Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past 12 months or so and, in turn, over the next three years, the Hunter electorate has experienced and will experience unprecedented levels of infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth government. Just to give a few examples: $1.65 billion for the Hunter Expressway; $1.2 billion to enlarge capacity and efficiency of the Hunter coal chain; and $134 million on Building the Education Revolution and on our VET—that is, vocational education and training—facilities in the electorate. The funding also includes $3.3 million on social housing, more than $5.5 million on the regional local infrastructure program, $1.36 million for defence housing, around $140 million on expansion and improvements to the Singleton infantry centre, and $4.56 million on the Black Spot Program. These are all critical projects for the Hunter electorate and, indeed, for the Hunter region. Let me dwell on a couple of them for a moment. The Hunter Expressway has been on the drawing board for around 20 years. It is absolutely critical to economic efficiency in the region and, of course, will bring much needed relief for motorists who spend a terrible peak hour every morning and afternoon trying to make their way from the Upper and Lower Hunter regions.

The expressway will also provide much needed bypasses for a number of communities throughout my electorate which have had to put up with heavy vehicle movements for many years. It took a Labor government to conceive and plan the idea and it took a Labor government to fund the project, after almost 12 years of stalling on the part of the former government. The coal chain is obviously important not only to my electorate but also to the region more generally. The $1.2 billion spent will allow us to move more coal to port more quickly and more efficiently by putting in an additional dedicated rail line and removing gradients along the way, which slow down trains, and also removing railway level crossings along the way. That will also promote efficiency.  As we upgrade the port to a similar capacity, this will make a big difference to the coal industry and therefore to the region’s wealth.

Schools speak for themselves. As you know, every primary school not only in my electorate but in all electorates will receive new facilities, typically libraries, school halls et cetera. The regional and local infrastructure program has allowed councils to build or upgrade parks, swimming pools and amenities blocks. Members are familiar with the projects—they go on and on—and they have been a real boon to each of the local government areas in my electorate. Social housing speaks for itself as does, of course, the upgrades to the Singleton Infantry Centre, a key driver for the electorate but in particular a key driver for the Singleton Shire Council area.

Amongst the schools and education funding streams we have new science and language centres et cetera, with places like Cessnock High School, Kurri Kurri High School and St Joseph’s High School in Aberdeen receiving science and language centres. In Kurri Kurri nearly $8 million will be spent on TAFE facilities. The list goes on and on and it is great news for the electorate.

Ironically, this is fuelling additional growth in the electorate and that additional growth will call on more and more investment. One of the ironic consequences of the Hunter Expressway, for example, will be a greater need for bypasses of both Singleton and Muswellbrook as more traffic flows up the New England Highway. In Scone we have the ridiculous situation in the 21st century where coal trains go across a level crossing on the New England Highway, cutting off the town for up to eight minutes—a ridiculous situation and something which I am determined to resolve in partnership with the state government. The state government has primary responsibility for it, but I am talking to Minister Albanese about how the federal government may be able to assist in what is a critical issue for Scone; not one which just goes to convenience but one which goes to the safety and welfare of the residents of that town.