Press conference - Sydney

JEROME LAXALE: … the Member for Bennelong. It's so fantastic to be here today with the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King; the State Minister for Roads, John Graham; and my good friend, the Member for Parramatta, Andrew Charlton, because today is a really exciting day, another step forward on this Epping Bridge project. I remember when I was a young kid and my parents used to drive to the city, we used to come from Western Sydney, across and through Epping and get stuck here on this bridge behind us. It was built in 1900, and as you can see, it's very small and it's congested. We went to the election promising to upgrade this bridge working with the state government, and we're here today to release some really exciting plans on how we will finish this project and give the residents of Epping and Western Sydney and this part of northern Sydney, a toll free option to get through a congested part of the city.

As you can see, there's plenty of housing around here. With growth, we need the infrastructure to back it up. That's something that the Albanese government has been delivering, and I couldn't be prouder as the local member in this area, to deliver on this really important project. Minister King will give us some more details. But residents and locals in this area, in Marsfield and Eastwood and Epping itself, have been- have heard about this project for so long. To be able to be here today and release such important detail of how it will happen, how long it will take, and when it will be open is a really important next step. Minister?

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Thanks very much. Catherine King, Federal Minister for Infrastructure. It is fantastic to be here with John Graham, the State Minister for Roads; Jerome Laxale and Andrew Charlton as well. Well, this is a terrific milestone for the Epping Bridge project. We of course, as Jerome has said, went to the election promising to fix this congestion here in Epping. And in particular, this is what we're releasing today, are the detailed designs which are out for consultation about how this project will proceed. Already, there is work underway to move some of the services that will need to be done as part of construction, but really, this is now a milestone in this project to ensure that we actually can get on with the job of delivering this. You can see from behind me that there is significant traffic already here, but what you can also see is that there are a lot of pedestrians trying to get through this crossing. So I'm delighted that as part of this $220 million bridge project, that what we are also building is active transport, separating cyclists, those kids trying to get to school, pedestrians as well, separating those from the traffic, making it safer, but also encouraging that active transport. This is a great location. We've got trains, we've got housing, we've got all of these fantastic retail outlets here, people trying to move around. This project really will be a game changer for people who live in this area, but also beyond people who use Epping Road. And really delighted to be again partnering with the state government. This is Labor governments getting things done. We don't just put out press releases, we don't just try and stand there during election campaigns. We actually deliver projects. That's what our partnership with the state government has all been about, working really closely. I'm really proud of the work that the New South Wales Roads Department has done, and my department have done together to really get this project moving. And I do want to thank very much, John Graham, for the work that they've been doing to ensure that we deliver this project. And I'll hand over to John.

JOHN GRAHAM: Thank you. Thanks very much, Catherine. It is a real delight to be here. This is a really important project and it has been a product of teamwork. I really want to thank Catherine King and the Federal Government for the work they've done. This is an equal partnership on this project, $110 million each. It's great to see it taking another step, but it really is a product of the state and federal government working closely together on this project. It's big news from a traffic point of view. You can see how constrained this bridge is, and adding these extra lanes and adding these extra [indistinct] this active transport capacity will really make a difference to people as they move through. But it's good news as well for the Epping town centre. There's big plans to really lift the Epping town centre, this project is at the heart of making that possible. It's one of the key changes we need to make to have Epping reach its potential. So for all those reasons, it's great news for the local community here and many of the people that will move through this area on a day to day basis.

I also just want to comment on one other issue in the news, that is the arrival of Turkish Airlines to Kingsford Smith Airport later in the year. Later this year, Turkish Airlines will begin flying four weekly flights in and out of Kingsford Smith. That's great news for Sydney. It's great news for New South Wales. It's big news for our visitor economy. It's a real boost as these new flights come online. It's a whole new way in and out of Europe, bringing tens of thousands of potential new visitors into New South Wales. This is a key carrier with a very big network throughout Europe, so it's certainly great news for New South Wales, but I want to thank Catherine King for signing off the fifth freedom rights to make that possible. That happened back some time ago now. We're seeing the fruits of that decision as Turkish Airlines announces that it will be coming to Sydney as early as the second of December this year.

CATHERINE KING: Happy to take questions. [Indistinct] first.

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]… Just talk us through the rough timeline of when the work’s meant to get underway.

JOHN GRAHAM: Yeah. Early works now are already underway. We're really kicking that off at the moment. That will really take us through till the first quarter of next year. We're also out to consultation on these designs, getting feedback from the community about the precise nature of the work. So it’s really great to see these early steps really taking place with this project.

JOURNALIST: And will it have much impact on- like, the road, the works themselves, will they have much impact on the traffic that already exists?

JOHN GRAHAM: Yeah. These early works will be possible to do without huge disruptions, but this will be a disruptive project as it unfolds in construction. There's no way around that. You can see how constrained it is. This would be one of the toughest jobs that transport have to do from a construction point of view, given we're talking about construction over a rail line with an existing bridge. So there will be disruptions as this project unfolds, but the benefits will be huge, both for the town centre and from the traffic point of view.

CATHERINE KING: Happy?

JOURNALIST: Yeah.

CATHERINE KING: All good?

JOURNALIST: Is that okay? Are you okay to chat about the …

CATHERINE KING: I can talk about anything.

JOURNALIST: Is that alright? Sorry.

CATHERINE KING: That's my job.

JOURNALIST: It's ticking a lot boxes today.

CATHERINE KING: You are alright. It's a bit weird to be talking about Melbourne in Sydney, but I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to talk about Turkish Airlines as well.

JOURNALIST: Yeah, why not? Of the $3 billion cost, how much of that is coming from the Federal Government?

CATHERINE KING: Sorry, in terms of the …?

JOURNALIST: The $3 billion cost for the new runway.

CATHERINE KING: That is entirely being funded by the airport. So there's no government funding in the construction. What I've done, as the planning minister for federally-leased airports, is provide approval for that major development plan for the third runway to go ahead. This is an incredibly important economic development project for Victoria, and I know it's been eagerly awaited by particularly the state and by the business community. But I have been at pains to ensure that through making that decision that I had the communities who live around that airport front of centre. And making sure that we have those conditions – so noise amelioration, making sure that the east-west runway is reinstated so that it can be part of noise sharing, and also making sure that there is, as I said, a noise amelioration plan for the airport as well. But this is a really important project for Melbourne, important that we got it right and we've now made that planning decision.

JOURNALIST: Is that why it has had a longer process to put your stamp of approval on it?

CATHERINE KING: Well, obviously one of the things I was exercised by was the shortening of the east-west runway, and Melbourne Airport giving that commitment to reinstate the shortening of the east-west runway to ensure that it can continue to have the capacity so that not one community bears the brunt of the changes that will be required as part of the airspace design.

One of the other things we've done as part of conditions is ensure that that airspace design or redesign has to be done in consultation with Essendon Fields Airport – again, an important airport in that community as well. This is the strictest set of conditions on any development of this kind. Again, it's an- important to get that balance right between the economic development opportunities for Melbourne, which are enormous – billions of dollars of economic growth for Victoria, for Melbourne, for our agricultural producers, increasing passenger transport into Melbourne – but also at the same time making sure that we get the balance right for the communities who live in and around that airport.

JOURNALIST: And around seven suburbs are expected to be affected by noise. Was any other alternatives discussed?

CATHERINE KING: Well, obviously the plan I have before me is the plan I have before me, but those conditions around noise amelioration, that work now has to be undertaken particularly around Keilor Park and Buller for homes, and also businesses and facilities around there. So a school that is in that area as well, making sure that those noise amelioration plans are in place, as well as working with Essendon Fields and Airservices Australia on how the flight paths will work. And that's- but this is- you know, it's a long term project expected to be open and operating between 2030 and 2031, and so we've got a fair bit of time to go through and work all that up as well.

JOURNALIST: And do you have an idea of how much compensation will be put aside for locals? Is that part of that $3 billion?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, the airport will be funding the noise amelioration. So that is a matter for the airport to work its way through. But that is one of the conditions that I have placed on the [indistinct] of that plan today.

JOURNALIST: And local councils are calling for Melbourne Airport Rail as the required compensation to offset the impact. How much will the Federal Government contribute to airport rail?

CATHERINE KING: So we already have $5 billion on the table to build the Melbourne Airport Rail Link, as does the State Government. And we'll continue to work with the State Government and the airport on this project. We know it is an important priority for the Victorian State Government and the airport, and we’ll continue to work on that. Obviously, we had a report recently into how we can start to progress that. There were three areas in which we were recommended to start. One of those is looking at the- really starting that work at the Sunshine Precinct, and we'll have some announcements to make about that shortly. And just on the announcement about Turkish Airlines flying into Sydney, this is terrific. I was really delighted to be able to sign off on increasing the amount of air services that comes from Turkish Airlines and Turkiye into Australia. Really important to actually have a new route, a new route via Istanbul for Australia to the rest of the world. Delighted – they started flights in Melbourne early, and absolutely delighted to hear that they will do now coming to Sydney. It is opening up a whole new route into Europe, but into that part of the world by Istanbul, and delighted that the New South Wales and the Sydney Airport have been able to work to bring Turkish Airlines here, and delighted to have been part of increasing that capacity. Thank you.