Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on behalf of residents in my community who feel let down by their state Labor government representatives. People on the outskirts of Sydney, in the Greater Western Sydney region, including the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains, feel they have been treated like second-class citizens—and this has been happening for too long now.

In line with the federal Labor government’s lead of repeated broken promises, the state Labor government has broken yet another promise and scratched its bungled Sydney metro plan, which has wasted $300 million—and there has still been nothing achieved by Labor for the people of the Greater Western Sydney region, who have helped to fund this bungled plan with their taxes. Under a recently announced state Labor government plan, a long awaited express rail to Richmond, Windsor and the Blue Mountains region would not even commence work until 2015, 20 years after Labor was first elected to government. Without even a commitment from Labor as to when the work on the line would be finished, it could reasonably be up to 30 years before the work is committed and the people of Greater Western Sydney can catch an express train to work.

People in my community want to be able to return home in a timely manner, to spend time with their families and to participate in their local communities. They do not want to be stuck on public transport for anywhere from three to five hours a day, and many choose to drive, only to find that road infrastructure is inadequate and that they are joining queues in parking lots at their place of work. The people in my community deserve better. They have put up with unacceptable transport infrastructure for far too long. Labor have only a record of promise and then promise broken, election after election. The same promises are made and the same promises are broken. And they have shown disinterest in people of the Greater Western Sydney region, particularly those living on the outskirts of Sydney, over almost 15 years. Enough is enough.

If state Labor think that this announcement is going to win back disgruntled commuters, they need to think again. My question is this: will the Western express rail proposed by Labor be just another pipe dream which inevitably will be shelved and reshelved, just like the $300 million failed Sydney metro plan, and again cost money for the taxpayers living in my community? It is clear that federal Labor are no different from state Labor. This is just another example of their broken promises and bungled schemes, with the people on the outskirts of Sydney in my region paying for Labor’s mistakes.