Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. It defies belief that the main access road in and out of the Central West relies on a bridge built by a convict chain gang in the 1830s. The Great Western Highway at Victoria Pass is now closed because, unsurprisingly, that Convict Bridge has failed. This highway is not fit for purpose. For decades, all the major parties have let us down on access to the city—just cheap talk, broken promises and small change. Will you apply pressure to and work with the New South Wales government to finally deliver a genuine expressway through to Sydney?

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

Can I thank the member for Calare for his question and for his consistent raising of this issue on behalf of the people of Calare. As you're aware, you are correct. The Great Western Highway currently has damage, impacting travel along the highway. The New South Wales government has advised that both lanes of the highway are closed at Victoria Pass, following defects identified at Mitchell's Causeway and what is known as the Convict Bridge. It is an operational matter for the New South Wales government, in terms of trying to get that road reopened. It is a complex geotechnical issue. Engineers, as I understand it, have been on the ground since Thursday, and an abundance of caution is required when issues like this happen.

As you're aware, when we came to office we inherited, frankly, a project which had funded two parts of the highway, but the middle bit, which was not funded at all, would have required an 11-kilometre, $14 billion tunnel under the Blue Mountains. No government is proposing to do that. What the New South Wales government went and did is another study of the highway, to look at: 'Where are the projects that, sensibly, we can work on together?' We await the New South Wales government's requests, which we consider in each and every budget, in terms of what projects can be done on the western highway. But I think the priority, right at the moment, is: the New South Wales government want to get that road reopened as soon as they possibly can, and we'll work with them on what future projects are required.