PUBLIC INTEREST DEBATE: Road Tolls

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL (Camden) (17:23): I note that the member for Kellyville started with three words: lies, deceit and hypocrisy. I would like to turn to the words from the Independent Toll Review. Aside from laying bare the patchwork of poorly functioning toll roads and numerous different price structures, the report reveals information that has not previously been made public. I think it is important to get to the truth. The report reveals details of the rates of return in contracts and the toll burden of each of the roads. The privatisation agenda of the former Liberal-Nationals Government means that of the $195 billion, WestConnex alone accounts for around 52 per cent of the estimated toll figure in today's dollars. Based on these figures, users will be paying for the cost of that scheme three times over. I do believe that tolls were first brought in to pay for the road. One of the most disappointing things about living in south-west Sydney was the discovery that the M5 motorway had been paid for, but the toll was not being lifted. We finished our bit, but there were other parts—

Mr Matt Cross: Bob Carr didn't lift it.

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL: This was under your Government.

Mr Matt Cross: Give the cash back.

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL: No, do your homework. This was under your Government. We had paid for it, and it was done, and then a new road opened. The former Coalition Government was not comfortable tolling people in that community for the road, so it thought, "South-west Sydney doesn't seem to mind. Go ahead."

A survey conducted by the review found that residents in Blacktown, the south-west and Parramatta who used toll roads more than once a month spent, respectively, $95.90, $87.63 and $84.35 a month on average. That would generally be poor form, but we are currently also in a cost-of-living crisis. If someone has to leave their property for which they have saved and scrimped and move all the way to south-west Sydney, Blacktown, or Parramatta and drive to work, leaving the electorate—because one of the things that did not come with all of the development in those areas were job opportunities, particularly in Camden—they will pay for the privilege to do so, and at an exorbitant amount per month.

That is higher than the Greater Sydney average of $60.70 spent by motorists who use toll roads at least once a month. The survey highlights that Western Sydney residents pay the highest amount and have the fewest public transport options available. It is to that that I pivot now. The member for Davidson gave an extensive list of things that we had built, which is ironic because the member for Kellyville said that Labor did not build anything. What they had not built was any public transport infrastructure. Leppington train station, which was the last piece of public transport in the south-west, was designed and implemented by the Carr Labor Government.

Mr Matt Cross: Delivered by the Liberal Government—opened and delivered by the Liberal Government.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER: The member for Davidson will come to order.

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL: The member for Davidson is wrong. From Leppington all the way around to Campbelltown, they did. There were greenfields with the opportunity to create public transport infrastructure right through the Camden electorate, but that did not happen. We know that 70 per cent of people in Camden are in the workforce, 56 per cent of people in Camden work full time and 48 per cent of those travel to work by car as lone drivers. They go in the car, by themselves, because they have no other choice. Fewer than 1 per cent of Camden commuters go to work anywhere on public transport. We have been given no choice but to go on those roads. We have been given no opportunity, no alternative, no plan B but to go on toll roads again and again. I think it is chronically unfair—

Ms Felicity Wilson: Camden Valley Way has had a great upgrade under us.

Mr Matt Cross: Camden Valley Way is not tolled.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Opposition members will come to order.

Mrs SALLY QUINNELL: But we are forced to used it, all the way to the M5, the M7, the M4. In fact— [Time expired.]