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| State Budget and Northern Beaches |
| Tuesday, 23 June 2009 | ||||||
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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [6.20 p.m.]: I acknowledge my wife, Kerryn, and my beautiful daughters, Laura and Cate, and my young son, Luke. It is great to have them in the gallery. They are vibrant members of the northern beaches community. Certainly they put up with a lot for my being in this place. It is appreciated that they are here tonight as supporters on the journey of trying to help out their community, which we all love. I refer to the State budget, particularly as it affects the northern beaches. The State Labor Government must understand that the people of the northern beaches feel let down on two material issues. It is time we changed the political paradigm, or the way we deal with things. The northern beaches hospital and the Spit Bridge remain two long-running issues that, I regret to say, are completely unresolved in this budget. Both the Premier and the Treasurer should come to the northern beaches to experience firsthand the problems that these issues are causing and should apologise to the community because for years nothing tangible has been done to address them. The budget reveals a very difficult position for this economy. It reveals that we are in a recession and that unemployment is on the rise. The budget reveals an optimistic plan whereby, at best, we may get out of the red in two years. If one looks at the assumptions, that is questionable. We are in a difficult position. Long-running promises have not been dealt with on a day-to-day basis in each budget. The first of those promises relates to the northern beaches hospital, which remains unbuilt. Before the 2007 State election Morris Iemma, in announcing the establishment of a northern beaches hospital, said:
The Government has failed to provide sufficient resources for both these hospitals, with everyone believing that a new facility is on its way. However, that does not seem to be the case. The new North Shore Hospital was designed on the basis that a northern beaches hospital would also be built. However, while the new north shore hospital is being built, the northern beaches remain without a hospital. The Coalition has already given a commitment that we build the northern beaches hospital. However, we call on the Government to honour its many promises in relation to that hospital and to look at a way in which the hospital can be delivered. The Coalition has announced the establishment of a new body, Infrastructure NSW, which will oversee major projects in this State, and that includes the northern beaches hospital. We have heard a litany of promises about the Spit Bridge. Four or five different transport Ministers promised to widen the bridge and made a commitment to deal with the problems on the bridge. However, the problems continue to get worse. Year after year we are promised a solution to the problems on the Spit Bridge, yet the problems remain. I have discussed this issue with the Minister for Roads and he has put out an olive branch. The Minister has said that he will take politics out of the issue. I call on the House to address a number of issues on that basis. The Minister said that he will look at a proposal put forward by the Sensible Traffic Action Group and that he will make a decision and provide comment on whether this could be a long-term solution. The issue then comes down to funding, priorities and community consultation. A government cannot build infrastructure without engaging in community consultation. The Spit proposal, certainly from my perspective, has merit. I ask the Minister for Roads to take politics out of the issue. He has told me he will do so. Let us see the Minister's response and let us put public transport at the core. We say to the Government: with regard to the northern beaches hospital and the Spit Bridge we need to be above politics and we need solutions.
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