STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms SWANSON (Paterson) (13:59): Thank you, Speaker, and congratulations on becoming the 32nd Inter-Parliamentary Union president. It was just over a month ago that we had the Prime Minister in my part of the world to open the M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace. It is a project that was delivered 18 months early and on budget.

It is saving time for thousands of motorists not just across my electorate but across the eastern seaboard of New South Wales. Most importantly, we are increasing productivity. It was such a proud day to open that monumental piece of road.

It is an intergenerational piece of infrastructure. After years of advocacy, people are now getting a clear run on the M1. It was delivered 18 months ahead of schedule and it in fact had thousands of workers.

Seventy per cent of them came from our local area, and we had 99 apprentices go through their training on this important piece of infrastructure. The real progress is the time that is being saved. (Time expired)