Blacktown Electorate Infrastructure

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-105008

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Blacktown Electorate Infrastructure

Mr STEPHEN BALI (Blacktown) (21:36:10):

I have represented the electorate of Blacktown for 13 months, having replaced John Robertson, who is working very well at Foodbank and doing great community service. Members on both sides of the House have supported and helped him in that role. It is great to see him maintaining that involvement in the community. Members opposite often talk about the wonders of this Government. Unfortunately, it has overlooked five key issues in my electorate: First, the lack of lifts at Doonside railway station; secondly, the lack of nurses at Blacktown Hospital; thirdly, the lack of police officers in the area; fourthly, the underfunding of education facilities; and, fifthly, the lack of infrastructure to support a growing community.

The community has been campaigning to have lifts installed at Doonside railway station for 15 years. Over their eight years in government, members opposite have refused to provide the required funding. More than 22,000 people live in the area, but we cannot get the Government to act. Fewer than 1,000 people use the Hawkesbury River station each week, but it has attracted funding. The Doonside station cuts the community in half. The northern side has community services, shops and schools but the southern side has only a primary school. Many people live in the war service homes that were built in that area in the 1940s and 1950s for war veterans, which means it has an elderly population. The steep ramp at the station makes it almost impossible to cut across the railway to access services on the other side. When she was the Minister for Transport, the now Premier ranked Doonside station as the twelfth most in need of upgrading. Despite that, many other stations much further down the list have been upgraded. Doonside station is overlooked time and again. That is ridiculous and funding must be allocated for that work.

The Government has completed stage one of the Blacktown Hospital, which was a fantastic Labor Government initiative. Stage two of the upgrade will require a $1 billion investment. The member for Seven Hills and the member for Riverstone are often invited to functions at the hospital, but I am not despite the fact that I am the local member and it is next door to my office. It is nice to have a shiny new building, but there is a shortfall of 140 full-time equivalent nurses. The member for Riverstone should be standing up for the constituents of Blacktown and delivering 140 nurses. Those vacancies mean that services are not being provided and nurses are being subjected to unreasonable pressure. Those positions must be filled and filled now.

The police establishment in my electorate has only recently been upgraded to the appropriate level. The Government is talking about re-engineering the NSW Police Force, but we need more police officers in Blacktown. The member for Seven Hills, a former police officer, knows that the Seven Hills police station is constantly bombarded by residents calling for more police officers in the central business district. That issue must be addressed. Not a dollar was allocated in the budget for air conditioning and maintenance, or to replace demountables at schools in my electorate. The four schools have more than $1 million worth of outstanding maintenance work. The member for Riverstone is interjecting when he should be sticking up for the people in our area. Teaching positions in TAFE have been cut and we do not have a university.

Our city now has a population of 500,000—there are more people living in Blacktown than there are in Tasmania—but we have no university. This Government should be helping us rather than worrying about Badgerys Creek, which is a figment of its imagination. My electorate has $5 billion worth of outstanding roadworks. Blacktown Road runs between the electorate of Seven Hills and the electorate of Blacktown. Roads and Maritime Services says it is top of the priority list for upgrading, but not a dollar has been allocated to undertake that work. This Government has had a $10 billion surplus for five years, but we cannot get lifts, roads, nurses, police officers and so on. This Government is a disgrace.

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (21:41:19):

The Labor Government built, refurbished or refitted more than 10 T1 and T2 stations across New South Wales and we saw cuts to the health and education budgets. This Government is spending record amounts on education and health, and Blacktown Hospital has benefited. In eight short years, 78 major upgrades have been undertaken at hospitals and health facilities and 1,500 new police officers have been appointed. The member for Blacktown has his head in the sand because he does not realise that members on this side of the House have done more for Blacktown than the Labor Government did in 16 years.