Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to raise a grievance about the condition of local roads on behalf of the many constituents of the electorate of Paterson. As I travel around the electorate of Paterson, from Bulahdelah to the Barrington Tops, from Dungog to Raymond Terrace, from Nelson Bay to Maitland, from Metford to Forster and from Gloucester to Nabiac, the common concern amongst the locals is the condition of their local roads. As member for Paterson, I have seen too many lives lost on local roads. It seems speed, alcohol and a lack of seatbelts are causing mayhem on our roads, with the New South Wales road toll already well above last year’s tally. Tragically, the road toll is already 100 more than at the same time last year, and sadly this number is tipped to rise even further as the summer holiday period kicks off and families pack up their cars to visit family and favourite holiday spots. Of course, well-managed infrastructure and driver education are key to reducing the road toll in the future.

While the Pacific Highway has been and is being improved in my electorate, there are other roads which are in dire need of funding to boost safety and stop the senseless loss of life. The roads that are of concern that are continually brought to my attention include the following: the need for completion of the dual carriageway on Nelson Bay Road from Salt Ash to Nelson Bay, the deterioration of Tocal Road from Maitland through to Paterson, passing lanes on the Bucketts Way, the upgrading of the Lakes Way from Bulahdelah to Pacific Palms and then on to Forster and, in particular, the roads around Gresford, Dungog, Vacy and Paterson. Local councils have already completed the task of identifying black spots and those deteriorating roads most in need of cash. Cost estimates have been drafted and work commencement rests only on Rudd Labor government funding to make it happen. My constituents are rightly angry when they write to me, post on my website and phone my office asking why dangerous sections of roads lie in disrepair while the Rees state Labor government do nothing and the Rudd Labor government wastes millions of dollars on other programs such as bungled home insulation schemes and indecent cash giveaways.

As the elected representative for Paterson, I fought hard for federal cash to make the F3 link road, now rebranded the Hunter Expressway, a reality. I would like to remind the House that it was the coalition that committed the funding during the last election for the F3 link road between Seahampton and Branxton. It was the Rudd Labor government that finally succumbed—and only because the then Minister for Defence, the member for Hunter, was embroiled in controversy and this was seen as a way to save his job. However, this cash did not come easily. Instead, we were forced to wade through the Nation Building Program (National Land Transport) Amendment Bill 2009, which was largely spin. The primary function of that bill was to change names. The AusLink national project became the Nation Building Program national project, the AusLink Black Spot Program became the Nation Building Program Black Spot Project and the list goes on. What the bill really lacked was substance and cash for shovel-ready projects that would create jobs at a time of rising unemployment. The project is now aimed to begin in 2010 and is earmarked for completion in 2013, which is five years after the project was actually shovel ready. We will now wait for this vital infrastructure to be completed to help ease the daily pressure on roads throughout my electorate. This is a win for residents but should have come sooner. It is also just one of a number of local projects which are in need of critical funding.

The roads around the Dungog area are of major concern. Federal funding is needed to support Dungog council in repairing these roads not only to ensure motorists have adequate access to services but to ensure our roads are safe. East Gresford resident Stephen Wright has been one of those proactive constituents in my electorate. Stephen has been delivering furniture around the Gresford-Dungog area and daily has to deal with the potholes and patched roads. This year Mr Wright has taken his experience of the state of roads in the region by way of video footage to the NRMA website RoadTube. He says:

The situation around Gresford and Dungog now is about as bad as it could get. I deliver furniture around here but the roads are so bad I face the prospect that my deliveries may be badly damaged when they are bounced around on the roads.

Entitled ‘Worst road ever’, the video clips are accompanied by a commentary from Mr Wright. The video clip made its way to Dungog council and state and federal MPs, including me. Mr Wright said:

The authorities say that they want to develop the Dungog and Gresford areas for tourism and promote the industry here by bringing visitors … But if the roads get any worse, the only way you will get tourists in here is by helicopter.

The Dungog council draft management plan for 2009-12 discloses council’s proposed financial budget for the year 2009-10 and details their planned activities for the next three years. The Mayor of Dungog, Glen Wall, indicates the dire circumstance regarding local roads. In his mayoral message he says:

The condition of our roads continues to be the most glaring shortcoming, continuing to undermine our ability to improve the Shire’s economic development potential. For too many years we have struggled to balance Community expectations with income and maintaining an ageing infrastructure.

The mayor goes on to say:

… additional funding is invaluable with regards to improving our road network, but the fact still remains that the only opportunity to rebuild the road network and then continue to maintain it will only be possible with a sustained continuous funding source such as a dedicated percentage of the Federal government’s tax base (GST) returned to Local Government.

Similarly, Vacy residents Michael and Rhonda Stevens wrote to me in the past few months stating their concerns for the state of the roads. They said:

The state of roads, in our opinion, overall is bad to very bad. As examples: entry to Paterson from Vacy, the turn off to Dunns Creek, Dungog Road at Martin’s Creek just past the bridge, Gresford Road between Vacy and Gresford, the road to Dungog from Vacy, and entrance to Vacy Village.

Michael and Rhonda are now rightly asking, ‘When will these issues be fixed?’

Similarly, Port Stephens council has put together a list of major projects in need of funding. The No. 1 priority is the long-awaited Fingal Bay link road and, as I said before, a dual carriageway to the Nelson Bay Road. The Great Lakes council, for example, has put together a $134 million wish list for the next decade. At the top of this list is $50 million for upgrading the Lakes Way and $20 million for upgrading the Bucketts Way, which would cover the entire stretch passing through the Great Lakes, Dungog and Gloucester council areas. However, funding is not the only barrier to improved roads in my electorate. Delays in work have also angered and frustrated residents, who have been forced to wait weeks, months and even years for critical upgrades to begin.

In my term as the member for Paterson I have been 100 per cent committed to improving roads and driver safety in the region. In the 2007 election the coalition pledged a further $20 million package for the installation of passing lanes on the Bucketts Way, funding for the Nelson Bay to Fingal Bay link road and funding to upgrade the Lakes Way—all of which, nearly two years on, are still issues. While in government I fought hard for the many hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on the Pacific Highway upgrade, the improvements to the Bucketts Way and the Lakes Way, and roadworks in Dungog and Port Stephens. Even though we see this as a success, there is still much more work to be done to ensure these roads are safe for our locals and visitors alike. The $14.7 billion cash splash would have been better directed at funding more local government road infrastructure, which would have provided a much longer benefit to our communities. Now that Christmas and the holiday season is approaching, it is ever more important to acknowledge the state of our roads. I urge everyone from my electorate and everyone visiting or passing through to drive safely these holidays to ensure that each and every one of us makes it to our destination.

I still believe the people of Paterson deserve better roads and, as their elected member, I will continue to listen locally and act nationally on the issue of road funding. I will continue to hold the Rudd Labor government to account for their relative inaction. If any of Kevin Rudd’s Labor colleagues doubt the dire need for funding for roads in my electorate of Paterson, I urge them to take a drive through it. Only then will they understand the roads my residents are forced to endure every day and hopefully they will make the passage of road funding much shorter. I say that as a matter of experience because it was not until I took John Anderson as the roads minister on the Bucketts Way—the 80-kilometre strip from Gloucester through to the Pacific Highway—and he experienced the potholes, the dangerous corners, the shoulders that have disappeared and the fact that drivers were having to deal with trucks mostly carrying local cattle up and down the strip that we got funding. It is these conditions that make these roads dangerous. We spent over $26 million on the Bucketts Way and improvements have been made, but it is still only a single-lane carriageway all the way and what we need are passing lanes. We have hit a situation where people are travelling faster and driving with greater expectation. They need those passing lanes to be installed to ensure their safety and the safety of others. I urge the government to take heed of this request.