HANSARD EXTRACT
| Statements
by Members: Hume Highway |
| 28 February 2006 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa)
(4.17
p.m.)—Last
week a public meeting was convened by Campbelltown City Council to
discuss the problems surrounding the proposed funding for the Hume
Highway on and off ramps at Ingleburn. The funding of the off and on
ramps is a controversial issue for local businesses in Minto and
Ingleburn industrial estates, which are being asked to pick up the
tab for more than $4 million, about one-third of the total
construction cost of these ramps.
This is not the first time I have raised this issue in this place.
As a matter of fact, I raised it in the last sittings. There is no
doubt that businesses are angry about being asked to pay the
construction cost of these ramps, which will allow better transport
flow in the local area and direct access to the national highway.
Yesterday we had a debate as to who should fund the developments on
the Pacific Highway. Many points of contention between
New South Wales
and state governments were mentioned by members participating in
that debate. But the Hume Highway is somewhat different. There is no
argument about who is responsible for looking after the Hume
Highway; it is widely accepted that this is the responsibility of
the Commonwealth government. Accordingly, it should be the
responsibility of the Commonwealth to fully fund the on and off
ramps at Ingleburn.
Despite the fact that some have tried to distance themselves and the
Commonwealth from the responsibility to fully fund these ramps by
saying that the benefit of their construction will primarily be for
local transport, this is simply not the case. In an area of
population and economic growth such as the south-west of
Sydney, it is impossible to divorce the local benefits from national
benefits. In 2001 a study by Mason Wilson Twiney, traffic and
transport consultants—a study funded, I might add, by the federal
government—pointed out that the Commonwealth would consider funding
the ramps if it were found that there was strategic transport
significance, and the study went on to so conclude.
While the member for
Macarthur may feel it is appropriate that every single ratepayer in
Campbelltown should bear the cost, I do not believe that this should
be the case. Residents have already borne the cost of the federal
government’s inaction over many years as they have had to share
their suburban streets with trucks entering and exiting the national
freight networks in Campbelltown. The residents of Campbelltown have
already paid a high price. It is about time that the federal
government repaid the debt to the community by fully funding the
ramps.
The business communities of Ingleburn and Minto have the right to be
upset, but they should direct their anger to the federal government
in respect of its failure to fully and properly fund the on and off
ramps to the Ingleburn industrial estate.
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