Johns River

PACIFIC HIGHWAY UPGRADE

Mr PETER BESSELING (Port Macquarie) [1.57 p.m.]: The month of July is set to mark the official completion of the much-heralded Coopernook to Herons Creek upgrade of the Pacific Highway.

Aside from the Bulahdelah bypass that is currently underway, this highly anticipated upgrade will provide for a dual carriageway road from Sydney right through to Port Macquarie. With the Herons Creek to Stills Road upgrade and Oxley Highway upgrade projects both due for completion within the next two years, we will provide travellers with a safe and efficient pathway that will deliver visitors right through to Port Macquarie's doorstep.

The Pacific Highway upgrade has made a significant impact on local communities within the Port Macquarie electorate and has impacted greatly on the local economies of our surrounding towns and villages. The local jobs and economic stimulus that the project has provided for our region cannot be underestimated and have been clearly seen through the impact on local accommodation, subcontractors, suppliers of materials and equipment hire businesses all the way through to the smaller general stores within communities located along the highway.

It is important that the Government and this Parliament recognise the patience and the support given by communities located along the highway upgrade.

People have had to deal with what has effectively been a constant construction zone for a number of years, and the associated noise, dust and inconvenience. I congratulate everyone on their patience. A number of individual issues with properties along the highway are subject to further consultation with both the Highway Alliance and the Roads and Traffic Authority. Having met with officials for an inspection tour last week to discuss these issues, I encourage the agencies involved to work towards a resolution of these issues as a matter of priority.

The mid North Coast region will benefit enormously from the upgraded Pacific Highway and, apart from the obvious safety benefits to local motorists travelling up and down the highway, the ability to attract tourists to our region has long been an economic driver that will only be strengthened by the completion of the highway through safer, more efficient and shorter travelling times to our area as both a long-stay and short-visit holiday destination. While this scenario will benefit tourist-based businesses in the area, authorities must consider the impact upon townships and businesses that traditionally have relied upon passing highway trade. The impact must be considered an economic and social cost associated with the delivery of the Pacific Highway upgrade. Communities such as Kew, Moorland and Johns River, who were bypassed in December 2009, March 2010 and May 2010, respectively, have owed their economic viability to their location along one of Australia's busiest highways and to the dollars that flowed from travellers who used the various services provided.

To their enormous credit, these communities have each formed community groups or associations that have been extremely supportive of the broader benefit to the State of the highway upgrade. These groups have worked closely with the Roads and Traffic Authority and local councils and provided feedback on future plans for their communities to best take advantage of their location, which is adjacent to the new highway, and the new amenity of their towns that will provide much-needed rest opportunities for drivers. It is now incumbent upon the Government to support these communities with far more than plans that have very little in the way of funding commitments from either local councils or State agencies.

For our communities of Kew, Johns River and Moorland to remain viable, the village plans that have been prepared through broad community consultation need to be supported through direct government action.

I will progress discussions that already have taken place with the Premier's Department and the Minister for Roads in the hope that those Ministers will work with the Minister for State and Regional Development to ensure that our communities will be able to convert into future economic prosperity opportunities that already have been identified, such as signage, bypass road works and town beautification strategies.

Individual community members, chambers of commerce, the Kew and Johns River Community Progress Association and the Moorland Community Association have clearly outlined these concerns to me. Implementation and resource allocation cannot simply be left to local councils with limited resources. Having raised the expectations of townships with preparation of detailed master plans for former highway surrounds, the Government must support the economic and social welfare of our communities rather than let their concerns slip quietly into the night when excitement and pageantry of the bypass openings move farther north.

• Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong—Parliamentary Secretary) [2.01 p.m.]: I thank the member for Port Macquarie for bringing to the attention of the House the completion of a very important project of State and local significance, which has been celebrated by his community. I acknowledge, as he did, that community members have had to put up with disruption, and I thank them for their patience. Everyone knows that ongoing roadworks present a difficult situation, so it is very good that his constituents have a local representative who will bring to the attention of the House their concerns and continuing problems. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the Assistant-Speaker, the member for Keira, who was a major driver of Pacific Highway upgrades and who, during his term as Minister for Transport and Roads, ensured that great lengths of highway upgrades were completed.