Transport Services

Ms ALISON MEGARRITY: My question without notice is to the Minister for Transport. Will the Minister update the House on the Iemma Government's plans to deliver better transport services?

Mr JOHN WATKINS: I am very pleased that this year's budget delivers $4.24 million to upgrade to Holsworthy commuter car park, which will dramatically increase in size to between 300 and 350 car spaces. The member for Menai lobbied me tirelessly about that and I am very pleased that we have been able to deliver it. That is just one small example of the Iemma Government's massive investment in public transport in the coming year. This Government has delivered a record transport budget with $5.9 billion to be spent on public transport in the coming year. That is $5.9 billion on delivering services and investing in our future plans to deliver more transport infrastructure for the people of New South Wales.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Upper Hunter will cease interjecting. I call the member for Upper Hunter to order for the second time.

Mr JOHN WATKINS: This year's budget includes an allocation of $3.75 billion, up 12.2 per cent on last year. We are investing $1.8 billion in public transport infrastructure in this year's budget to improve our rail and bus networks. A massive $1.6 billion of this amount will be invested in rail projects such as new trains, new rail lines and new stations. That is on top of the $1.6 billion spent in last year's budget. This new rail infrastructure will continue to deliver improved public transport for the people of the State. The budget includes the first major spending on the $12 billion North West Metro project, more funds for the South West rail line and more money for new rail carriages. We are investing $30 million in a joint State-Federal working group to look at a second western metro. We are committed to delivering the first metro for the people of the North West, from Epping to the Hills Centre by 2015, and from Rouse Hill to the central business district by 2017.

More and more people are using the public transport system and that is why we are investing massive sums in it. With petrol prices continuing to rise and putting pressure on the family budget, more people are using public transport. We are seeing record growth in patronage as people flood back to public transport and stay with it as they find the services are safe, clean and reliable. Our investment in rail shows that we are serious about improving services for those passengers. We have allocated $106 million as the initial amount for the North West Metro. When digging starts in 2010, expenditure will ratchet up on that huge project. We have provided a further $64 million to continue work on the $1.4 billion South West rail link, which is on track for completion in 2012, bringing rail for the first time to those growth areas of south-western Sydney. It will include 13 kilometres of track, two new stations, about 1,600 new car spaces and a substantial upgrade of Glenfield station. We have set aside $212 million for property acquisitions for these two major rail projects. For the CityRail network we will provide more than $353 million in this year's expenditure on the $1.8 billion clearways project.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Willoughby will cease interjecting.

[Interruption]

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Willoughby to order.

Mr JOHN WATKINS: We are not only getting on with the job of improving and expanding the rail network, we are also buying twenty-first century rolling stock to retire old trains and increase capacity. This budget includes continued investment of $152.9 million on new and improved rail carriages in the coming financial year, as part of a record $4 billion investment in new rail carriages. We will continue the rollout of our outer suburban carriage trains, which are already running to the Illawarra and the Central Coast.

It is not just the big rail projects that make a difference; smaller local projects can also make a big difference to people's lives. That is why we are spending more than $24.6 million to deliver on our commitment to increase commuter car parking in target areas. Commuter car parks will be built or extended at Wentworthville, Holsworthy, Woy Woy, Werrington, Seven Hills, St Marys, Glenfield and Blacktown. That means hundreds of new spaces so residents of these suburbs can take advantage of the rail network to make their way to work and home again each day. We are also looking at the potential for car parks at Revesby and Schofields-Quakers Hill. In addition, work is continuing to deliver additional commuter parking at Tuggerah, Morisset, Leppington and Edmondson Park.

We have allocated a further $50 million in this budget to complete station upgrades, start new upgrades and plan for future upgrades right across the CityRail network. That is another $50 million to ensure that when people go to their local station it will be clean, modern, safe and accessible. That figure is on top of the $454 million that has already been spent on CityRail stations in previous years. This budget provides a bonus for passengers with the extension of the pensioner excursion ticket to country New South Wales. We are supporting our farmers and the freight industry through a 28 per cent increase in the maintenance budget for the Rail Infrastructure Corporation, bringing the total allocation to $166.5 million.

Buses are a vital plank of our public transport system and carry almost as many people as our CityRail network. This year's budget will reach a new high of $903.3 million for bus services across the State. Private operators will receive $604.7 million to fund bus services in outer metropolitan areas as well as rural and regional areas and the city, and State transit will receive $298.6 million in 2008-09. We are providing the funding for private bus operators to purchase 101 new buses worth $35 million, as part of their new contracts. Funding is also included for an expansion of the State Transit fleet by adding 150 new environmentally friendly bendy buses at a cost of $112 million over the next three years. We are investing in more than 400 new buses for State Transit and private bus operators, for delivery between 2008 and 2012, at a cost of $222 million. We are keeping the age of our fleet down by retiring older models while at the same time increasing the number of places for passengers. We are spending $50 million on State Transit bus depot upgrades, including $27.2 million to double the capacity of Leichhardt Depot, $6.4 million for an upgrade to Ryde Depot and $10.7 million to expand Brookvale Depot. Sydney Ferries will receive an additional $20.3 million, increasing the total amount of funding for ferries to $80.5 million in the coming financial year.

The Iemma Government continues its long-held commitment to independent safety investigation in the transport portfolio. We are committed to supporting professional and independent safety organisations such as the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator and the Office of Transport Safety Investigation, which is why we have allocated almost $20 million in this year's budget to both those organisations. This massive public transport budget of $5.9 billion worth of expenditure on transport will continue to improve a basic service on which the people of this State depend so much.