Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all love our local ABC. I wake up to Newcastle ABC at three minutes to six every morning to hear Dave Anderson's surf report, even though I don't go to the surf! The other highlight for me is the traffic report from the local RMS representative. Every morning in the Hunter the traffic report starts not in busy Newcastle but on the New England Highway just south of Singleton, where a roadblock occurs every morning and every afternoon because of the economic activity driven by the coalmining industry.

When last in government, under the guidance of the member for Grayndler, we invested $1.7 billion on the Hunter Expressway, an important project which has driven further economic growth. But our needs didn't finish there. We need to end that traffic nightmare south of Singleton every morning and afternoon. We need a Singleton bypass and we need an expanded highway between the Hunter Expressway and what will be the Singleton bypass.

For the last six years we've been absolutely let down by this government and the New South Wales government. Tired of waiting for New South Wales, we promised $250 million to build that bypass by the election, a commitment not matched by this Prime Minister. But it's time he showed some support for our coalminers by investing in the area and removing that traffic roadblock.