QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms CATHERINE KING (Ballarat—Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) (14:12): I thank the member for Calare for his question, and I also acknowledge the member for Macquarie for her advocacy. She's been in my office consistently about this on behalf of the Blue Mountains community. Of course, as the members know, the closure of the Great Western Highway has had a very substantial impact on not just businesses but also families trying to get their kids to school as well as on freight operators.
I've been briefed regularly by my New South Wales counterpart, Minister Aitchison in the New South Wales government, who's managing the closure and now the delivery of works. In March, Transport for New South Wales, as you know, identified it as a really complex issue. There is a complex geotechnical failure on that 194-year-old Mitchells Causeway.
NSW Government has been working to develop an engineering solution and a procurement process in parallel. That's not normally how it works, but they've been trying to expedite that as quickly as possible to work out the way forward. There's been a detailed and careful process to do that because we know we can't take shortcuts with this.
On Friday, the New South Wales minister announced a contractor has been appointed, with construction to begin in July to provide residents with a clear pathway to reopening the highway next year. I understand right at the moment detailed design work is currently under way, and that includes the possibility of adding an extra lane as well. They're working their way through if that's possible at the moment, and they will then have a clearer picture of how much this will cost.
They will then work with my department on a specific funding request, but I spoke to Minister Aitchison on Friday to signal my support for the Commonwealth assisting in what we know is a very significant piece of infrastructure not just for the Blue Mountains but also the member for Calare's community. I'm very happy to keep the member for Calare and the member for Macquarie informed as we progress those works.