Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two weeks ago, the shadow assistant minister for infrastructure, the member for Shortland and I visited a causeway in my electorate, where Cambridge Avenue passes over the Georges River at Glenfield. The road is a major artery, particularly for the suburbs to the west, providing a vital shorter link to the motorway and the Sydney CBD beyond. The causeway crosses the boundary between where the road is Commonwealth property, on the Defence lands around Holsworthy, and where it enters the surrounding suburbs. Consequently, responsibility for upgrading the crossing has been the subject of buck-passing between three levels of government for quite some time, much to the frustration of many local residents, and the subject of representations from the previous members for Werriwa.

I note that with the additional rain in our area over the last two weeks the road has again been forced to close for a number of days, forcing local residents to add upwards of half an hour to their daily commutes. This is by no means a rare occurrence and, understandably, continues to be a source of great frustration for local residents. This frustration has only grown with the inability of any organisation to take responsibility for the problem, and the impending construction of the Moorebank intermodal will add even more congestion to a thoroughfare that is barely coping at the moment. It is time that the state and federal Liberal governments put aside their differences and worked together to end the ridiculous stalemate on the much needed upgrade to the causeway.