that Labor has sat on its hands for 15 months and broken a pre-election promise to build the road. Unfortunately, the petition does not meet the requirements to be tabled in the House, but that does not reduce its power and its importance. It remains a strong message to the federal government and the member for Hunter that more excuses are unacceptable.

It is worth taking the House through some of the history. After doing all the necessary and time-consuming preliminary work, such as environmental and building studies and purchasing the required land, the coalition committed at the last election to spending a further $780 million, on top of the $107 million already spent, to finally make this much-needed road link a reality. The member for Hunter, now Minister for Defence, who tells everyone that he has campaigned for more than a decade for the link road, told local media in the days before the election that he would ‘absolutely match the coalition’s commitment’. Residents felt content as they went to vote at the last election in that whoever won the election the road was going to be built. But, on the day after the election, the member for Hunter suddenly changed his tune. The incoming Rudd government could no longer afford the link road. That was one day after the election! He made up a farcical story and told stunned media and local residents that the real cost of the 40-kilometre road was far higher than the coalition had stated. That is truly incredible. At that stage, no Labor figure could have received any information from the federal transport department officials as the outgoing coalition government held that information and our figures were right at the time.

That was of course 15 months ago. The F3 to Branxton link road has been put on ice, like so many other important projects around Australia, as we wait for the interminable Infrastructure Australia assessment process to be completed. Shovel-ready projects have not started, because the Labor Party have invented a whole new bureaucracy to assess projects which they had committed to, in this instance, before the election.  In the meantime, we have seen accidents like the one on 5 March where a truck brought a pedestrian overpass down onto the New England Highway at Maitland, blocking the highway for more than five hours.

The link road is overdue. If Labor changes its mind and makes good on its pre-election promise to build it, then I will join local people in welcoming the reverse. But the government, and in particular the member for Hunter, will remain forever condemned for their tardiness, their lack of vision and their dishonesty in this matter. The promise was clear before the election: Labor would build the road; it would match the coalition’s promise absolutely. A day after the election, the member for Hunter changed his mind and let down the people of his own electorate.

I would like to thank the members of the Link or Sink Group who have pushed for this road for so long. I have visited them on a number of occasions and I have listened to their passion and concern about this project. It has local significance but it also has national importance. In particular, I acknowledge Kevin Gordon and Toby Thomas, but also Fred Brown. Fred is a local Labor stalwart who has been appalled by the inaction of the ALP. I genuinely hope that soon their dreams will become a reality, that Labor will have a change of heart, will develop a fit of honesty and will actually deliver on a project that they promised before the last election but walked away from within days.