STATE MEMBER FOR WALLSEND SONIA HORNERY: Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Wallsend electorate and all the wonderful things we do, and Transport for New South Wales. I'd like to welcome the Premier, Minister Catherine, three Labor Ministers as well, Yasmin, Jenny and Jodie, as well as my colleague, Tim. Welcome again to the area, I understand that the Premier and Minister King have some really wonderful announcements about lots and lots of money being spent on roads, particularly roads to the west that will make many of our New South Wales citizens very happy. So, I'm going to pass on to Minister Aitchison, Jenny, for more details.

NSW MINISTER FOR ROADS JENNY AITCHISON: Thanks, Sonia. Well, thanks everyone. It's great to be here today with this announcement for the Regional Corridor Upgrade Program to invest $1.7 billion in regional roads right across New South Wales. Now, the key point about a lot of these roads is that they are east-west freight corridors, particularly the Golden Highway that goes from Newcastle right through to Dubbo, we've got Muswellbrook to Armidale, we've got Tocumwal to Euston in the southwest of the state. Now, these roads are doing the heavy lifting of getting produce from our state farms and mines and other industrial centres into the ports at Newcastle and Melbourne and right across this country, so they are really important roads. This investment will see them given safety upgrades as well as capacity upgrades with improvements to the roads, including overtaking and passing lanes, pull out bays, resurfacing, to really ensure that they can meet the needs of the future.

When we look at the freight task that's happening in our state, as well as the increasing size of recreational vehicles, caravans, motor homes, all of those vehicles are travelling in these regional areas. And this investment of $1.7 billion is a significant boost in the arm for regional New South Wales. It's great to see the Minns Labor Government working hand in hand with the Albanese Labor Government to deliver the upgrades to the road network that our regions need. And I have to say, we have been investing in roads since we came to government, in terms of the upgrades through council roads that we did when we first came in, through natural disasters and through our state highways. But this is a significant investment in regional New South Wales that will do a great job of preparing our roads for the future, today.

I’ll pass on to Minister King.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CATHERINE KING: Thanks, Jenny. Well, this is a really terrific partnership between the Albanese Labor Government and the Minns Labor Government to improve three really vital corridors for our freight task here in this nation. $1.7 billion to invest in improving overtaking, resurfacing lanes to be able to make sure we continue to have heavy vehicles and heavier vehicles accessing those roads. This is an important win for road safety for regional New South Wales residents as well. Upgrading those roads really does mean that people can get home safer, we can get our produce to markets more quickly. But also for our very, very large number of truck drivers who drive on those roads, they've been calling for improvements in our freight network for some time, and this is a significant improvement.

We know our freight task is increasing. We know more and more people are buying goods online and we're seeing those being shipped all around the country, and that means that we have to keep up with our freight network. We've got a great partnership between ourselves and the New South Wales Government, and I particularly want to acknowledge Minister Aitchison and Premier Minns for that work that they've done with us in partnership to make sure that these investments are there, ready to go. This will make a significant difference in those corridors, Newcastle to Dubbo, and certainly in Euston to Tocumwal, and also through Muswellbrook to Armidale, roads from the Golden Highway to the Newell Highway, all that have been crying out for improvements for some time now. It's $1.7 billion, that work will start pretty quickly, 59 projects just in the Newcastle to Dubbo corridor alone. And we're really pleased to be here today partnering with the Minns Government. on what is a really significant investment in regional New South Wales, and I'll hand over to the Premier, thanks Chris.

NSW PREMIER CHRIS MINNS: Thanks, Catherine. It's great to be here with you and so many of my colleagues. Thanks, Sonia, for hosting us in your seat. This is a really important announcement for New South Wales, we're very grateful to the Commonwealth Government for putting such a significant investment, $700 million from federal coffers and over a billion dollars from the New South Wales government for three crucial roads that are obviously important for the local communities because local residents drive on those roads, they need first class travel infrastructure, but also hugely important in terms of the growth and the economy for those regions. 

The Golden Highway in particular is much needed for, long overdue, it's always a double-edged sword when you come to Newcastle and talk about roads funding, because the first question a lot of people have is, where have you been and we want that yesterday. I completely understand that. But this is not a nice to have, it's a must have in terms of road infrastructure, and we have committed this funding. We'll see it built rapidly. We expect all of these major road projects to be completed inside the next four years producing a lot of employment, a lot of economic growth, even apprentices that’ll come onto the project, and what you will see is these projects finished as soon as possible. We've got a fantastic Roads Minister in Jenny Aitchison. She cracks the whip when it comes to this essential infrastructure. And what I'm hoping is that a lot of residents see the progress of the M1, the joint federal-state agreement and the investment that we were able to put into that project, see that it was completed– I think 18 months ahead of schedule, as evidence that we're serious about these major road infrastructure projects, we'll get them done as soon as possible, and the money will flow.

It's not the end of our road announcements as we get into the state election campaign. We know there are a lot of priorities in the Hunter area. I was on radio this morning, and the hosts were talking about traffic often being a historical thing that people in the Hunter would laugh at Sydney about, but increasingly there's a lot of gridlock and major growing pains in the Hunter region. We know that. We are going to commit to this region for major infrastructure and upgrades to essential roads to make life easier for motorists who live and work in this region. There's a long and proud history of people who live in this community that work in community too, but they need roads to get to and from work, to see their family, to go to sporting events, and we’re committed to doing it.

Just before I get to questions, I also was able to go to Orica this morning, to go to HVO yesterday afternoon, and I think we're heading to Broadmeadow after this. And it's a good opportunity to look at the industry that is booming in the Hunter region. Local jobs, manufacturing, domestic industry, that is hugely important in terms of an economy in transition, but also local jobs and important employment opportunities for young people. Now, when we were elected in 2022, we committed to ensuring that local industry would not be wiped away no matter what happened around the rest of the world. There was a lot of pressures, geopolitical pressures and economic pressures on that commitment, but we were committed to it. I remember a lot of people saying, well, now Labor's in, you'll see less mining jobs. There's more mining jobs than ever before under a Labor Government, and we've committed a lot of money to ensure that we've got domestic manufacturing in the Hunter region. Whether it's train-building or protecting, with the Commonwealth Government, the Tomago Aluminium Smelter, we are making sure and are committing to a long future when it comes to local jobs and making things in the Hunter Valley.

The truth is this region of New South Wales has been the backbone, the engine room, of so much that's been built right across the state and the country, and that won't diminish under a Labor Government. I've seen communities around the world effectively de-industrialise because of economic pressures or global pressures, and they've all regretted it in the end. Once you lose those jobs, those pay packets, those communities shut down and you can't replace it. And the infrastructure that's been built up over many, many decades would cost billions and billions of dollars to recreate. Once it's gone, it's gone for good. But it hasn't been under Labor. We are very proud to believe in domestic manufacturing in the Hunter Valley. We want to see it grow and continue to get bigger in the years ahead, and we will partner with those industries to make sure that that happens.