Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to table a petition from almost 600 constituents of mine.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of residents of the Central Coast, the Hills and Northern Districts as well as surrounding suburbs, draws to the attention of the House that:

We therefore ask the House to:

Demand that the Labor Federal Government restore funding in this financial year for the F3 to Sydney Orbital design works to at least allow a start to be made on resolving the serious congestion problems on Pennant Hills Road.

from 708 citizens

Petition received.

I raise this matter again because my constituents continue to be concerned about this. As I have said in the parliament before, it is easy to understand why this is a very considerable impediment to economic activity in the state of New South Wales. It is a missing link. It is the one road that links Melbourne to Brisbane, and there is no alternative. It has a lot of suburban traffic mixed with heavy trucks that occasion very considerable risk to the community in my constituency. If you look at Sydney, with four major highways across Western Sydney, when you come to the north-west, there is only one link. It is a considerable trail, which will mean that no effective funding will be provided by the bodies that advise on infrastructure funding because the preliminary work will not be done. Stripping away the funding was a considerable act of betrayal by this government, and it certainly demonstrates a lack of commitment to substantial infrastructure pending, which is of fundamental importance to the increased productivity that you might expect in Sydney. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I table the petitions, because they draw attention to this very important issue.