QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:23): I thank the member for her question. It was fantastic to be with the member for Newcastle and the member for Paterson today for the opening of the M1 project, which will travel the 15 kilometres up to Raymond Terrace. Everyone who has driven from Sydney to Brisbane or vice versa would be aware of the bottleneck that has always occurred at Hexham and Heatherbrae in between Newcastle and Raymond Terrace.

There are three great highways down the east coast of Australia. The Hume Highway has been completed between Melbourne and Sydney. As to the Bruce Highway, we are putting in record investment to fix up what is Australia's most dangerous road, where the most accidents occur.

The Pacific Highway is absolutely critical as well. The declaration and the completion of this missing link in the Sydney to Brisbane economic corridor is absolutely essential, and traffic will start flowing first thing on Friday morning. I have a personal connection with the Pacific Highway because, just before I was born, my cousin Anthony died on the Pacific Highway at Halfway Creek aged just four.

So many Australians would have been affected by accidents on these major highways. In 1963, just before I was born—so my mother named me after my cousin who obviously I never got to meet. So many Australians have been affected by accidents on our roads.

This road that includes a major viaduct over the Hunter River is a rather extraordinary piece of engineering. It will make an enormous difference for freight and for businesses. It will make a difference to everyone who is a local that's going to work or going to sport.

It will make another enormous difference to people who head up the highway during holidays. It's a win for productivity and for jobs. Importantly, it's open more than a year earlier than it was intended, and that's a good thing—under budget and ahead of time.

Of the 1,700 jobs that were created there, something like 70 per cent or more were from the Hunter. Good infrastructure drives our economy and it drives productivity. That is precisely what this project will do for the whole Hunter region.

On top of the Tomago announcement that we made a few weeks ago, this is a great example of how Labor governments deliver for the Hunter region.