Labor leader Bill Shorten has appealed to Sydney’s Western heartland, promising to spend big on infrastructure projects if Labor is elected. From The ABC:
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has promised a $6 billion cash splash to build the Sydney Metro West and the rail line to Sydney’s second airport at Badgerys Creek.
Mr Shorten made the announcement at the annual NSW Labor Party conference, in a speech aimed at wooing voters in the crucial electoral battleground of western Sydney.
He told the conference that a federal Labor government would commit $3 billion to the Metro West line, which would double rail capacity from the CBD to Parramatta.
State Opposition Leader Luke Foley has promised to prioritise the project if he is elected in March.
Mr Shorten also said a federal Labor government would spend another $3 billion on the western Sydney rail line to Badgerys Creek airport, boosting its previous commitment of $400 million.
He said it would include a new connection from MacArthur to St Marys and a new line from St Marys to the Sydney Metro at Rouse Hill.
Mr Shorten said the public transport boost would bring jobs, economic development and a better quality of life for the people of western Sydney.
“I want people to get home in time to help with dinner, or your kids homework … to rediscover a bit of the work-life balance that gets lost if you’re spending hours every week going to and from your job,” he said.
This is sensible from Bill Shorten. Western Sydney is the epicentre of the city’s working class. It has become a prime dumping ground for the federal government’s mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ program. And it has become a virtual “special economic zone” where wages can be shredded with impunity.
With both major parties stupidly wedded to Australia’s mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy, the only way they can differentiate themselves and appeal to concerns around rising congestion and falling quality of life is to promise more infrastructure.
