Get on with it – that’s the message Dr Mike Freelander has for NSW premier Chris Minns.
The federal member for Macarthur has today responded to the premier’s remarks regarding rail services to Western Sydney Airport.
The premier said the NSW Government does not intend to build rail services to connect the new airport with South West Sydney.
This would mean no new stations in Camden or Narellan, nor would it connect the airport with pre-existing stations such as Macarthur, Campbelltown or Leppington.
For Dr Freelander, this is appalling, especially considering that whilst the NSW Government is reconsidering their involvement in this crucial project, the Federal Government understands the importance of this project for the region.
In March, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, announced that the Federal Government will be investing $1 billion to secure rail corridors in South West Sydney to connect the region with the airport.
Once the land was acquired, the NSW Government would then build either Metro or Sydney Trains lines, with heavy rail also being a consideration.
This land acquisition by the Federal Government would help ease the cost on the NSW Government, which would maintain rail services via NSW Transport.
Instead, the NSW Government is walking away from a major infrastructure project that would have brought significant economic and social benefits to South West Sydney.
This is frustrating and disappointing, especially when considering the current population of South West Sydney is approximately 650,000 people, making it larger than Tasmania (578,000) and Canberra (480,000).
For Dr Freelander, he firmly believes that residents of South West Sydney have paid more than their fair share in billions of dollars to the NSW Government through taxes, stamp duty and tolls, so it is only reasonable that they are not abandoned by this NSW Government.
On Monday, Premier Minns held a media event to check the progress of the Airport Terminal Station (pictured above) that will be part of a 23-kilometre Metro line. The six-stop line will connect Western Sydney International Airport to St Marys in just 15 minutes where passengers can join services on the T1 Western Line that run direct to stations including Blacktown, Parramatta, Strathfield and Central Station.
Macarthur didn’t rate a mention, because as Dr Freelander says, there are no plans to connect it via rail of any kind.
The Macarthur region is now represented in both State and Federal Government by mostly ALP MPs and if the Minns Government chooses to ignore the need of the residents there is enough members to change the State government
When the Libs were in power Penrith got showered with funds including a new $300 million stadium and they didn’t have a first division soccer team.
Our MPs should use their combined muscles.