NATHAN HAGARTY: … Good morning everyone firstly can I welcome out to this important site Premier Minns, Minister Catherine King, and Minister John Graham. An important milestone in what is a mega project underway at the airport, the aerotropolis… we know the key to that is connectivity. It's great to be out here for a great milestone, another big milestone in that journey around connectivity. Over to Minister King.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Thanks everybody, it’s great to be here Nathan in your electorate but also here with Premier Chris Minns my friend and colleague John Graham. Who we’ve been talking to a lot about infrastructure in Sydney and Western Sydney and our co-investments together as governments.

Well, where you're standing is basically the platform of the new Western Sydney International Airport rail terminal. So the platforms are in place. Bradfield is done. This one's about 50 per cent done. You're seeing these concrete plinths that we're standing on at the moment, and this will provide great connectivity to the Western Sydney International Airport. The terminal is done. The runway is done. I was out looking at the air traffic control tower, out at Eastern Creek, it’s not a tower it’s a facility out there that will control the air traffic in the space, and of course now, the metro’s coming out here.

This investment we're making together with the Minns Government, over $10.5 billion dollars, to make sure that this connectivity to the airport is really state-of-the-art. This platform will be wider than normal platforms. The entranceways and the lifts will provide for luggage to be able to come through. And of course, as you can see behind us, this has employed thousands of people, over 50 per cent of whom come from the local area. We know this airport will be a great generator of jobs, a great generator of jobs not just in the construction that we're seeing here today, but also for Western Sydney going forward into the future. As the Prime Minister likes to say, we used to have Sydney looking inwards to itself for jobs, but now is looking to the west. And it's not just about New South Wales jobs. We know that the west of Sydney will be a great economic driver for the whole of the country, and it is really terrific that we are partnering on these great investments here.

The airport terminal railway station here, again, will provide that great connectivity. It's a very different sort of platform experience to what you'll have. It's a 250-meter walk then to the station. We've done that deliberately in order to make sure, because of the way in which the geotech works is around the airport here, that we could actually build the airport terminal- the rail terminal as close to the airport as possible.

But what you're also seeing here at Western Sydney Airport is that investment we're also making in the roads. Many of you will have travelled here on those. Elizabeth Drive being upgraded and the M12, Mamre Road of course, and 15th Avenue to make sure that when the airport opens at the end of 2026, we'll see freight flights starting to come in in the middle of 2026, passenger services at the end of 2026, that that connectivity is there, and that's really what those road connections are all about.

I'm handing over to John Graham and then Chris will say a few words, and then we're really happy to take some questions. Thanks, John.

JOHN GRAHAM: Thanks so much, Catherine. And it's a delight to welcome Minister King here for this special moment, this first glimpse of these platforms, this station here, that so many thousands of people will come through on their way to the Western Sydney International Airport. It's appropriate that these platforms are jumbo-sized, planning for this airport. It's often hard moving around with your luggage, particularly for international travellers. And everything here has been designed with that in mind, making it easier for people to move through the airport, through the metro, as this incredible part of Western Sydney opens up.

That's true for these platforms, twice the size of the platforms you'll find, for example, at Gadigal Station. Also true for the gates. The whole passage through to the airport will be a lot easier if you're traveling with luggage as you fly into or out of this part of Western Sydney. This will really open up, not just New South Wales, but the whole country, again, to the world, really doubling down on all the investment in infrastructure going on in Western Sydney at the moment.

I want to place on record my thanks for the thousands of workers who've been involved in this project, 3000 at the moment, as we reach the peak of the build for this project. But these are skilled teams working hard to make this project work. You can really see in recent weeks the extent of the change going on in Sydney. Along with the Premier, I've been out at stations such as Bankstown, underground at Pyrmont, out at Parramatta, now out here in Western Sydney. You really get a sense of how Sydney is changing and the extent of the transformation that's going on as these metro lines roll out right across Sydney.

I did want to address the issues about connectivity. Some of those have been raised in the local media this morning. I want to thank councils like Campbelltown and Liverpool council for doing their job, advocating for their communities and transport connections in their communities. I want to indicate that these bus lines that have been talked about today are already in place, already serving those communities. Their primary role is to connect some of those neighbourhoods have been left without public transport connections at all. They've had the housing, but the public transport has taken time to catch up. We're doing that those routes in place already well before the airport opens. We're also investing further. We'll have more to say on bus investments in Sydney. Nearly half a billion dollars in bus investment in the state budget, $452 million dollars invested into future service routes. That's really going to address some more of those places that haven't had that public transport support. So we'll definitely have more to say. As Catherine's indicated, it's also part of a big road investment since the state election, more than $7 billion in roads around Western Sydney. Much of it around this area. That has meant we've had to make choices. One of those was cancelling the Northern Beaches Toll Road, for example. We wouldn't have been able to build that more than $11 billion project and still invest more than $7 billion out here. We've had to make choices, but you're really starting to see the benefit of that now. So, I thank those councils for doing their job. It will take us a little bit of time to really lift that connectivity, but that change is on the way. We look forward to working with them and with the airport as it opens to see this incredible transformation.

Premier.

CHRIS MINNS: Thanks, John. Thanks, Catherine. Thanks, Nathan. This is an exciting project for Sydney. It's exactly what we need. It's a real shot in the arm, whether it's infrastructure spending for much needed construction jobs in Western Sydney or the legacy that it will leave for this part of the state. This is a train line, a metro line, and an airport that will service Western Sydney and the people of Australia for decades to come. And the people that have worked incredibly hard on this project, it's a legacy project that you'll be able to tell your grandchildren about. This is a genuinely city-shaping, city-changing initiative, and we can't wait for it to be completed.

I want to pay tribute to the men and women who've worked on this job for a long period of time, some of whom I spoke to this morning, that may have begun on the City Centre Metro or the Northwest Metro, migrated through the Southwest Metro, then onto the Airport Metro. There's been expertise and experience that much of the workforce has gleaned from these big civil works projects that they've been able to apply to this incredibly complicated project. Linking St Mary's with the second airport for Sydney was always a monster undertaking. It's very expensive, but it will be a major change for Sydney. It'll be a positive change for Sydney. It'll open up parts of Sydney's western suburbs to the community that they haven't seen before.

I also think that a little bit like Metro Sydney and Metro North West, many taxpayers will be surprised at the change in this part of Western Sydney. They won't know the scale and the size of the second airport. They won't understand the connectivity that's actually taking place, mostly underground, partly by the viaduct, over the last couple of years. And they'll be positively surprised by where their taxpayer dollars are going. We're very grateful to be working hand in glove with the Commonwealth Government with this project. It's much needed for Sydney. It's hugely important.

I did want to just talk about a few things. John spoke about the connectivity to the second airport, particularly as the airport opens for logistics and commercial operations, and then for the second half of the year for passenger trips and terminals. Now, we're working incredibly hard to get this project completed to coincide with the opening of passenger movement at the airport. We can't guarantee, but we're working very, very hard to meet that deadline. What I want to make sure that the public know is that we're also investing $450 million into bus connections for New South Wales over a very condensed period of time, not to mention an unprecedented amount of money on new road and connections for this part of South Western Sydney.

And Nathan will tell you, these communities have been crying out for these kinds of investments from the State and Commonwealth Government for decades. They had the houses, they had the communities, they had the people. They never saw the roads, the schools or the hospitals. In some respects, we’re playing catch-up, but we’ve got a good partner with the Commonwealth Government, and the money that we are pumping into airports, metros, roads, schools and hospitals will make a difference in the years ahead. And we believe it’s far better than the alternative presented by the previous government, which was basically set and forget and build the airport, knock over the metro but not do much about buses or roads, and not do much about schools and hospitals.

With that, I think we’re all happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: So Premier, this will no doubt be fabulous if it’s anything like the rest of the metro system. People fly with their luggage through here and then have to get onto regular rail at St Marys onto trains that are just not designed for luggage. Anybody who’s been on the airport line can see that in peak hour. That’s really not that great an option, is it?

CHRIS MINNS: Well, look, I think that this is going to be an exciting addition for the transport network in New South Wales. It's not perfect, there are limitations, I think we do have to be honest about that, but there also tens of thousands of people that use the existing heavy rail transport lines to get to the Kingsford Smith Airport. They'll do that to an extent here at the Metro and the second airport, but as you can see as we've made additions to the line and improved connectivity for airport services, we've also provided for extra size and scope so that people can use their luggage. But look, I'm not going to pretend that it's perfect – when you've got an existing transport network and you're adding new lines to it, new additions to it, there's going to be challenges.

JOURNALIST: And what do you say to those mayors, say, in Campbelltown, Liverpool, who say it's actually going to be quicker for them to get to Sydney Airport than to use the bus services to get to this airport?

CHRIS MINNS: Well, I mean, some of those same mayors understandably talk about congestion on the M5 and the M8. A lot of their constituents talk about the tolls that they have to pay to use those roads, so I think that they're being a little bit flippant about the unprecedented level of public infrastructure that's being spent in South Western Sydney. And the alternative, I mean this is about options for people. Some people will love to use the second airport, some people will drive here, some people will use public transport, others will have connections for Kingsford Smith. But the truth is, because there's more services and more options, it'll have a positive impact on price and it'll give more options for the people of Sydney. Not to mention, and John's been speaking about this a lot in his previous capacity as the Minister for tourism, we're expecting a real boom when it comes to tourism spend in New South Wales. Like, astronomical amounts, tens of billions of dollars extra in the New South Wales economy each year as a result of tourism being lifted with access to this airport.

JOURNALIST: Don't you think it's a perverse outcome if it takes 20 minutes longer by public transport to get to the airport that’s closer?

CHRIS MINNS: Well, who's making those claims?

JOURNALIST: Well, the Campbelltown Council, in submission to the master plan, is saying it'll take 68 minutes to get to Sydney Kingston Smith- Campbelltown, 48 minutes- sorry, the other way around. It'll take an extra 20 minutes to get to Western Sydney Airport.

CHRIS MINNS: From Campbelltown?

JOURNALIST: Yeah, compared to…

JOURNALIST: [Talks over] Buses every 30 minutes.

CHRIS MINNS: Oh, on public transport?

JOURNALIST: On public transport, sorry.

CHRIS MINNS: Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I want to make it clear, that does not make any sense if you're taking your car. This is clearly closer than the Kingston Street Airport. Plus, there's limited parking options at Kingston Smith Airport. Far more options here.

I think in the opening stages of the airport, you're going to see a lot of workers and a lot of passengers using cars or Uber, or other forms of transport. The connections to the airport are not as straightforward as they are for those that live north, but that's limited by the fact that we're spending $11 billion on a brand new metro with a connection north. It should be remembered also that I understand many communities would love a brand new metro. I completely appreciate that. The Metro line is twice as expensive as the airport, so it would be, I think, a false promise for me or any other Premier to stand up and say, yep, we're about to build a brand new metro down there. I mean, obviously we're limited by what we can afford, what taxpayers can afford, and we've made a decision we are not privatising government assets anymore, because ultimately if you look at someone that lives in Campbelltown, if we sell off government assets like the previous government did, it was taking from Peter and giving to Paul. What ends up happening is you end up paying an enormous amount of money in tolls as a result of the metros- that ultimately you pay more and you lose an important government asset.

JOURNALIST: Premier is this a failure of planning?

CHRIS MINNS: Sorry, what was that?

JOURNALIST: Is this a failure of planning?

CHRIS MINNS: No.

JOURNALIST: It's not feasible for many people in Western Sydney or other parts of Sydney to drive and have to pay for parking when they're going to catch a flight. That's a huge extra cost.

CHRIS MINNS: I mean, I think that it would be the most cynical interpretation to think of the Government putting in $11.8 billion for a brand new public transport connection and saying that that's a failure.

JOURNALIST: So do you believe, just then to add back to your previous comment, that a metro to the Macarthur region can't be built without privatisation?

CHRIS MINNS: Well, I mean, it must be done with help, and ultimately I'm not going to promise projects that we can't fund or we don't have the funding to fund at the moment. And Labor, particularly at the state level, has in the past promised projects that have never seen the light of day. John and I, our Cabinet colleagues, are committed to not letting that happen again. We say we're going to build a project, you can take it to the bank, and people can have confidence the money’s there to build that public transport infrastructure.

JOURNALIST: But how do you respond to people from the Macarthur region who say they’ve been unfairly left out compared to their North Western Sydney counterparts?

CHRIS MINNS: Well look, I would say that this project, with its long gestation is obviously an important connection for Sydney. It will provide jobs and opportunities for South Western Sydney. We will of course invest in public transport links as well as roads links as well as infrastructure links for South Western Sydney, but no one can perform miracles and this is what we can afford right now and these are important issues for the state. It also shouldn’t just be, I think, cynically overlooked that this is an important connection from the second airport to the rest of the public transport network heading north that provides an opportunity for us to put in a brand new business park, as well as an enormous amount of new housing for one of the most expensive cities on earth. And I think that would be a shame if, as a result of this unprecedented investment, it was dismissed immediately. This will be transformative and will be a major change.

JOURNALIST: Why do people in the Macarthur …

JOURNALIST: [Talks over] Premier, just- sorry, just in terms of this particular project, what's the extent of the delay to the opening, and also the increase in costs?

CHRIS MINNS: The costs are within our contingency, our budget. Delays are a concern for us, we want to make sure that it’s completed as soon as possible. But full passenger load at the second airport won't be met on the first day. We expect that to be a gradual ramp up. So we're not- if we miss it, it won't be by an astronomical amount. And I know that the team here are working incredibly hard to get it up and running as soon as possible.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] …

CHRIS MINNS: But I can't give you a date today.

JOURNALIST: Have you settled the dispute with Parklife which was $2.2 billion?

CHRIS MINNS: Look, the short answer is no, but those commercial arrangements will be worked out, obviously, around the negotiating table. We've been really strict about where public money goes, and that is- it's not my money, it's from the people of New South Wales and Australian taxpayers as well. So I'm not going to front run or speculate on those negotiations, other than we’ll be vigorously defending New South Wales taxpayers' interests.

JOURNALIST: Is it true that, worst case, the opening of this line could be delayed by up to a year because of this dispute?

CHRIS MINNS: We don't anticipate that. As you can see, the team here are working incredibly hard, and they deserve a lot of credit for embarking on an incredibly complicated engineering solution out here in Western Sydney – a brand new train line, cut through what was previously open farmland or private land. It's an engineering marvel – whether it's the viaduct or the subterranean area, it’s fantastic to see that they’re working really hard on it.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask Minister King, of you don’t mind, just in response to my question to the Premier about affording a future metro line for Macarthur, you said that they can't do it without help. As a representative of the Australian Government, would the Federal Government like to help on something like that in the future?

CATHERINE KING: So, the first thing I'd say is the Mayors are doing exactly what they should do. They're advocating for their communities for that connectivity, and the public transport connectivity via buses has always been a plan for that area. But what we did announce prior to the election, the Prime Minister did that, is that obviously we do want to look at future planning. So we put a billion dollars on the table to look at that future planning to Leppington. That's the sort of first stage. But be in no doubt, to bring rail, whether it's heavy rail or whether it's metro, billions and billions of dollars of money, and we're all operating under constrained budget circumstances at the moment and being very careful about that. We'll work continually, as we do with the New South Wales Government, through budget processes when the money and when the capacity is there to look at those future projects. We've all got now 10 year pipelines of projects that we work to. We put the planning money in, we do that planning work, when we know what the costs are, when we know when we're ready we then get those projects on.

And I know you'll have Mayors from all over the place asking for a whole lot of things. I’ve got billions of dollars of asks. And I was in my home state of Victoria, you know, I am deeply envious here, as someone who has used the rail line to Kingsford Smith regularly when I’m in Sydney, it's fantastic. You've got this new rail line here to this airport. We are yet to have one to Tullamarine. So, it's extraordinary, really, what you are doing here in this state. And you should be celebrating the incredible foresight that you’ve had in actually building the infrastructure in the way that you have.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask a question, perhaps of the Premier, sorry – before, you just said that this is what you can afford right now and no one can perform miracles. Does that mean that it would take a miracle for there to be heavy rail or a metro line to South West Sydney?

CHRIS MINNS: No. I mean, I think people would understand that over time when more money comes into the government coffers and you're in a position to promise new metro lines, but no one should be under any illusion that right now we're at full capacity when it comes to what's deliverable and what's buildable in New South Wales today. And we're of course going to have future plans for the direction of Sydney, where we're going to build public transport infrastructure, but if- but I can only do what's possible today, and I've drawn a very hard and immovable objective for the New South Wales Government, and that is that we will not privatise government assets to build metros.

There's four big metros. The first two were effectively covered by privatisation. The second two were effectively covered via debt financing and New South Wales taking on a lot of debt now to build infrastructure. I'm comfortable with it. I feel like we can manage that debt, provided we build housing and it grows the community and there's a social good to it. To add another two or another three or another four, well, you need to have a pathway through it. And I'm not privatising hospitals, I'm not privatising Sydney Water, I'm not privatising the remaining energy assets in New South Wales. I’m not going to do it. So that means I have to be really responsible about where and how future public transport infrastructure will be built. Everyone should go in with no illusions. It's not going to come at the expense of existing infrastructure. Asset recycling is an economic plan that we will not follow. We will not follow.

Think about this from a perspective of Essential Energy. Right now, Essential Energy, 100 per cent owned by New South Wales taxpayers, works around the clock on regional communities, connecting their towns and their cities after natural disasters. They do it because they're hard working members of Essential Energy. It’s a corporation owned by New South Wales taxpayers. Imagine if I sold Essential Energy, or a future government sold Essential Energy, which primarily helped regional communities, to build the Sydney Metro. I think people would be furious in regional New South Wales, and it’s not going to happen.

JOURNALIST: There was some money in I think the state Budget before last to develop business cases of possible future extensions. Where are those business cases at, and when can we expect a decision?

JOHN GRAHAM: There is business case work underway, working closely with the Federal Government. That planning work that Catherine spoke about is exactly what’s contained in those business cases. We’ve still got some time to go, so we’re expecting those with some- we’re expecting those next year. That will inform some of those future decisions that the Premier is talking about. We are at the peak of the build at this moment- I just want to back in that comment. You can see from the various parts of Sydney that we visited over just recent weeks how wide the extent of this work is. We are flat chat right at the peak of the build across these metro lines, right across Sydney.

JOURNALIST: Minister, one of the criticisms that your government’s had, or previously the coalition, was that they just built houses randomly in the South West without providing the avenues for future infrastructure. Are we at risk of doing the same thing if corridors are not kept for a future metro Macarthur line?

JOHN GRAHAM: Well, that's why we're very grateful for that billion dollars that the Commonwealth's put on the table, in addition to that business case work that's going on. So the planning is under way already. In addition, we're rolling out public transport, we're rolling out those buses to those communities well ahead of this airport. We are making those investments at the moment. That's true for road, it's true for public transport. It's also true, as the Premier has made clear, for hospitals and schools. In fact, we've increased the amount of capital spending over what the previous government had done. We've done that without privatisation.

JOURNALIST: Just another question for the Premier. Why won’t you expand the corrective services [indistinct]. Are one of your [inaudible] …

CHRIS MINNS: Well, I mean, we've never made a promise in our time in office that we would automatically spare electronic monitoring to, for example, all potential remandees in the judicial system. We made a specific exemption in relation to domestic violence offences for those who were charged with serious domestic violence charges. But they're a special case and we made a call on that. That program is massive. It's rolling out as we speak. It's an incredibly important change to the judical system in NSW and we believe it’s keeping primarily women who are in those terrible circumstances, safe as a result. But you'll also note that in our prison system, remandees have gone from 4800 when we took office to 5600 two years into our time in office. It's meant we’ve put an additional $100 million into the corrections system in New South Wales. And as far as I'm concerned, that's money well spent. These are non-negotiable parts of the criminal justice system. We were routinely lobbied, I guess, by stakeholders, lots of people that work in the domestic violence sector, who said to us, something needs to change here. We made that change. That's where our efforts have been focused and I'm not in a position to promise electronic monitoring across remandees or bailees in the system.

The truth of the matter is there's tens of thousands a month that go through our criminal justice system. Many of them will get bail, many of them will get bail with strict conditions. A smaller cohort that are subject to serious domestic violence offences will have electronic monitoring and the rest are remandees.

JOURNALIST: Do you expect to cut a ribbon on the airport line within this term of government?

CHRIS MINNS: Look, I'm very hopeful of that ,we'll have a date closer to the end of the year when we'll have a better idea of when it'll be completed.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask, the Productivity Commission has put out a report recommending that schools use AI for things such as marking and admin. What are your thoughts on that?

CHRIS MINNS: Look, I’m open to that as an idea. I think that when we look at education however we need to be really careful about the applications and uses of it, particularly for testing. And if you look at some of the forward learning jurisdictions around the world, they're going back to more paper and pencil-based exams rather than take home assignments. I know it's not perfect because that's an important part of learning on your own time, using your own enterprise to find the answer, but unfortunately access to AI and the fact that its bespoke to the individual respondee means that it’s very difficult for teachers to decipher whether it’s a genuine attempt from the student or whether it’s been generated by AI.

JOURNALIST: Premier, Seven News had a story last night about a young girl who went from daycare to hospital intensive care. Do you have a message for her parents about the potential failure there? This particular centre had 126 breaches of national laws. Do we need to be doing more in this sector?

CHRIS MINNS: Yeah, well look, I saw that report, and I can only imagine what that family is going through. It's a huge concern for any parent, particularly for a child who's in a vulnerable situation, who's dropped off at childcare. You expect, you hope, you demand that your child is safe. Looks like that didn't happen in this situation, and I'm obviously devastated by it. I can say that the managers, the operators of that childcare centre had their licence revoked, which is an important step. And despite them launching an appeal by the administrative decisions tribunal, that was rejected. So it’s under new management now. I know that there's a further investigation. That may be cold comfort for the family involved, but perhaps, hopefully, we're in a situation where, at least in relation to that centre, no family has to go through what the family on Channel 7 went through last night.

JOURNALIST: I guess does that need to be more transparent, I guess? So that, you know, if these things happen, that there are more checks and balances in place for parents?

CHRIS MINNS: Well, we’re following very closely the Wheeler Report into early childhood education and childcare. It did recommend a series of changes that we are one by one implementing either via legislation or regulation in the state. The most specific change was last week when we made a decision that if the children's advocate makes a call about a Working with Children Check, then the applicant can't have that decision reversed by NCAT. Look, I realise that's rough justice, but I made the decision at the time along with my cabinet colleagues that it really is a one strike policy when it comes to the protection of children. We need to have a zero tolerance approach, because the consequences of getting it wrong are terrible and devastating for families.

JOURNALIST: Premier, do you support the Federal Government's decision to recognise the Palestinian statehood?

CHRIS MINNS: Look, it's obviously a matter for them, but I understand the reasons for that decision and I support their decision as of yesterday. As I was answering a question in a media conference yesterday, the long-term hope for peace in that part of the world is a two-state solution. That means Israel with secure borders, but also a Palestine State as well.

JOURNALIST: Was the move too rushed, as the Federal Opposition suggested?

CHRIS MINNS: Look I’m not going to criticise them or echo those statements.

JOURNALIST: If you were Prime Minister, would you have made [inaudible] …

[Laughter]

CHRIS MINNS: Thankfully I’m not.

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about the residents of Parramatta being kept in the dark about the [indistinct] raids and do you have confidence in the council?

CHRIS MINNS: Look, I wouldn't say I'm concerned about it. I mean, that’s our system, we’ve got a very robust, independent, corruption-fighting regime in the state. They do work, at least initially, in a covert way, but anyone can see that they're very effective and powerful when they get going. And ultimately, as a result of the fact that we have public inquiries in New South Wales for corruption investigations, you do find out what's happening underneath the bonnet.

All right, thanks everybody.