Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've long been a supporter of the Western Sydney airport. It's just off the northern boundary of my electorate of Macarthur, and it has been amazing to see the transformation of that area as the airport has been built. Thankfully, we're nearing the completion of this very lengthy project. We are expecting the first planes to land at the airport in two years time. Yet, unfortunately, it appears that the airport itself and the city around it, now called Bradfield, may well be white elephants unless transport links are approached appropriately, and this is not happening.

Instead we've seen pork barrelling by the previous coalition governments, both state and federal, in developing the rail link from the north, from St Marys, to Western Sydney airport without a link to the south, to my electorate of Macarthur and to Campbelltown, and then to Sydney itself and Kingsford Smith airport, the main Sydney airport. Unless this rail link is put in place, these two places—the airport and the city of Bradfield—are very likely to be white elephants, and it's due to mismanagement by previous coalition governments, state and federal. How this can happen is quite beyond me. Again, it shines a light on the very questionable planning and development decisions by previous New South Wales governments. I have long called for a royal commission into planning and development in New South Wales. The revelations about what's happening at Sydney Metro—with grave concerns about its contracts being awarded to people who don't even live in New South Wales and are involved with the Sydney Metro projects—are very concerning and reinforce my call for a royal commission into planning and development in New South Wales.

Businesses that will operate at the aerotropolis cannot operate without a link to Sydney airport and Sydney itself, and that requires a rail link from Western Sydney airport, through Bradfield and on to Macarthur, Campbelltown and Sydney. If this doesn't happen, the airport and the city are likely to not function properly and not provide the many jobs that I was very excited to see had been planned for that area. We've seen, with Sydney Metro, how poor planning and cost blowouts undermine the potential of much-needed infrastructure projects. The Rozelle interchange of course has continually been talked about in terms of what a disaster that has been. It's been a $4 billion planning disaster by the planning group of the New South Wales government. It's a real issue and it's an abuse of taxpayers' dollars and an abuse of our institutions.

I'm very concerned that, unless we get the rail link done properly, Western Sydney airport will not function the way I want it to function. I want it to be the best airport in the country, and we need to get the rail links right. We've already got the tunnel-boring machines to do the tunnels into Western Sydney airport from the south. It's really a false economy to not continue the line through Bradfield and on to Campbelltown. It is crazy. It's only a few kilometres and it's something that really has to be done if Bradfield and the airport are going to function properly and the airport is to be what it could be. It also will not deliver jobs or freight unless we get the rail links right. At present, there are no appropriate transport links from my electorate of Macarthur to, just a few kilometres away, Western Sydney airport and Bradfield. This is a huge planning issue and a huge issue for my constituents that is not being addressed by the present New South Wales government. I urge them to reconsider their plans and complete the few kilometres of rail link from Bradfield to Campbelltown so that my constituents and the many people coming from Sydney can get to Bradfield and get to Western Sydney airport.

I should also say that the actual name of the new aerotropolis city, Bradfield, is totally inappropriate. It was named after a white engineer who died many, many years ago. An Aboriginal name would have been appropriate, such as Wirraway, which is an Aboriginal name familiar to the area and also the name of a plane designed and built in Australia during the Second World War. If they don't want to choose Wirraway, they could use Dharawal, after the Dharawal people, who are the people of my electorate of Macarthur and the area of the Western Sydney airport. It would be a much more appropriate name. Unless the government does the right thing by the airport and by the aerotropolis city, we will not have the type of infrastructure that we deserve.