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

The English architect Christopher Wren was responsible for some of London's most iconic and enduring buildings. No doubt his magnum opus is the magnificent St Paul's Cathedral. Having seen it for myself, I can testify to its grandness, timeless beauty and appeal. But he was also responsible for the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich and the south front of Hampton Court Palace. It's an impressive legacy and it has stood the test of time. It's little wonder, then, that the inscription on his tomb at St Paul's reads: 'Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.'

In Sydney, Francis Greenway is our equivalent to Wren. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Hyde Park Barracks, St James' Church and Saint Matthew's Anglican Church in Windsor are all stand-outs, and in my part of Sydney we're blessed to have some of Greenway's works: St Luke's Anglican Church in Liverpool and the technical college. And this city, Canberra, bears testament to the skill and vision of Walter Burley Griffin.

The epitaph on Wren's tomb is not just applicable to architects; it can equally be applied to governments—that is, when all the dust and accounts have settled and a particular government's record is surveyed, what will be the future that generations find? What will be their legacy? What is their monument? What will be their epitaph for the future generations to ponder? Some achievements, of course, are made of things other than bricks and mortar—think of Whitlam and Medicare, Fraser and multiculturalism, Keating and floating the dollar. Australia without them is unthinkable. But some government achievement legacies are very much the bricks and mortar kind. Nowadays, we call them infrastructure. My electorate is one of the fastest growing in the country. Every day, green fields are making way for housing. Every day new families are moving in and new communities are being created. Suburbs like Austral, Kemps Creek and Bringelly are large areas of land that are now home to thousands of first home buyers and families moving out west.

In the spirit of Christopher Wren, what does a survey of my electorate reveal in terms of how we fared under various governments, both Labor and Liberal, in terms of infrastructure? What monuments have various governments left in my electorate? Whitlam, of course, is synonymous with Werriwa. The late Neville Wran recalled:

It was said of Caesar Augustus that he found Rome brick, and left it marble. It will be said of Gough Whitlam that he found the outer suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane unsewered, and left them fully flushed.

That's one of Gough's greatest achievements for where I live—the National Sewerage Program. Notwithstanding Gough's heroic efforts, there are still parts of my electorate unsewered. The rapid growth in my community was not unexpectable or unpredictable. In the 80s and 90s, the Hawke-Keating government had the foresight to initiate a series of land acquisitions in Badgerys Creek for a future airport, and, in 2014, the airport was officially designated. The suburbs of Austral and Leppington North are part of the south-west priority land release, with the draft precinct plan released in March 2013. Almost 10 years ago, these areas were marked for significant residential development with rezonings taking place. Yet almost a decade of incompetence by federal and state coalition governments has left our community without sewerage, public transport, schools and roads. These weren't just built too late; some of them still haven't been built at all.

Phase 1 of the Austral Leppington wastewater stage 3 development, which is to provide an interim solution for 1,700 lots, is expected to start providing services in December of this year, after several delays—that is, provide safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. Phase 2, which will deliver a lasting solution, will not be completed until 2026, subject to the construction of the Upper South Creek Advanced Water Recycling Centre. And this is only sewerage.

Residents who already live in these growing suburbs must drive on incomplete roads as they drop off their kids at the local public high school, 20 minutes away in a different suburb. It is the unfortunate and disastrous consequence of ill-planning and coalition governments hoping that someone else would build the infrastructure, someone else would provide the public services that we expect from government. Who's that someone else? Well, after a decade of coalition governments, the answer is quite clear: no-one. It's communities like mine that suffer. I commend the recent announcement by the New South Wales Labor government to build a public high school in Austral, an important step in providing the infrastructure and services our community needs.

But now let's go back a few decades, to a moment in history that should have been viewed as an infrastructure renaissance in Australia. During the late 90s and early 2000s, Australia experienced a once-in-a-lifetime minerals boom. In fact, the world's price of Australian mining exports more than tripled in the 10 years to 2012. You would think, with the rivers of gold literally flowing over that decade, so would infrastructure, but, unfortunately, the record says something else. There is a common belief among those opposite that the Howard years were an example of fiscal responsibility. The data, however, says otherwise.

In 2013, an IMF working paper assessed 200 years of government financial records. It found that in recent years, before 2013, Australia had two periods of fiscal policies leading to unsustainable fiscal positions, and both of those occurred under the Howard government. Dispelling the myth of fiscal responsibility under the Howard government, they saw a revenue boom that brought an estimated $334 billion in revenue between 2004 and 2007, yet the Howard government failed to invest in a once-in-a-generation revenue windfall into meaningful and lasting infrastructure. Instead, it spent $314 billion on tax cuts in the hope of winning the 2007 election. A once-in-a-generation boom was wasted and squandered on shortsighted motivations of a failing and wasteful government. It's exactly what you'd expect from those opposite, but our growing communities, both in Werriwa and across Australia, continue to pay for these actions.

A strong believer in our federated system, Whitlam saw the importance of working with state and local governments to deliver local projects. In keeping with this tradition, the federal government has opened the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program to work hand in hand with local and state governments to deliver transport investment in our regions. For suburban communities like mine, the urban precincts and partnership program will help drive more liveable communities across our larger cities.

The Albanese government is spending $120 billion on land transport infrastructure projects across Australia, such as $1.6 billion for the M12 motorway, which will be a vital toll-free road benefiting many in our community who travel around our region for work. It will mean they can get to and from work faster, spending more time with families and less in traffic. I know many in my community will benefit from the $6 million that was allocated to the Aviation Road and Middleton Drive to ease congestion in the suburbs of Austral and Middleton Grange.

Our commitment to infrastructure is why our government introduced legislation to strengthen Infrastructure Australia, acting on the recommendations of the Albanese government's election commitment to undertake an independent review of the body. The previous government made a habit of announcing press release projects and never delivering, leaving communities with nothing but broken promises and a newspaper article. This government will position Infrastructure Australia as a trusted source of quality, independent advice to better support government to deliver nationally significant infrastructure projects for all Australians.

A decade of coalition governments, both federally and in NSW, has caused untold damage to infrastructure planning, and it will take more than a year to undo. But Labor governments don't make excuses; we build and invest in local communities because we recognise the damage caused and the needs of Australians. I am proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is doing that in my community.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 28