Watch Matt Kean MP address the NSW Parliament on the Coalition Governments' successes in public transport infrastructure. Mr Kean urged the Opposition to support the delivery of the North West Rail Link.
The transcript of his speech is below:
Mr MATT KEAN (Hornsby-Parliamentary Secretary) [3.35 p.m.]: I move:
That the House:
(1) Commends the Government for delivering better public transport services, including the completion of the South West Rail Link ahead of schedule and under budget.
(2) Calls on the Opposition to support delivery of the largest public transport project in Australia, the North West Rail Link.
I thought we had seen it all when the Opposition opposed the Government's attempts to improve public transport in this State. The Opposition said that the North West Rail Link is not a priority and that the South West Rail Link is not a priority. It said that integrated ticketing is not a priority. The Government is here to say otherwise. We care about the people of Sydney's north-west, about residents in Rouse Hill and in Cherrybrook. The Cherrybrook community has missed out on a viable public transport solution for far too long. A viable public transport solution was first promised when I was still in high school, in 1998. I was in year 11 and then transport minister Brian Langton made a promise to deliver a public transport solution for the people of Sydney's north-west. Was that promise ever delivered by the Labor Party? Never. Why? It is because they do not care about the people of north-west Sydney. They do not deliver transport. In fact, they promised 12 different rail links around New South Wales. [The Opposition] delivered one at double the budgeted cost. Half the length at double the cost—the Epping to Chatswood rail line. Labor's record in this area is dismal. It does not want to make public transport a priority. When the Leader of the Opposition had an opportunity to speak at the Australian Labor Party Conference about his vision for the State and how much of a priority transport was, how many times did he mention public transport?
Mr MATT KEAN: How many times did the Leader of the Opposition say public transport was important? Zero is how many times he mentioned public transport in his Australian Labor Party Conference speech. How many times did he mention public transport in his budget reply speech? It is a pretty important area, but he mentioned it zero times. That is how much the Labor Party cares about public transport. Labor members did not care about public transport when they were in government and they do not care about it in opposition. They did not think the South West Rail Link was a priority, so they dumped it in 2008. It was supposed to be delivered in 2012, but they dumped it so it was never delivered. What has the Government done? We have delivered it a year ahead of schedule and $300 million under budget. I congratulate the best Minister for Transport this State has ever had, Minister Berejiklian. This is an outstanding result.
The Opposition still does not think the North West Rail Link is a priority. Opposition members did not think it was a priority when they were in government and they shelved it. The Opposition promised it in 1998 and shelved it in 2008. It was meant to be completed in 2010 but the former Labor Government did not complete it. What it tried to deliver was the Rozelle metro.
I want to tell you about the inner-western metro. Five hundred million dollars was spent on a piece of rail link and not a centimetre of track was laid. That is the Opposition's commitment to public transport in this State. We are saying that the people of the north-west are a priority. We are saying that the people of the south-west are a priority. We are saying that integrated ticketing—making life easier for commuters in this State—is a priority and that is why we have got on with the job of delivering. We know that the Labor Party does not think public transport is a priority; it thinks more congestion is a priority because that will lead to higher taxes. We know that because we have a copy of the NSW Labor Policy Forum document—a forum that was co-chaired by the Leader of the Opposition. This gives a great clue as to why Labor wants to see more congestion and less investment in public transport: It means more tax—the old chestnut that when all else fails Labor goes back to taxing and spending more. [Time expired.]
The tunnelling machines are working on the North West Rail Link but the member for Fairfield is standing on the sidelines with his hands over his ears and his eyes shut, pretending that nothing is happening, that there is nothing to see. He is talking tough. I tell the member for Fairfield: When one builds a project one has to use boring machines and get work underway. It does not simply happen. At the moment the only boring machine is the member for Fairfield.
Let us put the facts on the table. Digging is taking place and tunnel boring machines are underway. Construction is happening. The South West Rail Link has been completed a year ahead of schedule and $300 million under budget. The member for Bankstown—I have a lot of respect for her; I am a big fan—gave us a lecture on public finances. She is a member of the party that wrote the playbook on how to blow State finances, whether it be the $60 billion net debt we inherited, the $30 billion infrastructure fund or the $5.7 billion budget deficit. I will not be lectured about fiscal conservatism by the member for Bankstown or by any other Labor members. The reality is that this motion deserved priority because we care about the people of the north-west and the south-west. We care about public transport users in this State. That is why the New South Wales Government is getting on with the job of delivering viable public transport solutions to people across the State.
Do not believe me; believe the evidence on the ground, with the construction of the South West Rail Link complete. We know that the former Labor Government did not care about public transport—that is why it failed to deliver anything—and members opposite do not care about it now. They do not care about it because they plan to get back into government and impose on the taxpayers of this State a big new tax on congestion. When all else fails, what does Labor do? A Labor government taxes us more, so it can waste more on nothing. Members opposite will try to slink into government without being honest with the public. Luckily, we found on the back of a truck the New South Wales Labor policy forum document stating that a Labor government would impose a great big new tax on the citizens of this State.
