Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After that very positive contribution, I would like to start my address today by acknowledging the presence of Peter Rose here today. I would like to thank you, Peter, for your contribution and the service that you have provided to so many in the parliament. You will be missed. Your stewardship and your ministry will be well missed here, so thank you for your service.

I rise today to talk about the future of jobs right across our country and what the budget means for the people of Western Sydney and, in particular, my part of Western Sydney, which is Lindsay. Our part of Western Sydney is changing at a rate of knots. It is time for our region to reimagine our potential: what we can be. That is what I think is so exciting about this budget. This budget goes through a suite of infrastructure projects that are going to enable our region to get to its feet and start moving.

Since the Abbott government initially brought forward for our region $3.6 billion of infrastructure, we have seen the unemployment rate of my region drop to 4.36 per cent, well below the Sydney, New South Wales and Australian averages. In fact, that unemployment rate has dropped over the past 12 months by 2.37 per cent, or 2½ thousand jobs for the people of Lindsay. This is great, great news.

The Turnbull government are now going further with our innovation boom, with the way that we are now looking to unlock the potential of the Innovation Corridor, a master plan that really came from the brain of Barney Glover, a brilliant academic and a brilliant leader of the University of Western Sydney, where we will see many thousands of smart jobs move to Western Sydney. In Sydney Science Park, there will be 12,000 jobs, 10,000 research positions and the first STEM school in the country.

We will be supporting this growth and this development in this budget with continual upgrades to stage 1 of Mulgoa Road, which of course is the element of Mulgoa Road outside Penrith council between Union Road and the Museum of Fire. NorthConnex will move the M1. That will connect to the M2. That will be great for people travelling north. Of course, WestConnex will enable people to get from Parramatta to the city much, much more quickly.

The Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan will see the Werrington Arterial Road built and, of course, the upgrade of the Northern Road from Narellan all the way through to the hospital at the Great Western Highway. The Western Sydney Airport foundation works will see $115 million to start the preparatory work there and the commencement of the rail box so that we can ensure that into the future we will also be connected by rail right across our region.

Finally, the work that this government has done with the New South Wales Baird government in regard to asset recycling will see massive work done to the metropolitan part of the Western Line, which will increase capacity and improve the efficiency of our region. That means you can get the city quicker. That means you can get your jobs quicker. I would like to thank the government for its work, and I would like to see you all out there in hustings very soon.