10th September, 2025.
My question is directed to the Minister for Roads. I note that there have recently been marker ties for the area where the Picton bypass will be delivered. Will the Minister inform the House of the progress of the bypass and when my community can expect to see approval of the full funding?
Jenny Aitchison, Minister for Roads, and Minister for Regional Transport: I thank the member for Wollondilly. She is a very strong advocate for her community and is always on the ball looking out for changes. That is a testament to why she is in this place. Those opposite treated Wollondilly and so many other south-west Sydney electorates as safe seats. They did not do any work. They shoved 30,000 people into that electorate without the corresponding infrastructure of roads, water, wastewater and schools. They still have septic trucks, in a city. That is ridiculous. The member for Wollondilly noticing those changes is a testament to her advocacy for her community.
As members know, the Picton bypass is a new 2.1‑kilometre connection between Picton Road and Remembrance Driveway. It is designed to remove a significant volume of traffic from Argyle Street and the Picton town centre, including heavy vehicles. It is a very important project for the community and is only made more difficult by the number of people who were pushed into that area to live before the infrastructure was ready. We have seen that with road infrastructure across the State. When I was in opposition, I used to think that the Coalition Government just did not spend money in Labor electorates, but it often did not spend money in its safe electorates because it was interested in only one metric to move investment in infrastructure, which is the electoral pendulum. The Coalition did not care about population growth and community need, and that was a real concern.
The bypass is not important just for safety and easing congestion but also for enhancing the region's resilience during bushfires and floods. Federal and State governments have committed over $18 million to support the bypass, with $14.88 million from the Australian Government and $3.7 million from the New South Wales Government. The history of the bypass is important for context. The bypass was first announced before 2018. It is now 2025. As I said yesterday in this House about another project, those opposite committed paltry sums of investment to pretend that they were actually doing something. To answer the question of the member for Wollondilly, the Government is working on the bypass. There are onsite surveying works, which is why the member for Wollondilly and her community have noticed marker ties and surveying equipment on the ground. Those surveying works will help to develop the full business case, which will provide a detailed assessment of the preferred route, including the modelling, environmental impacts and cost estimates. [Extension of time]
The concept design is just about ready to go. I am very happy to come back to the electorate of the member for Wollondilly, as I have before, and visit with her to have a look at the project and see where it is up to in that more detailed space. The Government is looking to expedite the project. It is accelerating road projects across New South Wales, which stalled under those opposite. That goes to show that the Coalition is not just divided on the big policy issues we have been hearing about all through question time, like net zero and koalas, but they were divided on where they would invest in the community. It is a disgrace to see that politicisation of investment in communities.
I was truly shocked when I came into this portfolio and saw the lack of investment by the former Government in the south-west Sydney area, which has been taking the bulk of housing investment in the State. It has not just happened in the Wollondilly electorate. Many electorates were won by Labor members. The member for Camden, the member for Riverstone, the member for East Hills, the member for Leppington and the member for Liverpool are all new members, coming to Parliament alongside the member for Wollondilly, because there was such a lack of investment in our communities. As a member representing the fastest growing regional area outside of Sydney, in Maitland, the same thing has happened there. All we have heard from those opposite is "Why are you funding these projects that have been on the books?" They promised them for years, refused to put the money in and are now complaining that the Government is getting on with the job of delivering. While the Coalition is divided, Labor is delivering, and that is the story of this Government.