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

The south-west Sydney growth area takes in several suburbs in my electorate of Werriwa, including Austral. I recently held mobile offices in Austral with the Liverpool City councillors Nathan Hagarty and Charishma Kaliyanda. Urban sprawl has inevitably caught up with Austral, once a semi-rural community on Sydney's fringe. What hasn't caught up is the critical amenities to support it. The state government is happy to collect millions in stamp duty and contributions but it's not delivering on much-needed services and infrastructure.

Many new residents move to Austral to start young families. At present, there is one single public school. While the government have earmarked sites for future schools, inexplicably they have decided one site for a high school is no longer needed and they will instead double the capacity of another. Parents are frustrated and concerned that their children will have a 30-minute walk not just to get to school but to get to the nearest bus stop.

Other families are forced to battle congestion and traffic along Fifteenth Avenue. Each morning, including on weekends, the gridlock stretches for kilometres. Despite being the main east-west route through Austral, Fifteenth Avenue remains a local council road without kerbing and guttering. Residents tell me they were happy to pay a premium because of promises made in the glossy brochures and by salesmen. They are disappointed that the reality is so different.

I know Liverpool Council has lobbied for the upgrade of Fifteenth Avenue for years. Planning for this upgrade started nine years ago, when I was a councillor. I remember being invited to those preliminary meetings. Fifteenth Avenue was identified by the state government for upgrade as part of its Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution. But, to date, they've only approved funding for design work. The people of Austral and surrounding suburbs cannot wait any longer. Construction of an upgraded Fifteenth Avenue must start now.

Shamefully, failure does not end there. Sadly, 50 years ago, the former member for Werriwa Gough Whitlam committed to connecting Sydney's outer suburbs to the sewerage network. We are going backwards. The Liberal state government is happy to let the development rip. Appalling, it will not deliver sewerage to large parts of Austral until after 2025. Even with the strong objections of council, the state's Land and Environment Court has approved housing developments in Austral with pump-out sewerage—in 2021, 15 kilometres from Liverpool's CBD!

In the coming years, Austral will see construction of up to 17,000 new dwellings, putting its population on a par with some of New South Wales' biggest regional cities. Wagga Wagga has 14 public schools, five post offices, a Centrelink and Service NSW. These places are well-connected and they deserve all of the things that they have. But Austral, in my electorate, deserves its fair share as well.