The Hon Catherine King MP
Press Conference in Hunter Valley
DAN REPACHOLI: Well, welcome back to the beautiful Hunter Valley the gateway to paradise. We have Saddlers Creek Winery One side of us we have Kelman Winery, the other side. This is literally the gateway to paradise. And we’re here, we’re joined by my good friend and colleague Catherine King again today. And we have some major announcements for this area to make it safer, quicker and easier for people to travel around the beautiful Hunter Valley area and get home to their loved ones quicker, to be able to get through our areas quicker and to be able to be safer. So, the Muswellbrook Bypass will be announcing some things on that, and we’ll also announcing the brand new Cessnock Bypass as well. So a little bit more on that one to come.
But the Muswellbrook bypass, we know how important the Muswellbrook Bypass is for our area because for so long we’ve had trucks, we’ve had cars, we’ve had large vehicles going through the main street of Muswellbrook. It has been extremely unsafe for years and we’re here making it safer, quicker and easier for people to get around the upper part of the Hunter. It’s a $304.8 million commitment that we’ve got here that have been brought forward so that we can make sure that this work can happen quicker and that we can get people home safer, and to travel through the wonderful Hunter.
And now on to the brand new Cessnock Bypass. For years, people have been telling me how congested it is here in Cessnock and it is very congested. People wait in lines, wait in queues everywhere in Cessnock. This year we’ve got $5 million announcement for the Cessnock Bypass to go for the planning works so that council can do all the work that they need to do to make sure that people can get around this town safer, quicker and more efficiently because it is a big issue in this area. We have been having massive, massive growth here and will continue to grow. We’re the second fastest growing LGA in all of New South Wales, and we will continue to work together with council, with state government to make sure that we can deliver on roads, deliver on infrastructure. And I’ll let Catherine King talk a bit more about infrastructure here today. So thank you, Catherine.
CATHERINE KING: Thanks. It’s terrific to be here in the Hunter once again, Dan. Three weeks ago, we went and had a good look at the Singleton Bypass and the terrific work that is going underway there and the huge progress that’s being made. That is a game changer for Singleton, will give people back their community and back their neighbourhood. What that work has been able– because they’ve done so well with that work that has enabled us now to bring forward money to start Muswellbrook Bypass. We were concerned about the capacity constraints in labour in the region, and now, what we’ve seen with that great work on Singleton, we can now bring money forward to get Muswellbrook underway.
What you’ll see– I just might pause for a minute while we get this tractor to go past. Thank you. What you’ll see on Muswellbrook, alongside with the New South Wales Government, the bring forward of that money, means that all that early work, all of the earthworks, the movement of services, you’ll start to see that happen in the coming months in preparation for the major construction to start early in 2026. We are bringing this forward by over 12 months. It’s a great announcement for Muswellbrook. I know it will see continued work in the region, but also really give people back their main street, have that ability to get over 13,000 to 20,000 cars out every single day out of the main streets of Muswellbrook, and also that 9.3 kilometres of road that will be the bypass, again, really important to jobs in the region.
In terms of– because the job, of course, of infrastructure is never done, what we’re announcing today is $5 million from the Albanese Labor Government that will be in the upcoming budget to start the planning work for an alternate route past a bypass– past Cessnock. We know that there has been significant housing development that is coming into Cessnock. That’s a great thing. We love seeing new people coming into the region, but of course our infrastructure needs to be able to keep up. So getting that alternate route ready, planned, locked in so that we can make the decisions about investment later on, getting that planning work done so that we’re keeping ahead of the development that we’re seeing in this region. Great announcements for the Hunter. Would not have happened without a Labor Government and without Dan Repacholi, who is such a great advocate for the Hunter. Happy to take questions, and I’m sure Dan is as well.
JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] for Dan. Where’s the start and end of this bypass going to be? Can you take us through the basics?
CATHERINE KING: Well, again, this is part of the planning works. Council have done some early concept ideas about that. But really this is about planning. There’ll be significant consultation that will be needed to be undertaken with the community. Dan will have a better idea in terms of what council has initially sort of thought through, but really what this money is to enable that work to actually be done and that consultation with the community as well. Did you want to…
DAN REPACHOLI: Yeah. Good question. It’s the million-dollar question everybody wants to know. But it’s coming around the back of Bellbird there through here around into past the airport and around back onto pretty much Wine Country Drive there. Yeah. So fully bypass to get the traffic away from the centre of town, which has been a massive congestion for years and years.
JOURNALIST: Obviously, locals, for years, have been asking for upgrades to some particular roads. Hart Road, Wollombi Road. Would you expect to see some upgrades to those roads as part of this project?
DAN REPACHOLI: So Wollombi Road upgrades are already happening. There was announcement by council and by us and the state government a couple of weeks ago on that one for Wollombi Road. So Wollombi Road is starting. It starts in March. So this month it’s starting for the upgrades there. Hart Road, there needs to be some work done there and we’ll continue to work with council along the way and see what they need there. And I’m sure they’ll keep coming to us as projects come up. But we know how important infrastructure is in this area and that’s why we’re getting this Cessnock Bypass done because it really does matter for the area.
JOURNALIST: And Muswellbrook Bypass, obviously something locals have wanted for a very, very, very long time.
DAN REPACHOLI: Muswellbrook Bypass has been waiting there for a long, long time. Same as Singleton Bypass. Singleton Bypass is powering through which is great to see. Catherine and I were there a few weeks ago having a look at that. And the Muswellbrook Bypass now has just been brought 12 months forward, which is great for the residents there. And not only just the residents, but the people travelling up to Tamworth, anywhere around that they use the New England Highway, like anywhere that they go on that, they really need to that bypass to be right, because it is such a crucial part of what we have there.
JOURNALIST: And looking down the track to get– you mentioned a big [inaudible]… a whole lot of fuel energy, bits and pieces out to the central west, possibly going through Muswellbrook. That’s obviously going to help with that down the track.
DAN REPACHOLI: Certainly will help with that as well. And there is other routes they can go with those items. But this will cut those travel times down hugely. And it’s about local government working together with state government and federal government, all three levels of government working together to try and make sure we have a plan that we can go forwards with, with infrastructure for not only this state but Australia.
JOURNALIST: So when do you think we can see this completed, this new system?
DAN REPACHOLI: Well, I’m very optimistic but we’ll leave that for council. Council– that’s a council discussion. So, this is the planning work, and the state government have got some announcements around this as well of what they’re putting into this project also. But I’ll leave that for them to announce. But they will continue to do the planning work through this, through this period. And they I’m sure that they will reach out again for some more cash along the way. So lucky we’ve got a great infrastructure minister and I will be knocking on her door very quickly.
JOURNALIST: All right. So $5 million. That’s planning money, basically.
DAN REPACHOLI: Yeah.
JOURNALIST: Any idea what it’s going to cost in the end?
DAN REPACHOLI: Look, the planning has got to be done first. They’ve got to get the exact route of where this is going to go. So, until we find that out and what has got to happen with land acquisitions or things like that, or widening of roads or changing of roads, it’s really too early to tell.
JOURNALIST: At this stage, Cessnock is a growing area. So what’s the need for this study for this particular bypass? Why is it needed now?
DAN REPACHOLI: The need for this bypass is huge. We’re the second fastest growing LGA in New South Wales, only beaten currently by the Maitland LGA. So people want to come here. And why wouldn’t you want to come here? Look at it. As I said, the gateway to paradise. We have the world’s best wineries. We have such fantastic job opportunities. Our schools, we have some schools that are performing out of this world. Like, we are a great place to be and a place that people want to come. We’re two hours from Sydney. Why wouldn’t they want to come?
JOURNALIST: Interesting to note– sorry, changing the subject slightly. Stuart Bonds is back in the race for Cessnock. How do you view that?
DAN REPACHOLI: Look, I’m– I’m keen on everybody having a crack at this. And good on him for coming in and having a go. It’s not an easy job going and putting your whole life in the limelight where everyone can dig through every part of your life. So I take my hat off to him for having another go and look forward to the challenge that we’ll have coming ahead.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it’ll be a close race?
DAN REPACHOLI: Look, it’s always going to be a close race, no doubt about that. We’re probably going to have 9 or 10 candidates running for the Hunter. So that’s a lot of people to go up against. All I’ll continue to do is keep working with my team and work with people around the area. We’ve worked hard over the last three years, and I’ll continue to work hard.
JOURNALIST: Dan, it seems a lot of the Liberal candidates don't even mention nuclear power on their websites. Does this surprise you, and what does it say about nuclear as a policy?
DAN REPACHOLI: Look, I think a lot of the Liberal candidates are very much against nuclear energy. They’re not even having it on their websites. They're not talking about it. I think they're scared. They are not happy with going down the pathway that their leader, Peter Dutton, has taken them and Ted O'Brien. And I think now that they've seen our interim report that came out from the inquiry into nuclear energy, I think they understand that it just isn't going to be done in a time frame that is suitable for Australian workers. Isn't going to be done in a time frame that's suitable for people with their power and they know it's going to push their power prices up. Like, they understand that - they can't tell us how much it's going to cost. They can't tell us how long it's going to take to build. They can't tell us how much water they're going to use. They can't tell us where all these sites are and how many reactors, apart from the seven sites around Australia. They can't tell us what reactors they're going to use. There's a lot of can’ts in that, and there's not a lot of positives either. So, while they continue this on, I think this is just tearing their party apart. And honestly, I think it's a good thing that these guys can't even agree on whether this is a good thing for Australia or not in their own party, let alone talking to the Australian public.