Pacific Highway Upgrade

Mr MICHAEL DALEY (Maroubra—Parliamentary Secretary) [3.56 p.m.]: I move:

That this House:

1. congratulates the New South Wales Government on its record 2008-09 allocation of $613 million to continue the upgrading of the Pacific Highway;

2. applauds the New South Wales and Federal governments for increasing the current joint three year funding commitment to $1.6 billion; and

3. condemns the New South Wales Opposition for its complete lack of commitment and policies on this important issue, and its inability to lobby the previous Federal Government to contribute its fair share to the upgrade of the Pacific Highway.

The Pacific Highway upgrade is one of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Australia. The imploded Pacific Highway upgrade will mean more than 660 kilometres of continuous dual carriageway from the F3 near Hexham to the Queensland border. The Iemma Government is committed to completion of this massive project as soon as possible. In 2008-09, $613 million is being invested in the highway alone—15 per cent of the State's entire roads budget. It is pleasing to report to the House that the new Rudd Labor Government is also committed to this project, as demonstrated by the recent Federal budget and acceleration of funding for key highway projects, such as the Ballina bypass and Bulahdelah bypass. The Iemma and Rudd governments are getting on with the job cooperatively to continue the development of the Pacific Highway as a dual carriageway from Hexham to the Queensland border.

This year's record funding commitment for the Pacific Highway represents a 37 per cent increase on last year's budget, or $166 million more. This increase was acknowledged and welcomed by the shadow Minister for Roads, Duncan Gay, on 2GB on 29 May, but strangely and hypocritically he continues to criticise the investment made by the Iemma Labor Government. It seems the member has not only been ignoring the increasing amount of funding allocated to the highway by the Iemma Government over recent years, but he has also failed to lobby the previous Federal Government, as has this Opposition, to contribute its fair share of funds to this national highway.

The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! The member for Clarence will cease interjecting.

Mr MICHAEL DALEY: His hapless colleague, the member for Coffs Harbour, defending his hopeless record in securing federal funds for this highway, said in April this year, "In this place it's not about who put in what. It's about spending money, especially on regional roads rather than in Sydney." Hear! Hear! The facts speak for themselves. The Iemma Government's record roads budget for 2008-09 provides $3.1 billion, or 77.5 per cent, to be spent outside metropolitan areas. As I have said, 15 percent of the current budget is going towards the Pacific Highway alone. Between 1996 and 2006 the New South Wales Labor Government spent $1.66 billion on the highway, more than double the Howard Government's $660 million. I am pleased to say that with the election of Kevin Rudd we have entered into a new era of cooperation and commitment with both Governments agreeing to increase their share of the current joint funding figure to $1.6 billion, up from $1.3 billion in the period ending 2009. This means that by the end of 2009 the New South Wales Labor Government will have spent in the order of $2.5 billion on upgrading the Pacific Highway. The Rudd Labor Government has committed to spending $2.45 billion in upgrading this critical piece of national infrastructure—three times what the previous Federal Government allocated over a similar period of time.

Right now the Roads and Traffic Authority and the Federal Department of Infrastructure are working on a memorandum of understanding for the funding and project priorities to continue the upgrade of the Pacific Highway between 2009-10 and 2013-14. These priorities will be based on criteria including road safety benefits, traffic efficiency and level of service and amenity to local communities. When we talk about the Pacific Highway it is very important to acknowledge the positives, particularly when an impotent Opposition continues to complain, which is all they are good at.

The roads Minister advises me that more than 267 kilometres of the Pacific Highway have already been upgraded to double-lane divided road. Around 87 kilometres are currently under construction. The rest of the highway link is either planned or has a preferred route identified and 49 projects have now opened to traffic. I understand the final design for the highway is almost complete. In the Iemma Government's record roads budget for 2008-09, $30 million is invested to complete the 9.6 kilometre Bonneville Bypass before the end of 2008; and $250 million is also invested to complete the 33 kilometre Coopernook to Heron's Creek upgrade by the end of 2009, the biggest project to be completed since the upgrade started. Scheduled to open in late 2009 are the Karuah to Bulahdelah stages 2 and 3, which duplicate the highway along its existing alignment from approximately one kilometre north of Myall Way to just south of the Booral turnoff. On 23 May this year roads Minister Eric Roozendaal and the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, announced that construction is about to commence on the Ballina Bypass project. This crucial project will comprise 12.4 kilometres of dual carriageway and ultimately provide a 12-minute travel time saving for Pacific Highway motorists when it opens to traffic in 2012.

Environmental assessments are now complete for Banora Point, which will provide a high standard 2.5-kilometre carriageway connecting the Chinderah Bypass with the Tweed Heads Bypass; Kempsey to Eungai, which is expected to receive project approval shortly; and Sapphire to Woolgoolga and Tintenbar to Ewingsdale, with the environmental assessment to be placed on public display shortly.

With the upgrade of this national highway to motorway standard we have seen real reductions in travel times and, importantly, a decrease in crashes and fatal accidents. The roads Minister advises me that the road toll on the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border has more than halved since 2003 as upgraded sections open to traffic and extensive road safety improvement packages are implemented. Despite the great progress made to date we must not and will not be complacent. There is more to do and we will do it. As I have said, the Iemma Government is committed to working with the Rudd Government to see this upgrade completed as quickly as possible. I congratulate both Governments for their commitment to this major infrastructure upgrade project.

Mr ANDREW FRASER (Coffs Harbour—Deputy Leader of The Nationals) [3.53 p.m.]: The hypocrisy shown by the Parliamentary Secretary for roads, who cannot sign a letter on behalf of the Minister—it actually goes out under a laser signature—is unbelievable. The members for Tweed, Ballina, Lismore, Clarence, Coffs Harbour, Oxley and Myall Lakes, all members of The Nationals, have been battling for this highway for the 17½ years I have been a member of this Parliament. The member for Port Macquarie, who is in the Chamber today, said in an aside to me a minute ago that it does not matter about the overspends—I think it does matter—as long as we get the job done. The truth of the matter is that more than $1 billion has been overspent on this highway. We were promised in 1996 that this highway would be completed in 2006. We are now two years past that and only 263 kilometres of the 660 kilometres we were promised have been completed.

I doubt whether the Parliamentary Secretary has ever driven that highway. He should talk to the member for Clarence about the two deaths that occurred on that highway in his electorate in the past week. There is an average of one death each week on the un-fixed sections of the Pacific Highway. We are getting fed up with having to talk to families who have lost loved ones. Not all those families come from the North Coast. They come from all over the State and I dare say some of them come from the Parliamentary Secretary's electorate. Yet the member has the hide to stand here and congratulate the Iemma Government on allocating $613 million in the budget. If members look at the budget papers they will see that the truth is that $291.540 million has been allocated from the State Budget to the Pacific Highway this year. The balance of $321.460 million comes from the Federal Government. It is disgraceful that Government members are patting themselves on the back over a figure that is a lie.

Let us look at the sections of highway that the Parliamentary Secretary mentioned today. The Ballina Bypass was originally mooted to cost $270 million but is now estimated to cost $640 million. Whether it will come in at that cost remains to be seen. Bonneville Bypass was originally planned in 1998 and supposedly was to be completed by 2003. There were 13 deaths between 2003 and 2007, when the bypass construction actually started. If I had not stamped my foot at Joe Tripodi it would not have started. The cost has gone from $85 million to $253 million. Are these figures going up because we now have Federal input? I asked the previous Federal Government to do an audit of the expenditure because I honestly believe—I have asked every year for the Auditor-General to look at this—that as soon as the Federal Government becomes involved in any of these sections of the highway there is a cost blow-out and more planning. I have raised this matter in the House before. Out of $5 million that was spent on road works on Waterfall Way, which is just off the Pacific Highway, $2 million that came from Federal flood relief funding went back to the Roads and Traffic Authority in Sydney for planning. This is a rort of the worst possible kind because last year $23.9 million of State Budget expenditure on the Pacific Highway was not spent. Why not? People are losing their lives on a daily basis on this highway.

Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal refused to match a $2.45 billion allocation to the Pacific Highway—not that the then Howard Federal Government had called for it. Did Eric Roozendaal match it? No, he did not. All we ever hear is bleating from this Labor Government that it is not a State responsibility. Yet it is a State road. I welcome the Federal Government expenditure. I do not care whether a Labor or Coalition Federal Government approves the expenditure. I welcome the spending because it is a highway of national importance. But if one looked at the Bonneville Bypass information on the State Government's website one saw that it was a wholly funded State Government project until such time as Jim Lloyd put his hand up and offered some help. On the website it then became a jointly funded project. I have copies of this because I printed the website pages. Prior to that, Premier Bob Carr had been crowing to everyone that it was a State Government project. It was due to start in 1998 and finish by 2003. It will not finish until later this year. For the Parliamentary Secretary to say it will be finished this year ignores the fact it was always planned to be finished this year. He is a dill. He should talk to the families of the 13 people who lost their lives between 2003 and 2007 on that section of road. He should come up and talk to the people in my electorate. The Parliamentary Secretary talked about the road that is planned between Coopernook and Herons Creek. Come and tell Dixie Gibson's parents that. That gorgeous kid that used to sit at our dinner table was killed on that section of road. Government members should not come into this House with a sanctimonious holier-than-thou attitude and congratulate themselves on the Rudd Government's contribution. The lot opposite sat on their hands for the past 13 years and underspent budgets yet in this year's budget they claimed Federal money as State expenditure.

That is appalling. To make political points like that on this important road that is killing an estimated 54 to 55 people a year is appalling. I suggest you read the letters that you have sent out under a laser signature and listen to the stories, listen to the problems; understand that the proposed bypass of Coffs Harbour and other areas is not what was proposed; understand that the Alstonville bypass, which I know is not the Pacific Highway, is something that should have been done years ago and you had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to that by the Coalition Federal Government. You have been nothing more than a sham as a Parliamentary Secretary for roads. The roads Ministers in this State under this Government and the Carr government are an absolute embarrassment. I put the challenge to the Parliamentary Secretary: Come with me and drive up that highway now, as I did last week, and tell me that you believe what is being done is what is needed. The road surface is a disgrace, the bypasses and the new work are well behind schedule, and the majority of it is being funded by the Federal Government. You are a disgrace.

Ms JODI McKAY (Newcastle) [4.00 p.m.]: There is no greater roads infrastructure project taking place in Australia at the moment than the upgrade of the Pacific Highway. I think even the member for Coffs Harbour would concede that. In response to the points raised by the member for Coffs Harbour, there have been too many deaths on this road and I do not think anyone would debate that fact. There have been too many families that have lost loved ones; there have been too many families that have gone through the grief of having that phone call or someone knock on their door. What we are doing as a government is getting on with the job of upgrading that road; we are getting on with the job of working with the Federal Government on this very important project; and that means investing around $613 million in the next financial year alone that will be spent on this highway.

As the member for Maroubra stated earlier, the completed Pacific Highway upgrade will mean more than 660 kilometres of continuous dual carriageway from the F3 freeway near Hexham, which is in the Hunter region, to the Queensland border. It is a massive project. The record roads budget that we have spoken about includes $558 million to continue construction and planning work on the Pacific Highway upgrade and $47 million for highway maintenance.

The Opposition has largely remained silent on this issue, except to criticise, and certainly members in those electorates that are located on the North Coast have plenty to say about what they perceive we are doing wrong. What I would like to challenge them to come up with is how they would manage the expenditure on this road, how they would prioritise the upgrade and the maintenance work on this road. We have put the projects into the budgetary process, we are working through what needs to be done, and I think that what we need to hear from the Opposition, instead of criticisms and the hypocrisy that is directed at the Parliamentary Secretary for roads, is some constructive comments on what they would actually do, and that is not forthcoming.

The upgrade that we are undertaking is essentially about rebuilding more than 660 kilometres of the Pacific Highway to a high standard dual carriageway. The Government's 2008-09 budget confirms that this is a commitment by both the Iemma and Rudd Labor governments to deliver the upgrade of the Pacific Highway to a dual carriageway. The budget also allows for work, including $110 million to start on the Ballina bypass, $80 million to continue construction of the Karuah to Bulahdelah upgrade, and $25 million to start major bridge construction for the Bulahdelah bypass. It certainly is great to see both levels of government working together on this project.

Mr GEOFF PROVEST (Tweed) [4.05 p.m.]: How the member for Maroubra can stand there, with a straight face, applauding the Iemma Government for its supposed contributions to upgrading the Pacific Highway is beyond me. The Iemma Government's lack of concern to fix the Pacific Highway at Sexton Hill makes the member's motion simply laughable. I wonder if the member for Maroubra would be so willing to spruik the Government's supposed commitment to upgrading the Pacific Highway if he familiarised himself with the project funding in the 2008-09 State budget. For the member's benefit, I will enlighten him. The Iemma Government committed just $5 million to the planning on upgrading Sexton Hill. The Rudd Government has already committed $210 million to this project. Perhaps the member should correct his motion as he is giving the Premier Morris Iemma and the Minister Eric Roozendaal a lot of credit that they do not deserve. They do not deserve it because they are lazy and incompetent. What stopped the New South Wales Government from contributing similar funding to the Sexton Hill upgrade and ultimately getting the upgrade in motion, as they promised, rather than another lengthy delay?

I can only laugh when I compare the lazy Iemma Government's inaction on the Sexton Hill upgrade of the Pacific Highway with the success of the Bligh Labor Government in Queensland in completing the $543 million Tugun bypass—and four kilometres are in New South Wales. It is fixing roads in New South Wales. This project was opened only weeks ago and has been heralded as a major success. In stark contrast, this Government continues bumbling on Sexton Hill and still refuses to give a firm commitment to funding and confirmation of proposed project start and end dates.

To make matters worse, this Government continues to spruik the highly unpopular Roads and Traffic Authority preferred option B, which involves deep cutting in a manner that will seriously affect the environment and local residents. It refuses to look into the much more environmentally friendly community option C, which involves the construction of a tunnel. It continues to spread lies about the cost disparities between these two projects. The Government's commitment to road safety and maintaining our highways is a joke. The member for Maroubra has some nerve to stand up in this place and praise his mate Eric Roozendaal and his boss Morris Iemma when each year lives are unnecessarily lost on the Pacific Highway because of this Labor Government's lazy approach to fixing our roads. In the past week we have had two deaths in our region. Young people unfortunately lost their lives. Extra traffic is coming from Queensland. I would dearly like to invite Premier Anna Bligh to New South Wales because she did it on budget and six months ahead of schedule. She got on with the job. She was not going to wait around for the Iemma Government, which is lazy, so she built four kilometres of a seven-kilometre road in New South Wales. That is a prime example: You can do the job and you can get the job done on time.

Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong) [4.08 p.m.]: We had another example today in the Chamber at question time of the inane politics of furry animal stunts and rhetoric from the Opposition. It is a shame. In great contrast, the action of the Iemma Government has seen the entire length of the Pacific Highway either completed, under construction, or with a preferred route already identified. The highway has 276 kilometres of completed dual carriageway, with 49 projects now open to traffic. More than 10 per cent of the highway is currently under construction with work progressing on the Bulahdelah upgrade, Karuah to Bulahdelah stages 2 and 3, Coopernook to Herons Creek, the Bonville upgrade and the Ballina bypass.

The member for Maroubra stated earlier the importance of recognising the significant amount of work undertaken and highlighted some of the positives of this major highway upgrade. That is where we see the great contrast between the Government, which actually is getting on with the job and delivering better roads and services to the people of New South Wales, and the Opposition, which thinks it is never enough. It gives no credit for anything that is done. It always wants more, more, more. It gives no credit for any of the great work that has been done around the State.

I would like to add to the list of good things that have happened. More than half the highway length is complete or under construction. The highway upgrade has resulted in a total travel time saving of around 70 minutes along the length of the highway. Several key accident black spots have been treated or removed, such as Burringbar Range, O'Sullivans Gap, Raleigh and the narrow bridge at Coopernook. A major contribution to regional development has occurred linking local communities and providing up to 2,400 jobs annually. Significantly, while we do recognise that there are still fatalities on the road, there has been a fall in the number of fatalities from an average of 45 to 50 a year between 1998 and 2003 to an average of 25 a year in 2006-07.

I would like to provide the House with a couple of examples of how the upgrade has benefited local New South Wales communities and motorists. The Brunswick Heads to Yelgun Pacific Highway upgrade project opened to traffic on Wednesday 11 July 2007. That project included 8.7 kilometres of new dual carriageway and resulted in the completion of a four-lane dual carriageway between the Ewingsdale turnoff at Byron Bay and the Queensland border. It has improved travelling conditions for motorists and made access to local towns safer.

Mr Andrew Fraser: Have you travelled that bit of road?

Mr DAVID HARRIS: I have. The workforce has increased and the environment has been looked after, with 244 compensatory habitat boxes being constructed by the local community to protect important fauna. The three balanced and cantilevered concrete bridges crossing the Brunswick River accommodate six lanes, plus a pedestrian walkway and cycleway. These are just some of the examples to which I could refer. Opposition members have to start giving credit where credit is due. I know that a lot upgrading is required but a lot has already occurred.

Mr MICHAEL DALEY (Maroubra—Parliamentary Secretary) [4.10 p.m.], in reply: I was expecting further Opposition speakers.

Mr Andrew Fraser: We are quite happy to have more speakers.

The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! It is too late: the Minister is speaking in reply.

Mr MICHAEL DALEY: The Leader of the Nationals might like to contribute to debate on this motion, as I understand the Pacific Highway runs directly through his electorate. When the member for Coffs Harbour contributed to debate on the motion this afternoon on behalf of the Opposition he referred to the Government's hypocrisy. The member for Coffs Harbour asked me whether I had ever driven on the Pacific Highway. For the record, my family comes from Kempsey. I have been travelling on the Pacific Highway for 42 years. Only a fool would suggest, as the member for Coffs Harbour suggested this afternoon, that there have been no substantial improvements to the Pacific Highway over the past 17 years.

Only a fool would make such a suggestion, as the marked improvements on the Pacific Highway are evident for all to see. Last night, when contributing to debate on the Road Transport Legislation Amendment Bill 2008, the member for Coffs Harbour said, "The highway between Brisbane and Sydney has been improved." His statement is on the public record. Only a fool would criticise the Government's plan in this place when less than 24 hours ago he made comments that are on the public record that suggest otherwise. Only a fool would erroneously claim credit for a project with which he had nothing to do. He said, "It would not have happened if I did not stamp my foot with Minister Tripodi." The member for Coffs Harbour did more than stamp his foot in relation to Minister Tripodi; he crossed the Chamber and committed a criminal act on the Minister.

Mr Thomas George: You were not even here.

Mr MICHAEL DALEY: I was here. That was one of the first criminal acts ever perpetrated in this Parliament. The member for Coffs Harbour had the hide, under the theme of hypocrisy, to talk about standards—given his behaviour and the behaviour of the Leader of The Nationals and Leader of the Opposition! This afternoon they sat in this Chamber and laughed at the goose from Hawkesbury who was ejected from the Chamber. The member for Coffs Harbour should not talk to Government members about standards and hypocrisy given this Government's record on the Pacific Highway. We all lament the deaths that occur on the Pacific Highway and on every other road in our State and in our nation. Only a fool would suggest that the Government would not like to snap its fingers and fix the problem overnight. Opposition members should examine the priorities in the budget of the Government of the day. As I pointed out this afternoon, 15 per cent of the roads budget is going to the Pacific Highway, on one of the biggest infrastructure items being built in Australia today by a Government undertaking one of the biggest infrastructure spending programs in the history of Australia. [Time expired.]

Question—That the motion be agreed to—put.

The House divided.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Motion agreed to.