PAT CONROY, MEMBER FOR SHORTLAND: Well good morning, everyone. I’m Pat Conroy, the Federal Member for Shortland and I am joined today by Catherine King, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Dan Repacholi, Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Hunter, and Josh Sattler, CEO of Dantia, Lake Macquarie’s Economic Development Corporation. And we are here for a fabulous announcement that means more jobs and more investment for Lake Macquarie. It’s great news for our region, and without further ado I am going to invite Catherine over to make the announcement.
CATHERINE KING, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE: Well thanks Pat, and it’s terrific to be here at Pelican today in the beautiful Lake Macquarie area. I was here in about June last year and I met with Lake Macquarie City Council as well as Dantia alongside Pat, and at that stage Dan hadn’t been preselected but I am so delighted that he is now here representing Labor in the Hunter, and we are very keen to see him become a part of the Federal Parliament Labor Party team. And I asked the Council at the time ‘what are the barriers to economic development in Lake Macquarie? What would you like to see a future Labor Government invest in in this area in order to unlock the potential of this region?’, and the two priorities that both Council and Dantia put to me back in June were the silting of the Swansea Channel and the fact that the grouting program – the insurance that underpins the risk factors for economic development in this region for developers – wasn’t extended to the Lake Macquarie council area. So I am very pleased that the representations of the Lake Macquarie Economic Development Corporation and the Council have seen today that a Federal Albanese Labor Government will commit $20 million to put a permanent dredge here for the Swansea Channel, and also to invest in the mine grouting program to extend that program to the Lake Macquarie area. We know that that will unlock $1.8 billion worth of investment in this region, and also over 12,000 jobs [inaudible] for this region.
This is a great investment in this area. It of course comes on top of the announcement that we will look at high speed rail from Newcastle to Sydney, an investment of $500 million to get that program started, along with the establishment of the High Speed Rail Authority to actually unlock the potential, $30 million announced for Mandalong Road, and also a continuation of Labor’s support for the Glendale precinct as well. This is a really important announcement for this region, unlocking the economic potential of Lake Macquarie. I’m very proud to make that here today. I think we’re going to ask Dantia to make a few comments and also hand over to Dan as well.
JOSH SATTLER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF DANTIA: Thanks very much, and it’s an honour to be here today. You know, the whole reason behind this investment - $1.8 billion and the 12,000 significant jobs which is representative across our region – it’s generational changing and it’s a fantastic opportunity to be standing before you, and I thank the Labor politicians behind me [inaudible].
With the 12,000 jobs associated with this $1.8 billion investment, Lake Macquarie will change for the betterment of the next generation and the generation past that. This is future thinking applied within the local government landscape, and I am very proud to be here before you with this announcement.
DAN REPACHOLI, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR HUNTER: Thank you everyone for coming today. What a great announcement this is for our local area. Look at this beautiful lake behind us. We’re going to get more tourism to this area, we’re going to open up $1.8 billion of economic development, and create 12,000 jobs. Jobs is what we need in this area and jobs is what the Labor Party is giving, and opening up tourism to this area more and more. Imagine the regattas and the things we could have in this beautiful lake now that the rest of the world can see, not only just us here in this area. Thank you.
KING: Happy to take questions.
REPORTER: What’s the cost breakdown between the dredging program and the grouting?
KING: It’s $10 [million] for the dredging and $10 [million] for the grouting, and I think about $2 million from the grouting fund also needs to go into mapping some of the mines that are through the district as well, so that’s one of the important parts about that. But it’s a real brake on developers wanting to develop in the region. As I said, it’s one of the largest programs when I came back in June that Dantia in particular said they’ve got lots of developers ready to go wanting to invest in this region, but the risk [inaudible] was too high because the grouting fund was not extended down to this part of the world.
REPORTER: What are, just looking at the Glendale project, what are some of the things a Federal Labor Government can do –
KING: I’ll get Pat to talk about that as the local member.
CONROY: Yeah, thanks for that. So in summary, the four parts of the Lake Macquarie Economic Development Project are the Mandalong Road extension, support for the Glendale Interchange, the dredge, and grouting, and they will drive $1.8 billion of investment and over 12,000 jobs. In terms of the Glendale Transport Interchange, the next stage of it is the Pennant Street Bridge. The Stage One which we funded last in government that the Liberal Government upon coming to power in 2013 cut funding from was to do the roundabout which was the second entrance into the shopping centre. They built a road from their paths down towards the railway line. The next stage is to build the bridge over the railway line connecting Pennant Street with the shopping centre and that’s really important because I think the busiest intersection in all of Lake Macquarie is the Munibung Road and Macquarie Road intersection at Cardiff. If anyone has been near Cardiff RSL when thousands of trucks are leaving, the Pennant Street Bridge is critical to opening up alternative routes. That will drive further development in the Glendale/Cardiff industrial estate, and that will allow then after that the next stage which is the transport interchange. So that’s the next stage of work.
REPORTER: So a Labor Government will fund the Pennant Street Bridge?
CONROY: Well we have been very clear in saying – in fact Anthony Albanese made it a centrepiece of his speech on 2nd January, is that we will work with the State Government and the Local Government to build that bridge as the next stage of the interchange. Obviously we’d have to negotiate with our State colleagues and Council about how to split the costs, but we’ve been committed to Glendale since day one. We funded the first stage, the Liberal Government cut funding, we recommitted funding for this stage in 2016 and 2019. It’s a hugely important project to deliver jobs to north Lake Macquarie.
REPORTER: In terms of the dredging obviously being managed by NSW Transport, how will Labor work with them to ensure that that funding gets underway and that the dredge is actually set up here?
CONROY: So our commitment is to fund the acquisition of the dredge. Lake Macquarie Council have put budget proposal to us that covers the purchase of the dredge by a Federal Labor Government. We would then assign that ownership either to the State Government or the Council depending on who took on the operational and maintenance costs. Obviously the Council would be very keen for the State Government to cover that, but they’ve been very clear with us what they’re asking of Federal Labor to do which is to fund the acquisition of the dredge, and they’ll sort out the operation and maintenance later. We need a permanent dredge. Having a one off dredge come through every 18 months or two years is not cutting it. You just have to have a look at where Milano's was to understand the impact of not getting this right.
REPORTER: So how soon can we expect the permanent dredge, [inaudible]?
CONROY: Well Catherine might want to talk about the time frames from a fiscal point of view, but from a local point of view I know that the Council is dead keen to get on with this as soon as possible.
KING: This commitment is in Labor’s first Budget. So obviously we’ve seen Jim Chalmers, the Shadow Treasurer today say in fact that Labor’s first Budget will be this year. We’ll have a second Budget this year. We’ve got the Federal Government, the Morrison Government having a Budget in a few days’ time, and we will have a second Budget. So that is in our first Budget. Obviously in terms of how long it takes to purchase, the purchase will really be a matter of working with the Council and State Government, but we want to get on with this as soon as possible [inaudible] in this upcoming election campaign for our first Budget.
REPORTER: Is it something we can expect next year?
KING: Well certainly again, the purchase we know that there’s often delays with the purchase of large scale equipment at the moment because of shortages happening internationally[inaudible] but the money will be made available in Labor’s first Budget to allow Council and the NSW Government to actually get on with this project.
REPORTER: Why is it important to have it now?
KING: Well certainly in terms of the year, as I said back in June when I met with both the Council and your Lake Macquarie Economic Development Corporation, these were the priorities that they put to us. Labor has been very, very conscious that we want to work in partnership with State and Local Government to actually unlock the economic potential of our regions, and we’ve done that in consultation. I’ve been travelling through the country over the past three years talking to councils, talking to state governments about what are the things putting a brake on economic development right down to the local level, and this is Labor investing in those, unlocking the economic potential of our regions, growing jobs, and really opening up [inaudible] in our communities for people to be able to participate economically and socially.
REPORTER: Would the sand continue to be placed where it is currently?
KING: Well that’s again an operational issue that I will leave to Council and the NSW Government to talk about, but perhaps Pat may have a view on that I suspect.
CONROY: Well I don’t have a direct view about where the sand is going to be placed. Ultimately we will let the engineers and the technicians decide on the best place. But in terms of the economic impact of this, independent studies have predicted a permanent dredge will drive a 150 per cent increase in tourism numbers visiting Lake Macquarie which will lead to tens of millions of dollars of extra tourism revenue for our area. This beautiful lake is not only the ecological heart of Lake Macquarie, it should also be the economic heart of our region, and that’s why the dredging unlocks that potential.
REPORTER: Yeah going on that, do you have any idea of where it should be placed because there are some [inaudible] where it might be placed?
CONROY: Well obviously the Council and the State Government will have to work through the environmental impact of that, and we have to be very sensitive to a lake which is the biggest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere – two or three times the size of Sydney Harbour – so we have to be very sensitive to that. And Lake Macquarie City Council has got a fabulous environmental record. It’s been very sensitive around that. We need a permanent dredge, but we will make sure that the details are designed in a very environmentally respectful way.
REPORTER: Just one question – the independent studies and the 12,000 jobs, does that include all parts of the economic development plan [inaudible]?
CONROY: Yeah, so it’s based on all four projects. So it’s 2,500 for the grouting fund impact on Charlestown alone, so that’s a very conservative figure because it doesn’t include the impact that it will have on other places like Cardiff or Glendale or Edgeworth. So 2,500 for that, 6,500 jobs will be unlocked by the development of the Mandalong Road extension [inaudible] in the Morisset area, 3,800 jobs from the Glendale Transport Interchange, so they’re the three projects that will drive over 12,000 jobs.
REPORTER: And that was, where –
CONROY: Ah sorry, they’re from, Dantia has provided the estimation for the grouting fund. The two other estimations come from Council based on independent economic modelling they’ve done. In fact the Glendale one was released a couple of years ago and has been updated.