Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the:

(a) substantial investment the Government has made since 2013 in funding urban infrastructure projects to reduce congestion and improve quality of life for people living in urban areas; and

(b) significant role the Government has played in partnering with state governments and private enterprise to ensure these essential projects are carried forward;

(2) acknowledges the positive impact these projects have had on the Australian economy through boosting productivity and creating jobs;

(3) commends the Government for its ongoing commitment to reducing traffic congestion and improving road safety through a record $110 billion transport infrastructure program, boosting the economy, creating jobs and getting Australians home sooner and safer; and

(4) congratulates the Government on the recent completion of numerous major infrastructure projects, including NorthConnex, which is enabling drivers to travel between Newcastle and Melbourne without stopping at a single traffic light, boosting productivity as well as improving traffic flow and pedestrian safety on Pennant Hills Road.

Pennant Hills Road has been consistently voted the worst road in Australia. That's why the federal government, in partnership with the New South Wales government and Transurban, has delivered NorthConnex. Opened on 30 October it has taken 5,000 trucks off Pennant Hills Road every day, giving the road back to our community, saving people valuable time, reducing noise and improving pedestrian safety and general quality of life for local residents. I want to share with you some of the positive impacts that NorthConnex has had on my community in their own words. Gail Zissermann from West Pennant Hills said: 'What a relief not to be squeezed between trucks on Pennant Hills Road anymore. You can see the jacarandas and bougainvilleas in full bloom, and I don't actually have to make plans anymore about how to avoid Pennant Hills Road when I need to go out locally.' Vernon McKenzie of Beecroft says: 'How's the serenity? So much serenity. It's whisper, whisper quiet now'.

It's hard for those who aren't from the area to understand how bad it has been. Michael Woods, a parent of a Little Athletics child who trains at Pennant Hills Park, said: 'I recall a quote from a new resident who arrived at training a few years ago. "It just took me 25 minutes to drive somewhere five minutes away," they said. The fact that a whole group of other parents did not look surprised defines what the pre-NorthConnex world was like.' Colin Mead from Cherrybrook told me about buying a boat from a house on Pennant Hills Road with his dad when he was a child. He had to run to the nearest pedestrian lights to press the button and get a break in the traffic just so they could pull out safely. That was in 1981! You can imagine how much worse it got over the 40 years that followed. This has now changed overnight with the opening of the NorthConnex. Kent Ross says, 'Last week I had to travel at peak hour, and the result was staggering. Instead of taking anything up to an hour to travel about six kilometres, it took 10 minutes.'

Russell Coward is a business owner in Castle Hill. His travel across the electorate has been transformed: 'What a dream run. Traffic flow on this normally nightmare road was amazing.' Mark from Berowra Heights says, 'Twenty years of Pennant Hills Road was tough. Today the tunnel is bliss. It has a cost, and thankfully my employer picks up the bill, and so they should. I'm available at work for an extra hour every day. My commute is one hour less each day, give or take a bit. It's magnificent.' A couple of people have described it as like going back in time. Margaret and Barrie Purdon said: 'Everything is just like it was when we arrived in Beecroft 44 years ago. The first night was so quiet I woke up because I couldn't hear the traffic.' Joan Kelly described today's Pennant Hills Road as being like the road in 1967. She said, 'It is like living in a parallel universe.'

Safety has been a big feature of the change for a lot of people. Tito Carrasco says, 'We've been able to use Pennant Hills Road without the fear of being bullied by semitrailers and big trucks,' and Roger Fairfax says, 'Since NorthConnex opened it's made Pennant Hills Road a much safer, less traumatic experience while driving, as trucks are not on your tail.' Many people have found the benefits to be far better than anticipated. Greg Denton from Dural says: 'The benefits are greater than the government has said, saving up to 15 minutes. Surely it's way more than that and especially so for the upcoming holiday traffic season. Personally the benefit to me has been a much simpler, smoother, quicker drive along Pennant Hills Road.'

The Bruce family have lived very close to Pennant Hills Road at West Pennant Hills for 30 years. They say, 'We knew it would be better when the tunnel opened, but the difference is absolutely amazing.' James Simmons says: 'I can't believe the difference NorthConnex has made to our area, to us personally. It's such a relief, especially at night. We'd also get this black dust covering the white painted windows and the ground around our area. That also seems to have stopped.' Iris Kao says: 'During the construction stage and before the opening of NorthConnex, I didn't expect or couldn't imagine there'd be any impact on me. However, there's been a huge positive impact on Pennant Hills Road from day one of the opening. It is life changing'.

Sue and Les Watkins have lived on Pennant Hills Road for 44 years. When they moved, their family would picnic in their front yard on weekends. By 2019 that was an impossible thought. They said, 'NorthConnex has been a godsend: few heavy trucks and no daily traffic jams, quiet nights and traffic flowing smoothly. We have always loved living here and NorthConnex has returned our suburb to the local community'. Eugene O'Reilly told me how much the golfers at Pennant Hills Golf Club are loving the change: 'The second green, all of the par 5 third and the fourth tee are a marvel at Pennant Hills Golf Club as players have returned to the serenity expected from a suburban golf course.'

I would like to finish with the words of Evelyn Proimos of Beecroft. She says: 'At the opening of NorthConnex tunnel Julian Leeser mentioned that it gave us our community back. No truer words were spoken'. I want to thank our wonderful community and I want to say what a great benefit NorthConnex has been.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not often that I rise to speak on government private members' motions, but this one caught my eye when it came through on the Notice Paper. Whilst I want to commend the member for bringing forward a motion on infrastructure spending, because it is dear to my heart, I do think there is a couple of things that need pointing out.

The first is in relation to NorthConnex. This project was actually initiated by the Labor government federally under the then minister for infrastructure. The memorandum of understanding for the project between the F3 and the M2 was signed by a Labor government on 4 June 2013 and the New South Wales coalition government. That memorandum was with Transurban. Both levels of government committed $405 million in each of their 2013 budgets.

This is the problem with this government. We got up to 2015 and there was not a single new infrastructure project announced. It was all Labor projects that they were starting and digging the soil on. That's what happens when you lose government: you don't get to turn the sods and you don't get to turn up at the openings. They were legacy projects that we are now seeing, finally, actually delivered, but they were delivered under a Labor government when we committed that funding.

When you say 'Thank you' and your constituents come and talk to you about these projects, it's important to actually understand where that funding came from in the first place. The difference between what a Labor government did and what this government is doing is that we funded projects in Liberal Party seats. We knew that congestion wasn't just a problem in inner-city Labor held seats or seats in Western Sydney that Labor held. We knew there were problems in Liberal seats as well. That is the problem with this government. They have used infrastructure funding to pork barrel their seats. That is a damning indictment of their capacity to actually understand what their role of government is. It isn't just about staying in power and governing, much as it is great that you're all there saying how fabulous it was that you were able to announce funding for this. It is actually about delivering for all Australians, whether they live in the seats you hold or the seats that we or Independent or other crossbench members hold.

This is the problem with this government: lots of announcements about things but no delivery. The fact that they are now delivering projects that the current Leader of the Opposition announced when he was minister for infrastructure is a great thing. We're really pleased to see it finished. But the fact that you have had $1.2 billion each year—last year you topped it with $1.7 billion—of underspends in infrastructure shows just how much you're announcing but just how little you're actually delivering.

I particularly want to focus a bit on the Urban Congestion Fund as one of these iconic examples of how skewed this government's funding commitments are when it comes to issues of urban congestion. The government wants us to thank them in this motion for reducing urban congestion and improving the quality of life for people living in urban areas. But this couldn't be more detached from the actual truth. The government has used the Urban Congestion Fund to funnel money into their own seats. They were largely around announcements during the election campaign. In the lead-up to the last election, 133 of 160 Urban Congestion Fund projects were in Liberal and targeted seats. What I am referring to here is the announcement of those projects, not necessarily the delivery of them. It is an important distinction to make because—despite the fact that there have been announcements—when it comes to the actual delivery under this program, this one program has underspent by $572 million last year alone, with only $148 million of the promised $720 million getting out the door. So, not only have you got all of these announcements in Liberal Party seats; you can't actually deliver them. This is part of the problem that we've got when it comes to infrastructure. In South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory, the government didn't spend a single cent through the Urban Congestion Fund—not a cent!—and in New South Wales, again, zero dollars spent, in terms of this particular fund. This government claims credit for previous Labor governments' announcements. It's very happy to be there at the opening, yet it can't deliver even on its own pork-barrelled promises when it comes to infrastructure.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Morrison government's record investment in infrastructure projects across the country is creating much-needed jobs and reducing congestion on our roads and our rail network. The investment is also improving the quality of life for those who use and live near busy travel corridors, meaning they can spend less time commuting and more time doing the things they love and being with the people they love, and so I rise today in support of the member for Berowra's motion. I share his commitment to seeing world-class infrastructure built in our local communities, including in my electorate of Robertson.

The coalition government's 10-year infrastructure plan will see a record $110 billion invested in our roads and rail to create jobs and boost productivity. This includes $6.1 billion towards the Roads to Recovery Program, which will support important maintenance on local road infrastructure. In Robertson, for example, the Central Coast Council will receive almost $14 million over the next four years to fix local roads in the Central Coast community. As part of that, there's $335,000 that will go towards improving Patonga Drive, with planning currently underway and work expected to take place this month. There's also $320,000 towards fixing Booker Bay Road at Booker Bay, a project that will commence in February next year as part of the Roads to Recovery Program. Maintaining and improving our local roads is critical, especially as more people work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. These roads are part of the more than 60,000 sites which have been repaired and upgraded through this federal government initiative.

The $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund is also helping to fund infrastructure projects that will reduce traffic on local roads. Under this package, almost $87 million will go towards upgrading 29 individual road projects as part of the Central Coast Roads Package. I'm pleased to update this chamber that, as part of this package, the road upgrade with drainage and pavement works have been completed at Gem Road in Pearl Beach. Road patching and resurfacing has also been completed on Racecourse Road between Bean Street West and Showground Road, which is really good news for the hundreds of cars which travel along there every day. Stage 4 of the major upgrades to Oceano Street in Copacabana continues to progress and, one street over, the road safety improvements to Del Monte Place began on the first half of the road in October. These upgrades will help to rectify some of the longstanding issues in relation to local roads, with these critical investments possible thanks to the coalition government's responsible fiscal management.

Despite many residents on the Central Coast continuing to work from home, recent analysis from Sea Change Solutions shows weekday traffic along the M1 motorway is actually close to returning to pre-COVID levels. I'm advised that their analysis also shows a more than 10 per cent increase in the number of heavy vehicles travelling along the M1 since last year. The recent opening of the $3 billion NorthConnex tunnel will help to take up to 5,000 of these heavy vehicles off Pennant Hills Road and will reduce congestion for the tens of thousands of motorists who travel to Sydney each day. I was really delighted to attend the opening of NorthConnex with my state and federal colleagues, including the member for Berowra, at the end of October. We were also joined by some of the 17,000 men and women who have worked on the site since construction began. Locally, more than 1,500 Central Coast workers and 50 businesses contributed to making this project a reality. This included DH Holland Constructions based in West Gosford, ColdMist Cooling at Empire Bay, BRP Industries in Somersby, and Goodgear at West Gosford. The project has received praise from our local business leaders, including Matthew Wales, the president of the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, who called NorthConnex: 'a game-changing piece of infrastructure'. NorthConnex will allow motorists travelling from the Central Coast to bypass 40 sets of traffic lights on their journey to the Sydney CBD, meaning commuters will be able to get to where they need to be sooner.

The Morrison government has a proven track record of investing in important urban infrastructure across the country and creating thousands of jobs in the process. Our 10-year, record $110 billion plan illustrates our vision for reducing congestion and improving the quality of life for people right across Australia. I thank the member for Berowra for introducing this motion and I commend it to the chamber.