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- 5 September 2006
Port Macquarie Roads
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Page: 1423
Mr ROBERT OAKESHOTT (Port Macquarie) [6.17 p.m.]: The Pacific Highway through to the Oxley Highway and what are called the Inner Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road are important to future road planning in the Port Macquarie electorate. I refer first to the Pacific Highway. In 1996 both the State and Federal governments promised to provide $2 billion over a 10-year program; in 2006 less than 50 per cent of the Pacific Highway has been completed. Both the State and Federal budgets this year allocated $320 million to the Port Macquarie electorate—the funding was matched 50:50. I am pleased to report that, once the section of the Pacific Highway from Moreland to Heron's Creek is completed, there will be a dual carriageway from Taree to Port Macquarie.
Last week the Government announced the upgrade of the corridor from the Oxley Highway to Kempsey. The Pacific Highway road works in the Port Macquarie electorate will have a significant impact on improving the safety and efficiency of the local road network. For example, the flyover that is being proposed for just south of the very dangerous Hastings River Drive intersection has flow-on implications for planning in the industrial area. If the flyover is put in place, industrial zonings can be opened up along the highway corridor, which is sensible planning, and that eases the huge pressures currently on the industrial area.
That then allows planning for the widening of Lake Road versus the very expensive and environmentally sensitive option of putting the outer ring road through an east-west corridor through a nature reserve and requiring an Act of Parliament, a secondary option, in my opinion. The fact that the corridor has been selected with the potential flyover, freeing up industrial zoning along the highway corridor, means that planning within the town industrial area can progress, and now is the time for the community of Port Macquarie to debate the long-term future of the industrial area, which is sometimes known as the retail-wholesale area of town. We want to see future growth of industrial land as well as the existing corridor of east-west traffic, and a sensible option looks to be the widening of Lake Road.
I can report at the same time the inner ring road, which required an Act of Parliament approved by Minister Debus, is progressing well. That will have enormous positive implications for traffic flow from the Lighthouse Beach area through to the Oxley Highway, including Lake Road and Gordon Street. That is progressing well, primarily driven by council, but requires an Act of Parliament similar to what has been asked for in the outer ring road proposal, but that is unlikely to be approved by Parliament due to the environmental sensitivity and the widening of Lake Road.
Finally, the well-publicised promise by the Minister for Roads in 2002 for the Oxley Highway is still very much on the table. I am pleased to report to the House that negotiations are progressing. Four more acquisitions are to take place. I was speaking with one of the landowners last week, and he has confirmed that the Roads and Traffic Authority has started a formal negotiation process with him. He is one of the major landowners along that highway corridor. I hope the Government negotiates in just terms with the individuals involved but continues the recent push to complete the acquisitions as quickly as possible for the benefit of the broader community. This Oxley Highway upgrade is critically important to the future growth of Port Macquarie. Basically 10,000 new residents will be living between the Pacific Highway and the current central business district. It is all planned around this Oxley Highway upgrade. I urge the Government to continue to progress that acquisition progress as quickly as possible.
Private members' statements noted.
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