PREMIER O’FARRELL:
It’s fantastic to be here today with the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, of course, the state’s Roads Minister.
This is an important project. This business case being released today makes it clear that this project is green for go. This is about a 33 kilometre connection of the M4, the M5, with our ports, with our city, to deliver improved travel times for people travelling east and west across Sydney. Forty minutes reduction in people travelling from Parramatta to the airport; a 25 minute reduction for people travelling from Parramatta to the city.
But of course, people travel across this city and this road project, the largest in Australia, will make their travel so much easier. It stands beside the North West Rail Link, the South West Rail, as our commitment to ensuring we have a balanced transport policy for this city; our commitment to overcome past neglect of transport to deliver the best possible transport to the people of Sydney and visitors to this city.
Can I make clear that this is what methodical, measured, fiscally responsible government delivers. It’s about doing your homework. It’s about ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. It’s about working with a Commonwealth government to deliver better outcomes for people.
We could not have delivered this without the commitment of the Commonwealth Government. We wouldn’t be standing here today without the commitment that Tony Abbott made in opposition to recognise the importance of this project to this city, to the state’s economy and ultimately to the nation’s economy and that’s why I’m delighted that Tony Abbott and Warren Truss are here today.
I want to work with the Infrastructure Prime Minister. I want to see more than promises. I want to see projects being delivered. I’m delighted to say today we are starting the largest road project in the nation and I want to thank Tony Abbott for his contribution to it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much, Barry.
Well Barry, it is great to be here on my first full day as Prime Minister, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you and the Deputy Prime Minister and the New South Wales Roads Minister to officially launch the business case for WestConnex and to start the process which will deliver the largest transport infrastructure project in our country.
As Barry said, I hope to be known as an infrastructure prime minister. I want to give our country the roads and the infrastructure of the 21st Century and nowhere is this more needed than here in Sydney, our greatest city. Sydney is 25 per cent of the nation’s economy. All too often, Sydney suffers from transport gridlock because of years of inadequate infrastructure development under state and federal Labor governments. This will end and it will end from today, as a result of the good work of the New South Wales Government, assisted by an incoming Coalition government.
So Barry look, all credit to you but we will be with you every step of the way to make sure this happens and to make sure this happens as quickly as we can, consistent with good planning and the best possible outcomes for the people of Sydney.
Warren, over to you.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you Prime Minister and Premier, Transport Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen. Well, in every sense, this is truly a magnificent project. It will transform the traffic of Sydney. It will improve the efficiency of Sydney Airport, the Port of Sydney. It will make movement around Sydney so much easier than it’s ever been. It is the biggest infrastructure project in Australia and for all of those reasons it is a wonderful way for the new Coalition federal government to demonstrate its willingness to cooperate with the states to deliver key infrastructure across Australia.
As a transformational project, it will also add enormously to the economy by creating jobs, by approving efficiency and improving the quality of life for so many people who live in Sydney. The improvement that it’s going to make to suburbs which are currently gridlocked by traffic will just make such a difference to those people.
From Sydney’s perspective this will certainly be a transformational project. It will make so much difference to the capacity of our major infrastructure in the city to work well and let me say that I am delighted to be working with Duncan Gay to make sure that this project comes to fruition efficiently and under the shortest possible timeframe. It’s a pleasure for the new federal government to see some of its election commitments come to fruition, begin construction so soon and we look forward to this example being replicated across New South Wales and indeed in other states, as the Government sets about its task of building the infrastructure of the next century.
PRIME MINISTER:
Ok, do we have any questions for myself and the Premier?
QUESTION:
You’ve got the toll looking like it will be capped at around $7.70 in 2013. When the project’s finished in 2023 is there any sort of modelling on what drivers can expect to pay then?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Well, it is distance-based tolling akin to the M7. The first section, as I understand, the average toll will be around $3. But you’re right, when the full 33 kilometre project is finished the toll is expected to be capped at, I think, $7.35 in today’s dollars. But Lee, if you’re asking can I translate that to future dollars in 2023, I’ll come back to you.
QUESTION:
But surely there’s been some modelling done that’s come…
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Well yes, I’m happy to come back to you, I’m just simply saying the modelling’s not in my head.
QUESTION:
Where will the smoke stacks be and how many homes will be demolished to make this a reality?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
I’ll let Duncan deal with homes but in relation to stacks, in relation to filtering of exhaust fumes, there is an expert committee that’s been established. We’re determined to deliver the best possible outcomes to people in this city, whether it’s in relation to these tunnels or whether it’s in relation to what might be tunnels associated with the F3/M2. So what’s important is to be driven by the science. What’s important is to be driven by world leading technology and that’s what the expert taskforce will do.
QUESTION:
You’ve got the animation, it looks really amazing. People who live on that part of Parramatta Road, in the Inner-West deserve answers. When will they get answers about the impact upon them personally?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
As I understand the consultation with the community starts in October. The consultation which is required by law including an EIS starts not just with the community on Parramatta Road but with all the communities that are affected but I’m saying that combined with that we have an expert taskforce in place to ensure that in relation to air quality in relation to filtration we apply the best possible solutions to that issue.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible]
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
I’ll get you those details.
MINISTER GAY:
Can I just do the homes first? Look on the homes there will be very few. The great thing about the business plan that we put together, we’ve bought the best brains in the country and the world together to come up with something that potentially works to cause the minimum amount of stress to the community. The original idea of a slot down Parramatta Road, you will notice, is gone. We start with a tunnel, slightly west of the connection on Homebush Bay Drive and we will tunnel all the way under Parramatta Road through to City West Link. That means there will be very few homes. We will identify, as soon as possible, and talk to those communities on potential homes that are affected but because of the new way we are doing it, there will be very, very, few.
The second and third stage, we have, you know, it’s going to take four years at least to do Stage One. So we have that time in planning to talk to those communities and negotiate.
QUESTION:
But do know what this is….by looking at this design, though, what do you say to critics that say, well, you’re not really connecting people in Parramatta and Penrith to the CBD….
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Well what I say, Bridget, is that that sounds like Anthony Albanese, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard speaking. So let’s just go through it slowly. Firstly, 60 per cent of traffic that will use this road don’t want to go to the CBD. Not everyone in Sydney works in the CBD. Stop being Sydney-centric.
Secondly, of course it does connect City West, Southern Cross Drive, are part of the connections to this WestConnex and so we are confident that this project will deliver what people need. This project will deliver the roads system for the 21st Century.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible]
MINISTER GAY:
Well, no, one of the beauties of this that we’re going to reconnect communities in the Inner West that have been separated for the last 20 years. If you live in Ashfield or Croydon or Burwood, try getting across Parramatta Road and talking to your neighbours. By putting all those trucks and cars underground, we are reuniting those communities and that is part of what we are doing. We are reinvigorating the inner city. Everyone says, every newspaper, every television station says we need to fix Parramatta Road. Well, you can’t fix Parramatta Road until you get the cars and the trucks off it and that’s what this does.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible] then, Mr Gay, when three lanes of this new motorway tunnel will be two lanes of the City West Link. Won’t this be a [inaudible]?
MINISTER GAY:
If you were listening earlier and not worried too much about bike lanes you would have understood that 60 per cent of the traffic leaves before it gets to City West Link. There will not be an increase, or a huge increase in the amount of traffic that will be using City West Link. Half the traffic at that stage goes City West Link and about half continues down Parramatta Road because they want to go to a different part of the city.
So what we are doing is we are looking after those suburbs and we are bringing that traffic in quicker, in a better way, so people will have a better experience of their travel to work. As we said, when it’s finished, we’ll take about 40 minutes off a trip to the airport from Parramatta.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
And can I just remind you again, can I just remind you again that in terms of the connection to City West, by the time that opens, the South West Rail Link will also be open which means that people in Sydney’s southern growth centre, for the first time, will have a real option of leaving their cars at home and catching trains into the city.
QUESTION:
Is the state and federal contribution of 1.8 and 1.5 intended to cover the whole first stage? Just on the lower estimate there seems to be [inaudible]?
MINISTER GAY:
Look, this is enough to cover the first stage. We believe when we go to the market with tenders it will hit. It’s an interesting scenario. We’re going out there – industry likes the fact that we’ve got skin in the game. We’re going to go out there and build it, prove it up with the numbers, with a view to resell it later on. Although we're not set in our mind, we've got a business plan that says we've had some great minds look at this and we think it's the best way of doing it, but if you come to us and you've got a better idea that would work better for the city and work better for the state, we're willing to listen to you, but we will be paying for each of them, each stage off the stage before. So we'll prove up the first stage, get the numbers, sell it, use that money to do the second stage and the same with the third stage. So it's important that we get that right and that's why that money from the Commonwealth Government that came in on time and in fact earlier allows us to do this quicker and help the congestion in the city a lot sooner than we would have been able to do with any other scenario.
QUESTION:
Question for the Prime Minister in regard to the absorption of AusAID by DFAT. Why did you do it? Will it lead to job cuts?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Let's finish dealing with WestConnex issues and then we’ll come back to that, ok?
QUESTION:
So, for the 40 per cent of people travelling from the west aren’t getting off before the City West Link so what are the options for the tunnel for them to get in to the CBD? The CityWest Link and then behind you I see there is another?
MINISTER GAY:
There will be an exit that will take you on to City West Link underground and under at least the first set of lights. So we can remove some of that congestion that's already happening. Proving up where it goes from there will be subject to detailed scoping as we get further into the project. If you're continuing along Parramatta Road to the city, there will be exits that will take you straight onto Parramatta Road and entrances that will bring you into that tunnel for Stage 1A and B.
QUESTION:
I'm wondering where the closest one on the map is?
MINISTER GAY:
That would be there near the Bunnings building, the old biscuit factory there, that's where you would enter the tunnel.
QUESTION:
Minister, The Stage Three section, it appears to have shifted since the earlier maps….
MINISTER GAY:
It has. Because we've found better routes, less onerous on local communities, cheaper to do and that's part of this as an ongoing process. We want to work – and I heard on one of the radio stations this morning someone from Petersham, I think, saying this was a disaster. Well I was thinking to myself as I was listening he doesn't exactly know where the route is going to be at this stage but he's made up his mind it's going to be a disaster. We want to engage those people and make sure that they are happy, as much as we can with what we're doing. That's why in part, Jake, that we've changed that to address those concerns and particularly the concerns you can see where you come off the M5 East at the back of the airport there. I thought there were valid concerns from the community on the environmental issues there and our people have taken that up.
QUESTION:
Will Stage Three happen regardless or does it depend on tolls and money raised from the first two stages?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
We're committed to the full project but what Duncan has said is we're going to stage it and indeed Stage 1A will commence and Stage 1B will commence before Stage 1A is complete. So we are committed to this full project and we can only be delivering it because of the great commitment by the Abbott Government and that commitment that was made in opposition. It's about improving transport in Sydney, it's about creating jobs, not just construction jobs but the jobs that will flow in the future, but it's also, as Duncan says, about some urban renewal in the inner west.
QUESTION:
Do you have patronage figures of how many people will be using that new tunnel on day one?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Duncan, I'll get you to do that but one of the reasons that we’ve decided that the first part should be done by us is that the private sector has been hopeless at assessing patronage figures for toll ways. We've seen them overestimate, we've seen them underestimate, we’ve seen projects go into receiverships. We’ve seen projects take a long time to get up to speed. We’re determined to learn from those lessons and I say again, that’s what measured, methodical, fiscally prudent government does. That’s what happens when you take your time to do proper planning through a body like Infrastructure New South Wales. It’s what happens when you work with the Commonwealth Government to put together a business case model but none of it could happen without Tony Abbott's commitment to $1.5 billion to the project.
QUESTION:
How do we know the benefits of the project when we don’t know how many cars are expected to use it?
MINISTER GAY:
The benefits of the project are urban renewal, joining the communities together, job creation, time saving, less congestion. How many more benefits do you want?
QUESTION:
[inaudible]
MINISTER GAY:
That will be proven up as we go. I will find out the detailed numbers. I don’t have the detailed number of exactly how many but Stage 1A would be the widening of the existing M4 to the intersection of Homebush Bay Drive and then Stage 1B, which will be the tunnel from just west of Homebush Bay Drive through to City West Link to be able to join there.
Now, off the top of my head, without having the exact figures here, I would imagine at least the amount of people that are using it now. Probably some more would be using it. We’ve got figures off the M4, how it was when it was tolled before. The tolls, as the Premier said, will be, on today’s figures, round about the same as the cheapest toll that is currently operating in Sydney but the final tolls will depend on the actual costs and where we are at the time.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
But Jake, just understand that the business case model has been put together by Treasury, INSW, and also Commonwealth officials. So assumptions have been made and assumptions that have been signed off by the Commonwealth Government.
QUESTION:
Can we see all these assumptions? Can we see the full business case? It’s just a summary, can we see the full business case?
MINISTERGAY:
No, the full business case is commercial-in-confidence but yes of course you’re going to see the summary.
QUESTION:
But if it’s too risky for the private sector why is the Government….
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
No, no, no it’s not too risky. It’s not too risky, Mark. It’s our assessment that given the private sector’s failure to accurately predict patronage – and sometimes patronage grows much faster than expected – we’re better off doing it the first way and that way when we come to do the next stages we’ll get better value for money for taxpayers. So I think this is a project that’s necessary. No one’s suggesting it’s not necessary. It’s been necessary since Neville Wran lifted the road reservations and sold off the housing in 1976. That’s why we’re struggling with this and the fact is that this proposal, put together by INSW, it’s now been oversighted through this business case model, is the right solution for this city. It stands by those public transport improvements we are putting in place, that, I remind you Bridget, will ensure that those people coming from South West Sydney will have an option to leave their cars at home, so whether they want to drive and then get off at Southern Cross Drive or go all the way to the City West route, they can actually leave the car at home and catch a train. But ultimately this is the right project.
QUESTION:
PM, what’s the value proposition [inaudible] the decision on AusAID and in the context of….
PRIME MINISTER:
Have we finished WestConnex issues?
QUESTION:
Can I just ask, how long is the viaduct connection between St Peters and the Airport [inaudible]?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Six kilometres. I think the tunnel projects will outline this.
QUESTION:
Just in terms of the $7.70 capping…
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Is it $7.70 or $7.35 in today's dollars?
QUESTION:
$7.70…
MINISTER GAY:
$7.35.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
$7.35 in today’s dollars.
QUESTION:
It could be, you know, $10 in 2020.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Can you tell me what inflation will be in 2020? I know Channel Ten are good but I'm not sure they're that good, Josh. Let's be honest, let's deal with this. It's distance-based tolling like the M7. The average toll on the first part is expected to be around $3 in today's dollars but when the whole project is completed, due to be completed in 2023, or hopefully, if the Prime Minister and I have anything to do with it a bit earlier, it's expected that it will be capped at $7.35 in today's dollars.
Now, Josh I can't tell you today what the cap or what the full toll on the M7 will be in 2023 dollars. I'm sure there has been modeling done. I said before in relation to Lee, we’re happy to try and get you those figures but you know, inflation happens. The good news is I expect the economy to do a bit better under the current federal government than it did under the past federal government. So, with a stronger economy, with more opportunities, with more jobs we'll be a bit more prosperous.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible] consultation is any of it able to change depending on…
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
You know, EIS processes around this seek to deal with how you limit the impact upon neighbourhoods but if people think that there's a chance that this project won't go ahead they’re fooling themselves. Today we're announcing this project is proceeding. This 33km project is long overdue will go ahead. The consultation with the community starts next month and we're determined to get the project under way as early in 2015 as possible.
QUESTION:
Premier, you signed off on a three-fold increase in the city's bike lanes. Will there be bike lanes as part of that project?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
No.
QUESTION:
Why not?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
I'll leave that to Duncan.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you’ve repeatedly said on the West Link that you’d like to see work underway. You made an election promise on that giving 12 months to 18 months. Is this your first broken election promise?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, my understanding is that some work will be under way within 12 months. Preparatory drilling and so on, as I understand it, will start within 12 months.
QUESTION:
How will this affect other works on the way, like the F3/M2?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll leave Duncan to handle this but my understanding is that the New South Wales Government is cracking on with this and also with that project as well and that announcements may well be made in the next couple of months in respect of that.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister can I ask a question about something else?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sure. We’re done with WestConnex issues? Yeah, sure, Ok.
QUESTION:
Paul Howes is about to announce he is running for an ALP Senate seat.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
Of course he is.
QUESTION:
Would he be a good addition to the Upper House?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to get into the business of commentary on individuals inside the Labor Party and what the Labor Party does. Suffice to say that the Labor Party needs to learn the lessons of the election and the lessons of the election are: people don't like the carbon tax, they don't like the border protection disasters, they don't like the fact that this government has failed repeatedly to get the Budget back under control and, frankly, they don't like faceless men controlling a political party and it seems to me that the gentleman in question certainly falls into that category.
If you want serious change and I think the public indicated that they do want serious change, the Labor Party needs to learn its lessons and there's no evidence from any of the senior people in the Labor Party right now that they have learned those lessons. It seems to me that the Labor Party is very much in denial about the fact that they've just had a thumping defeat.
QUESTION:
The absorption of AusAID into DFAT, will it lead to jobs being lost and what is the justification?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, until quite recently, aid was handled within the department. It's only in the last few years that this change has been made and we're going to bring aid back inside the department because we want Australia's aid programme to be fully integrated into our overall diplomatic effort. We don't want our diplomacy going in one direction and our aid programme going in another direction. Obviously, we do intend to trim the size of the Commonwealth public sector by 12,000 through natural attrition over the next three years and all areas of the Commonwealth public sector other than front-line delivery agencies – security, police and the armed forces – will be subject to this. So, yes, there may well be fewer people working in AusAID in three years’ time than is now the case.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, how are you going to enact Operation Sovereign Borders when you've got Indonesia saying that parts of it are unacceptable, particularly to the issue of turning the boats back?
PRIME MINISTER:
Three points. First of all, I have no argument with anyone in the Indonesian establishment or Parliament. My argument is with people smugglers and my point to the people smugglers is the game is up. The game is up. Second point I make is that we absolutely totally respect Indonesia's sovereignty. Third point I make is that we aren't going to conduct discussions with Indonesia through the media. Too much damage has been done in the past by megaphone diplomacy and it's never going to happen under this Government.
QUESTION:
It's a major problem isn’t it when you've said your policy is Indonesia's centric and yet you’ve got that country says that it’s not necessarily willing to play ball [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
Indonesia is a robust democracy, as Australia is. There are many voices in Indonesia, but I am very confident that this Government will be able to work effectively with the Indonesian Government as former Coalition Governments have done.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, what are you planning to do for the status of women? Are you taking ownership of that portfolio?
PRIME MINISTER:
We will work calmly, methodically, purposefully to deliver good policies for all of the people of Australia, including women and the best thing that can be done for women in the near future is to put in place a fair-dinkum paid parental leave scheme. That's what will happen under the incoming Coalition Government. A fair-dinkum paid parental leave scheme was never going to happen under the former Labor Government.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, what are you going to do about the car industry particularly in South Australia. The Premier of that state urging not to cut subsidies to Holden. What’s your Government looking to do to shore up the viability of that industry?
PRIME MINISTER:
The best thing we can do for the car industry, which we are in the process of doing right now, is freeing it from the $1.8 billion fringe benefit tax hit that the former Labor Government was about to impose upon it and if the fringe benefits tax doesn't go ahead – and it won't – people should flood into showrooms. This weekend is a great time to be out buying a new car because you are not going to be hit by the fringe benefits tax hit that the Labor Government had in store for you. Now that's the best thing we can do for the car industry right now. Save it from what Labor had in store for it. That salvation is here and that's very good news for the car industry.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, are you going to be banning officials [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I know that all Coalition Governments right around Australia are determined to try to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest, real or apparent and I'm determined to ensure that as far as the new Coalition Government in Canberra is concerned, not only is it clean and fair but it's seen to be clean and fair and that's why I'm determined to ensure that you can either be a power broker or a lobbyist but you can't be both.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, the ACT hopes to have same-sex marriage legalised by the end of the year. [inaudible] How do you feel about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not in the business of giving public advice to States and Territories, although obviously I'm determined to work as closely as I can with Coalition State and Territory Governments for the good of our country and that's why I'm so pleased to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Premier O'Farrell and Duncan Gay today to make this very important announcement about West Connex. West Connex is a goer thanks to the State Coalition Government and the incoming national Coalition Government. As for the ACT and same-sex marriage, obviously the ACT is entitled to do what it wants within the law, within the law and the Attorney will be seeking legal advice on precisely how far the ACT can go on this.
QUESTION:
Will you be hoping it gets blocked?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the ACT is entitled to do what it can within the law as you know, under the constitution the Commonwealth has responsibility for marriage and the Attorney will be seeking advice on precisely how far that extends.
QUESTION:
Premier, the Greens say that your new graffiti laws could see kids who draw hopscotch or handball games fined up to $440.
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
The Greens would say that. Police have discretion. I have great confidence in the police that that won't happen.
QUESTION:
Can you ensure all those who play hopscotch and handball it won't happen?
PREMIER O’FARRELL:
If that's the national sport of the Greens, yes.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, the Opposition has accused you of using the public service as your political plaything and they say [inaudible] senior public servants yesterday that you’ve shown a disregard for public service [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
I want to say to all the Australian public service that I have deep respect for your professionalism. I have a deep commitment to ensuring that the professionalism of the Australian public service continues. I worked as a Minister for nine years in the Howard Government with the Australian public service. I appreciate that no Government can achieve anything without a strong and effective public service and without a strong relationship between Ministers and the public service. I think we've got the right team in place, both in Government and in the Australian public service, to get on with the job and I'm looking forward to working with the Australian public service to achieve the objectives of the new Government.
QUESTION:
Why sack those three yesterday? Weren't they just carrying out the business of the government of the day?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm just not going to get into the whys and wherefores of individual decisions. Obviously there were a couple of departments that were merged, but I think you can see from what we've done that we respect the professionalism of the public service. We respect the integrity of senior members of the public service and I'm very much looking forward to working with the Australian public service to realise the commitments that the new Government has made to the Australian people and to deliver to the people of Australia the stronger economy and the stronger country and the better future that you the people of Australia have a right to expect. Thank you.
[ends]