DR MICHAEL FENELEY, LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOR DOBELL: All right. Welcome, good morning, everybody. I’m very pleased this morning to be able to welcome the Prime Minister to the seat of Dobell for this announcement. I’ve also got with me, Sam Farraway, the State Minister for Regional Transport and Roads and also Adam Crouch, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and also my colleague, Lucy Wicks, the MP for Robertson. So welcome everybody here. This is a great announcement, obviously, for the seat of the Dobell. But more importantly, for all of New South Wales because these are great efficiency measures, great for people of Dobell, particularly great for the people of the Central Coast, but the rail project in particular is going to be a great efficiency measure in moving transport from Newcastle through on the fast rail project. So faster roads, safer roads, faster rail and safer rail and a great efficiency measure for the state. And we’re also this morning talking about the Central Coast Highway, of course, which is also seeing a major upgrade from Wamberal through to Bateau Bay, which has been another choke point in local traffic. And so from our point of view, this is a terrific announcement. With that, I’d like to introduce the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s great to be here with Dr Michael Feneley, the Liberal candidate here for Dobell and together, of course, with my colleague Lucy and Adam and Sam. Great to be here with you also today. This is an important day. You know, Australia is not just the eight capital cities of this country. That’s something my government firmly believes, the Liberal-Nationals Government is all about ensuring that our regions, our rural areas, our remote communities are understood, and are supported, because so much of the opportunities in Australia are actually outside our major capital cities. And that’s always been true in the Central Coast, Hunter. And it’s important that in the Central Coast, which is where more and more people every year are choosing to live and increasingly are able to work here on the Central Coast, they need the infrastructure that supports their quality of life, but also supports their economic opportunities. We have further increased the size of our infrastructure pipeline to make sure that we can be supporting regional communities all around the country with the infrastructure and the services, and most importantly, the jobs that makes those communities work and here at Wyong, what we’re seeing is a town becoming a hub in the Central Coast, where people are not driving through they’re staying, they’re deciding, they’re running businesses, they’ve got a future here. And this will be an important hub along the Central Coast and a town that continues to grow and prosper as a result of the growth we’re seeing in the Central Coast region. But that needs the infrastructure to support it. That’s why I’m pleased to announce, it’s in the Budget, $1.4 billion today to go to three very important projects. The first of those is the upgrade of the Central Coast Highway from the, of the Tumbi Road intersection upgrade. Now that’s $52 million, $51.2 million, I should say, that we’re putting into that $64 million project. Together with the state government, we’re funding 80 per cent, they’re funding 20 per cent, and that work will get underway this year. And this is an important part of clearing bottlenecks along the Central Coast as more and more people are living here.
The second project, of course, is right next door to us. Right here where we’re standing, and that’s $336 million with 80 per cent of the funding for the Wyong town centre upgrade of the Pacific Highway. Now this is a project that is incredibly important. It’s very important, and we’ve been looking to do this for some time and we’re very pleased that we’ve been able to join with the state government supporting in this project to get it done. And we’re very pleased that they have joined us for this being a major priority. We set out very clearly in the Budget, the Treasurer handed down last week and this is a real improvement for the Wyong town centre that because of its growth, needs this upgrade and the Commonwealth is funding 80 per cent of that project. And then, of course, we’ve got the faster rail. The faster rail, up to Newcastle and there’s $1 billion for the Wyong to Tuggerah connection. Now this is a very practical project. This project basically provides for overtaking lanes, effectively, on our rail network. So the freight and the fast trains going through to Newcastle don’t disrupt the more regular services that are coming through the Central Coast and serving the communities here.
This is a real project, $1 billion in real money, for a real project that will really happen. I’m aware of the other suggestions that have been put around, frankly at this point for some time, well, in the future, I’m sure they’ll be science fiction. We are investing more in this specific part of this rail network, $1 billion. That’s around twice what the Labor Party has announced for a fast rail project on the never, never. So these are real projects that will make a real difference, to the quality of living, right here on the Central Coast, and that’s all part of our stronger economic plan for Australia that has the regions very much as the beating heart of the opportunities that our country faces in the future. So I want to thank the team. I want to thank the state government. I’ll ask Sam to make a few comments about that, then happy to take questions. But this is all part of our economic plan. Building the infrastructure that growing regions need to prosper and to grow more into the future with the jobs and economic opportunities that come with it. Sam.
THE HON. SAM FARRAWAY MLC, NSW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Well, thank you, Prime Minister. It’s fantastic to be able to join you here today on the Central Coast and to Lucy Wicks, the local Federal Member, Adam Crouch, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast. It’s fantastic, obviously, Prime Minister from the recent Budget to see the additional investment in the Central Coast Highway. It’s welcomed and the Central Coast community are certainly very happy to see that commitment. But as the New South Wales Regional Transport and Roads Minister today, it’s a pleasure to be able to announce that the New South Wales Government will be contributing $84 million towards the Wyong town centre upgrade. As the Prime Minister has touched on, this upgrade is legacy building infrastructure. We’re going to see the old bridge removed. We’re going to see twin, new twin bridges and overpasses. We’re going to see the duplication of the highway. We’re going to see a new interchange at the station. We’re going to see a new commuter car park supported by the Federal Government also. So in excess of $400 million project, $420 million, $336 million coming from the Commonwealth. And today, a $84 million coming from the New South Wales Government. It’s an exciting time for the Central Coast of these three projects. That and obviously, as the Prime Minister has touched on, the faster rail announcement and on behalf of the New South Wales Government, I welcome the $1 billion commitment from the Commonwealth. This will complement the $298 million the New South Wales Government has already committed. The New South Wales Government, through Transport for New South Wales, have been hard at it working on our designs, on our ongoing planning, land acquisitions and the business case is looking at obviously this piece, this critical piece of rail infrastructure in the state of New South Wales. As the PM has touched on, this rail corridor is absolutely critical. Not only are there connectivity in reducing congestion and the overtaking ability on, on this rail infrastructure, but any improvements that we make to this rail infrastructure on the Central Coast assists the entire north coast line. We saw the XPT go through here this morning on the north, the north coast, and the north line that is critically important for efficiency and productivity for the broader rail sector and this infrastructure, I think, is money well spent. So on behalf of the New South Wales Government, we welcome the investment from the Commonwealth and it’s fantastic to have the Prime Minister on the Central Coast today.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Adam, and Michael and Lucy, happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Thanks Prime Minister. People are still waiting here on the Central Coast for promises from the last Federal Election, including our commuter carparks. What certainty can you give Central Coast residents that the upgrade to Wyong town centre will be delivered in a timely manner?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we already have acquired the land here for the commuter carpark here in Wyong, and you’d be aware of the challenges we’ve had in Gosford because of the issues that have occurred with the Gosford City Council, which has disrupted our ability to be able to move forward on that project. And I think people would understand that. These projects we’re talking about here. Well you’ve heard very clearly the state government is fully on board with both the Wyong project as well as the Central Coast Highway project that I’m very confident that they will understand the great value of the faster rail project as Sam has just outlined. So the money’s in the Budget. It’s all there to be done, a good partnership with the state government to make those happen. There were some challenges with a couple of other projects, but they’re important projects. I mean, we want to get them done. But when you hit obstacles like what happened with the Gosford City Council, well you just have to try and work through that. And that’s what Lucy Wicks has been seeking to do. But you don’t have to go far down in the Central Coast, particularly where Lucy has been the Member, to see all the things that she’s been delivering in her local community. I was just there with her not that long ago, and it was a very long list. And so people on the Central Coast have seen what Lucy’s been able to deliver there in the Central Coast over many years, and particularly the Newcastle University partnership, where there’s put in place the clinic there at Gosford, linking up with the hospital campus there to train any number of health professionals that young people aspiring to study medicine can now go and do that in Gosford. That is what Lucy fought for, and that’s what she’s delivered. So we have a track record of delivering at the Central Coast, and these are just vitally important projects. Now our opponents, the Labor Party have not supported these projects. Anthony Albanese had the opportunity with his alternative budget reply in the Parliament last week to say the Labor Party is committed to the faster rail project we’ve put $1 billion into. He could have supported the Central Coast Highway upgrade, he could have supported the Wyong Town Centre Project, but he didn’t do any of them. He didn’t, he didn’t commit to any of them. And so I think what people at Wyong can be pretty comfortable about is our commitment on these projects because I’m standing right here making that commitment and it’s in the black and white of the Federal Budget.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, pretty frosty reception at the Edgeworth Tavern last night. Are you surprised to see how much anger and frustration there is among voters at you and your government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, actually, more broadly, it was a very welcome reception. Of course, there was one gentleman, Ray, who was there last night who was very upset about what was a very complicated case. And it was a complicated case involving iCare, it was involving immigration issues and also involving income definitions under the pension regime. He’s had a lot of complications with those, with those cases, and my staff met with him also after I carefully listened to what he had to say and respectfully listened to what he had to say. He wasn’t asked to leave or anything like that. I could understand that he’s very upset about some really significant issues that have happened in his life, and so I just, I was keen to understand what he was saying to me and I believe we have. It is a complicated case but we’ll see how we might be able to assist and progress that. But you know, as you move around, I like hearing from people, and I hear from people all the time. So while some might have some very complex issues that need to be addressed, others I must say, who were there last night, it was great to see them.
JOURNALIST: Do you expect you’re going to see a little bit more of this obvious as we head into this campaign? Do you expect to have more encounters like this as we head into the election campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, well, we’re out there meeting with people, talking to people about what our plans are going forward, but we’re also telling people about what we’ve been able to achieve and I know that over the last three years it’s, it’s been tough. Of course it’s been tough. We’ve gone through the worst pandemic that the world has seen in 100 years. We’ve been through the worst recession we’ve seen because of the pandemic. Going back to the Great Depression and you know, Australia has come through this stronger than pretty much all of the advanced countries in the world, stronger than the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada. Australia has more jobs now, 375,000 more jobs today than we had before the election. And you know, you compare that back to the Global Financial Crisis when Labor were last in power. What we have gone through economically is 30 times worse than what happened during the Global Financial Crisis. But our government has seen unemployment fall from 5.7 per cent to four percent. Our employment performance has been 50 per cent better than what the Labor Party achieved when they went through a crisis that was a fraction of what this country has just been through over the last three years. And they saw unemployment rise from 4.2 per cent when John Howard left as Prime Minister and when Labor left it had gone up to 5.7 per cent. We’ve seen youth unemployment come down, we’ve seen two million people in total, get in to work over the course of our government and more than half of those have been women. We’ve got a record number of women in work, and I think projects like this will support women in work because of the commuting arrangements and the improved ease of access to so many of the local employment and regional employment centres as a result of the projects I’ve announced today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the billion dollars for the faster rail covers ten kilometres of track in this region but locals say it won’t deal with some of the other slower parts of the Newcastle to Sydney route in places like Hornsby and Gosford. Why have you announced this component rather than holistically look at speeding up that commute from the entire way from Newcastle to Sydney? And what do you make of the claim that you’re cynically targeting this part of the track because you’re seeking to win seats?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t make anything of that. What I do say is this though, that this is a key choke point in this rail network. We’re not coming out of this election promising fantasy projects, which local people understand would never happen. What we’re doing is setting out a very practical project. You’re right, it’s about a 10 kilometre section. It’s a choke point. You fix a choke point, you make the whole rail line go faster. It’s real. It’s achievable. It’ll happen. It’s not on the never, never. It’s been carefully worked through. It’s been well designed. There’s been great consultation and it actually solves the problem. We’re not pretending it to be anything different to that, but it’s real and it’s going to happen. And it’s just what the Central Coast needs. And there’s all sorts of challenges across the rail network, we’re not promising to solve all of those today. But what we are doing is saying we’re committed to funding to solve this part of it, which will make this network more effective, not just here in Wyong. I mean, this affects all the way up to Newcastle, all the way through. Right across all of those communities will benefit from dealing with this choke point, both here on the rail and there on the road.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I, looking at the backflip on the Queensland flooding support issue. Is it the case then that an Acting Premier can make a lot of noise on television and in 24 hours the Commonwealth will go from saying it’s something isn’t in the scope of the program to is? Why are you confident now but you weren’t yesterday that that money can be used effectively by the state government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, these requests are still out of scope of the normal projects that are done under this program, and it was, I think, a very reasonable position for us to expect the state government to fund things that they should be funding. But what was very clear from the state government’s response was they were not prepared to do that. And I’m not going to have people left in the lurch as a result of the Queensland State Government playing politics on the eve of an election trying to weaponise politically the flood experiences of Queenslanders. So we’ll make it happen. I don’t think people want to see fights between state and federal governments. State government has sought to make an issue out of this, so I just want to make sure the support flows. But I’ll put some conditions on. I mean, the Queensland government still hasn’t spent $52 million from the support we’ve given them for past natural disasters. They haven’t been spending the money that we sent to them to help people who have been affected by disasters. They sat on the money in their bank account and when they haven’t even spent the money we’ve sent them for past disasters, then you can understand the Federal Government would be a little cautious about the requests that are now being made. So the condition of this funding going forward is the state government in Queensland and other states, for that matter, will need to be transparent about how much money is getting paid through. I’m not talking about over a number of years. I mean, the Queensland government today should be very clear about how much of the $550 million program that we already committed to in the first wave, how much of that specifically have they got to small businesses? How much have they got to primary producers and community organisations? How many cheques have they actually written? They’ve come asking for more money and they haven’t even been necessarily spending the money that we’ve already supported them with. So we’ll be providing those funds once it’s been disbursed and settling up with the Queensland government. But it’s very important that they are transparent with Queenslanders, just as New South Wales seeks to do here, with how much money from that flood response is actually getting to people now. I can tell you how much it is from the Commonwealth government in Queensland. It’s $379 million dollars has gone from the Federal Government into the pockets of flood victims in Queensland. That is more, than up until this request, the Queensland government had even committed to the flood response and after our commitment today, the combined State-Federal Government commitment to the flood response in Queensland is around $1.9 billion. $1.3 billion of that comes from the Commonwealth. So I’d say that is the Commonwealth not just doing its fair share but actually picking up the slack of the state government in Queensland as well.
JOURNALIST: So will the Commonwealth now be coming up with half of the $112 million for New South Wales to rebuild homes?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re working, we’ve been working through that particular issue with the Premier now for the last week or so, and there are some further requests before us right now, we’ve only just received them. And I’ve been in touch with New South Wales ministers this morning about how we might be able to address that as quickly as we can, but we’re just working through those issues right now. It shouldn’t be too long.
JOURNALIST: Sounds like a yes?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it will sound like what it sounds like when we make that announcement. And after one, once we’ve done our proper assessment.
JOURNALIST: Will you be calling the election tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: Are we going to do this every day? The election will be called when I’m in a position to go to the Governor-General. It’s, it’s almost three years and by mid-May, when, from the last election. I said we would run a term, do the job and go to the Australian people. And so that’s when the election is due, and I think that we’ll be calling it soon. And when we do, then I think there will be a real opportunity because this election is an opportunity for the Australian public to take a good look. I mean, you’ve seen me, you’ve seen what we’ve done. You’ve seen how we’ve saved 40 thousand lives, got two million people into work. You’ve seen how we’ve ensured Australia could come through this pandemic strongly compared to countries all around the world and be able to set Australia for the future with infrastructure investments like this, investments in skills, investments in training, very important here, particularly on the Central Coast. Investing in those skills and training, supporting the essential services but with a strong plan for the future. Now my opponent in this election, Anthony Albanese, is a blank page. He’s not a small target, he is a complete blank page. And at a time of great uncertainty, considerable uncertainty, not just in the economy, but also in terms of national security, a blank page is no answer to the problems that Australians face. You’ve seen our plan, you’ve seen it detailed in budgets, you’ve seen it detailed year after year and the forward plans about how we will continue to be strong. Anthony Albanese has been ducking the questions for three years, and in this election campaign, he’ll have to answer them. Yesterday, I noticed he didn’t like answering questions and had the questioner removed. Thanks very much, everyone. Great to be here, I have to go, thanks.
