Alison Penfold
Lyne · National Party · Australia
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I acknowledge the member for Moore and his time he spent in the wonderful community of Dungog. It is a terrific place and I know that the teachers and educators in that town do a wonderful job. Well done.”
“They can often live with their families while they study. For a young person growing up in Dungog, Taree, Wingham, Gloucester, Harrington, Tea Gardens, Bulahdelah, Forster, Tuncurry or the Manning Valley or the many other small towns and hamlets in my electorate—”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Isn't it true that the Albanese Labor government's 70c-a-day tax cut has already been eaten up by inflation, unlike the coalition's tax-back guarantee, which is protected from inflation and would provide a typical Australian worker a far bigger, $400 tax cut this year?”
“My question is to the Treasurer. Yesterday the Treasurer was asked about his plan to force thousands of widows and divorcees to pay more tax by removing their access to grandfathering for capital gains tax and negative gearing.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. A new report shows the Prime Minister saved around $200,000 on the sale of three investment properties under existing capital gains tax rules. In last month's budget, the Prime Minister broke his promise and changed those rules.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. A new report shows the Prime Minister saved around $200,000 on the sale of three investment properties under existing capital gains tax rules. In last month's budget, the Prime Minister broke his promise and changed those rules.”
The complete record
Every one of 616 lines we hold for Alison Penfold, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 13.
“During initial conciliations, the NDIS case manager asked Marie, 'What kind of incompetent and inadequate parent can't even toilet train their child?' She accused Marie of using too many continence supplies and directed her to stop giving her son water—unsolicited medical advice—all the while refusing to acknowledge Harry's complex diagnosis and extremely high level of need. Following this, Harry was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit at John Hunter Hospital with a life-threatening infection. Doctors were preparing Marie and her husband for the worst. During these first few horrific days, Marie received an unscheduled call from the AAT case manager who screamed at Marie over the phone, threatening her with, 'You'll get nothing; I'll see to it,' and callously asking Marie: 'What's his prognosis?”
“Despite countless representations by Marie, new costly reports from Harry's medical team and evidence of his diagnosis and difficulties, Marie's attempts to have her son receive adequate care were met with resistance and contempt, being told by a planner: 'I have the power to decide what Harry gets. If you don't like it, you can go to the tribunal.' With only one option left, Marie went to the AAT—a step that led to the most challenging period of her and her husband's lives. Marie and Harry were subsequently assigned an NDIS AAT case manager, who, instead of supporting them, was combative, hostile and admonishing.”
“When the NDIS was created, many saw it as a beacon of hope and progress for people living with a disability and for their families. Family members instead come to me distressed, desperate and demoralised as they struggle with a system that seems to have replaced its mission of care and dignity with antipathy and apathy. I'd like to share with you the story of Marie and her son, Harry, and the battle they have with the NDIS behemoth. In 2021, Harry was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disorder known as Rahman syndrome, which causes a range of developmental, intellectual and cognitive deficits. Marie thought that this diagnosis would herald an NDIS journey characterised by care and value. How wrong she was. In 2022, Harry's funding was cut by more than 60 per cent by an NDIS planner.”
“Allowing this policy to be implemented sets a precedent for any lawful agricultural industry, so my question to the minister is: which industry will Labor sacrifice next? (Time expired)”
“They were often the lowest-of-the-low workers. With our training programs, we actually showed them respect and value for the first time in their lives. Can you imagine what it feels like the first time somebody says to you, 'You've done a great job. I value what you've done,' and how that changes your practices? That's the sort of impact that we had, yet with this ban that has now gone in the Middle East. There's going to be none of the impact that Australian exporters have had. What will happen instead is that the sheep will be coming from other countries without the same standards and without the same concerns. The impact on Australian sheep producers is extensive, and no amount of compensation will ever make up for the impact of this ban.”
“But in the Middle East, Indonesia and other countries they don't have the same view. In my time, I had the privilege of visiting a number of abattoirs in the Middle East and Indonesia and I saw a father and a son come up to a pen of Australian merino sheep and select one of those sheep because it looked healthy, and they translate that to the quality of the meat. That is not something that we understand here in Australia, but we need to respect the cultural differences that other countries have before we make decisions on banning and threatening other country's food security. The other impact that the live sheep trade and the live export trade have had is on training in animal welfare. In the Middle East, a lot of the workers in the feedlots and the abattoirs came from the Subcontinent. They didn't have education.”
“Out of 130 exporting countries, Australia still remains the only country that regulates animal welfare from the farm to the point of slaughter through the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock and the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System. One of the things I noticed during my time running the live export industry was that the government never truly understood why we have live exports from Australia. Understanding why this trade is so important, not only to Australian primary producers but to the markets that we supply, is a critical issue, because there's clearly a cultural differentiation. I know that many people in Australia are used to going to a supermarket or a butcher and picking out some meat. If it's in a cellophane pack in a supermarket, they think that is fresh meat. They trust the process.”
“Labor's first term in government was one defined by ignorance, neglect and incompetence—ignorance in particular, because this government and recent Labor governments never take a 360-degree policy perspective on agriculture. It's one sided, activist led and anti primary producers. There's no better example of that than live exports and the live sheep export ban. I'm more familiar with this issue than most, having been the chief executive officer of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council from 2012 to 2016. I came into that role six months after the 2011 live export ban and I worked with the industry through the implementation of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System and the changes to the trade. The impact and the threat of that decision lives with us today. The changes that the industry made back then were hard fought.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today on the government's investment in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. I thank the member of Paterson for her words regarding the impact of the terrible weather event in May this year on primary producers across the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions, and my thoughts and prayers continue to go out to them. They're still very much struggling with the aftermath. Many can't get onto paddocks because they're still too wet. So there's a long way to go for farmers. But today I want to focus on the simple fact that the Albanese government is failing agriculture and failing regional Australia.”
“Minns says that the park is to be funded by the Albanese government under a deal to register a dodgy carbon project under the improved native forest management method. Serious concerns have been raised about the methodology, including additionality and adverse environmental and economic impacts. The truth reveals that this is not about koalas. It's not even about genuine conservation, and it's certainly not about jobs. It's about money and politics.”
“We know that the annual running and maintenance costs of a national park are more than 10 times higher than those of a state forest. We know that, if these forests are not well managed with road networks and regular fuel reduction, they'll become raging infernos on hot, windy days. We know that scientifically based, comprehensive timber harvest planning systems ensure that timber production and biodiversity coexist. Timber is not harvested where koalas live. We know that blackbutt forests provide little nutritional value for koalas, yet swathes of them are included in the new park, and research shows that koala density is mostly similar between state forests and national parks.”
“The premier tore up sovereign contracts with timber mills. Trucks due to arrive the next day at my local Herons Creek mill were redirected with no notice, no care or concern for the commercial impacts and no concern for jobs—just politics. I had the wife of one of the workers speak to me, fear in her eyes, about her family's future, and I heard stories of the men brought to tears on hearing their fate. The people on the ground know all too well that declaring national parks isn't the cure-all for koalas and that the threats to them are more from urbanisation, vehicles, dogs, disease and wildfires. Nearly 90 per cent of all crown land forest estate on the North Coast is already reserved from timber harvesting. This new park will make that closer to 95 per cent. Where is the sense in that?”
“The announcement by New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Sunday 7 September to create the Great Koala National Park on the New South Wales North Coast was a day to remember for its ignorance of the science and for its base political manoeuvring to harvest votes. To underscore its malicious duplicity, it was announced on Father's Day, a day when dads who work in the North Coast timber industry were told that their jobs were in jeopardy if not lost. What a low and cruel blow—not just to those who work in state forests but to the many downstream timber workers, many in my electorate. The announcement of the park, one that won't be created for some 18 months, included an immediate moratorium on timber harvesting across the whole 176 hectares of state forest designated to be reclassified.”
“He expects industry and businesses like Jamestrong—Taree's second-largest private sector employer, which produces over 100 million aluminium cans per year—and Tomago Aluminium, Australia's largest aluminium smelter, to pay exorbitant prices for electricity as the result of a rush to an intermittent, unreliable source of energy, placing them at a significant competitive disadvantage to their offshore competitors. This government says it governs for all Australians, but in Lyne we're not feeling it. Regional communities aren't asking for more; they're asking for a fair go. You can't call yourself a government if you don't govern for all Australians. (Time expired)”
“The Prime Minister expects my electorate to bear the brunt of this transition. His policy is riding roughshod over regional people. He expects my constituents, from Seal Rocks to Hawks Nest, to have their livelihoods, pristine waters and way of life jeopardised for the sake of his industrial wind turbines and his ideologically driven energy policy. He expects farmers across regional Australia to sit back as he installs thousands of kilometres worth of transmission lines through their prime, private agricultural land—land that our nation, and indeed the world, relies on for food and fibre security.”
“There will be nothing to break the seismic service gap that exists between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle, which my electorate sits squarely in the middle of. This is not the government governing for all Australians. The government's response feels like partisanship on health, the last place where this should be played. Now, on energy, again, my electorate, like those of many of my colleagues on this side, feels the ire of the Albanese government. The Prime Minister and his minister for climate change and energy are recklessly driving Australians down a renewables-only path. Like I've said repeatedly this week, renewables are not reliable for base-load power, and they do not have a social licence. It's costing Australians today—and future generations—in their hip pocket and in their energy security.”
“During the election I called for an urgent care clinic in Taree. It's a policy and an initiative that will benefit my electorate. I'm here for outcomes, and that's why I support it. Bulk-billing rates in my electorate have fallen by 10 per cent in the last four years. It's only getting tougher to see a GP, and Manning base hospital gets slammed as a result. The question is: how many of the government's 137 urgent care clinics operate or will operate in my electorate? The answer is zero. Labor failed to match my election commitment and, despite writing to the minister and my persistent calls to the minister and the government in this place, I've been told no. There will be no urgent care clinic in Taree.”
“I think the reception the Prime Minister received at the recent bush summit exemplifies the divide in this country and the feeling of being forgotten by this government. It's already clear that this government is playing favourites, and I've been around long enough to sniff a whiteboard in the air from that side. The Prime Minister's favouritism for his city-centric base and this government's neglect of the regions and regional Australia can be seen in my electorate in a myriad of ways. I know I've been in trouble this week in question time for being a bit too exuberant in my interjections. I do respect the fact that members should be heard in silence, but it's too much to expect me to sit silent while this government has gloated about policies that are hurting my electorate.”
“What about Taree? What has this government got against Taree, against the Lyne electorate and against regional Australia? As a new MP, I had hoped that the PM would live up to the comments he made on 3 May. He said: This is a time of profound opportunity for our nation. We have everything we need to seize this moment and make it our own. And we must do it together, all of us. Because for Australia to realise our full potential, for our nation to be its very best, every Australian must have the opportunity to be their best. To serve our Australian values—we must value every Australian and Labor will govern for every Australian. Well, let me tell you, this government, after just four months, is not governing for all Australians. Regional communities like mine are being left behind.”
“Unless the act is amended, Mr Van Ryn will escape his debt. I am advised that child support debts awarded by family courts are not extinguished by bankruptcy. This principle needs to be extended to judgement debts for serious criminal offences, including child sexual abuse. It's a simple amendment to section 153 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966. I've written to the government, the minister, the Treasurer and the Attorney-General, requesting their support and action, and asked that the amendment be known as Edan's law to recognise Edan's— (Time expired)”
“PENFOLD () (): Today I call on this place to ensure that convicted paedophiles pay the price for their abuse. Today I call on this place to back amendments to the Bankruptcy Act to prevent convicted paedophiles and other serious criminals from escaping justice by avoiding civil judgement debts through declaring bankruptcy. This issue has been brought to my attention by a constituent, Mrs Carolyn Kelly, the grandmother of Edan van Haren. Edan was a victim of Maurice Van Ryn, who was sentenced to imprisonment in 2019 in relation to child sexual abuse offences against Mr van Haren and other children. Mr van Haren, in a civil judgement, was awarded a debt of $1.4 million by the New South Wales Supreme Court in July 2023. But Van Ryn, a corporate accountant, hid his money and later declared bankruptcy.”
“The government needs to be supporting sensible policies that facilitate arrangements to ensure that the telecommunications infrastructure framework supports efficient, effective and equitable mobile telecommunications network delivery across Australia, including in rural and remote areas.”
“It's a mobile phone; it's meant to work when you're roaming.' The expectations of the customer and the delivery by the telcos are not aligned, and that is a serious issue, particularly for older Australians. I also want to speak to some of the funding which, sadly, we are not seeing in the electorate. The Mobile Black Spot Program has not been extended beyond 2026-27, with zero dollars allocated. Furthermore, the government has not allocated any funding in 2027-28 to the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia. Like the Mobile Black Spot Program, there is no funding for these programs beyond 2026-27. There has been no announcement on another round for the Mobile Network Hardening Program. This funding is critical and important.”
“I know that the expectation of many consumers and many people in my electorate is that—when they know their landlines are failing and the copper technology is pretty much done and dusted—when they buy a mobile phone, sign up to a contract and give their home address, when they agree, the telco acknowledges that that service works at their house. I can't tell you the number of times that I've had constituents come to me, saying: 'I've been sold a phone. I bought it; I signed the contract thinking it would work at home, but it doesn't work at home.' But, then, Telstra, Optus or whoever it is, say: 'We don't guarantee. We will not guarantee that your service will work at home.”
“With the oldest electorate in the country, many of my constituents lack the skills and tech-savviness to be able to navigate jargon and technology. One of my constituents, John, a 92-year-old still living at home in Allynbrook, was sold a brand-new mobile phone. He was told that it would finally enable him to make calls. It has not. John and his wife must still rely on their fading landline. I've seen constituents encouraged to disconnect their landline but, when the mobile does not work satisfactorily, they are then charged a $250 landline reconnection fee. I think this is one of the issues, because the expectations of consumers are very different to the technical expertise of those selling the equipment.”
“If a customer experiences a loss of service for a substantial period of time, providers do not credit the customer unless the customer makes a request. Even then, they may not get a full credit refund for the time the service was not provided, or if only a substandard service was provided. What other business could get away with charging a customer when they have not received a service in return? Providers are failing to meet the customer service guarantee standard and are failing to proactively pay compensation if they are unable to meet timelines to fix landline services. I am looking forward to the telcos reporting on the levels of compensation that they provided to many of my constituents affected by the May floods.”
“I have spoken even with the stores in my own electorate and the staff there to raise the issues of ensuring that the staff are trained, first of all, to be responsive and communicate and also to make sure that they understand who they're talking to and really try to help them. I do give credit to successive governments, also, for investing in the regional tech hub because that has also been a great source of support for many people in regional Australia, particularly farmers and older Australians, to go and get one-on-one support try—as I often say—to unscramble the bureaucracy and technology to try and make it work for them. Moving on to fee-for-no-service, there are also numerous examples of telcos charging fees for either no service or substandard service.”
“They are firstly met with an extremely long wait time for either in-store visits or calls to the call centre, and then they are faced with a person on the other end having no understanding, appreciation or empathy for the situation or for the client. My constituents have informed me of numerous instances where a maintenance person scheduled to attend their property to fix the issue cancelled at the last minute. No-shows are a common experience, as are technicians failing to first confirm with the business or household that the scheduled time is acceptable. Better training is certainly required. I have to say I have raised this directly with the telcos.”
“Many of them have not grown up with it. They've come to have to use a mobile phone as much older people. Indeed, I know it is my own experience. I'm going to say that the first time I ever used email was when working in the minister for industrial relations's office in 1996. I remember the computer lab going in at school. I'm 54, and even I find the challenge sometimes difficult. I, myself, have come to it later in life, but I appreciate that, for much older Australians, it's more difficult. Constituents also report a very poor customer service experience when reporting issues to the telcos' call centres.”
“He went on to say: Not good when Australia is supposed to be a first world country … The local African guys can't believe we can't drive between towns on a highway and not have mobile service. They thought I was pulling their chains. Again, are we being left behind in the regions? Why are we being left behind in the regions? I understand that geography plays a part, and I understand the geography in my electorate, but, surely, a modern Australia that cares about the regions can find a way to ensure that all Australians have access to mobile and internet services. I want to talk now about the poor assistance that many of my constituents have when they try to deal with telcos. I just want to remind the House that the Lyne electorate is in fact the oldest electorate of all here, so my constituents are particularly challenged by technology.”
“This is the lived experience of people in my electorate and the lived experience of people in regional Australia. We have to take these needs seriously. Recently, a gentleman—his name is Todd Barnes from Pappinbarra—who'd returned from South Africa emailed me and told me his story. He said: From Johannesburg we drove 650km south-west to the north cape province and not once did I not have phone service…I had the same service as the local guys. I could call, send pictures and videos in the middle of a paddock in the middle of nowhere … [At home] I can't even drive from Port Macquarie to Taree without the phone service dropping out multiple times. That's on the Pacific Highway, our national highway.”
“I'll just read the first bit because I want to put this on the record: LOCAL resident Shelley Faull has described the Telstra mobile phone service to the village of Barrington and its surrounds as being "woeful". According to Telstra's Network Coverage Map the whole village of Barrington is covered by its mobile service, and there is nothing to indicate that Barrington residents are likely to experience issues using their mobile phones. According to locals and visitors however, the map does not match their lived experience. "I have to stand on my verandah to get any mobile connection, and then I have calls that keep dropping out … … … … "The hall is an emergency refuge centre if there is a fire, flood or other disaster, and there is no mobile coverage at the hall.”
“Hotels and restaurants are unable to take bookings online. People are unable to make medical appointments or receive reminders. They're unable to contact family and friends, and they're unable to contact emergency services in times of dire need. I've got a number of communities that are a single road in and a single road out—places like Pindimar and Bundabah and places like Pacific Palms that are surrounded by forest, and there is no escape. Having an internet or phone service that actually works when you need it is critical to them surviving in those difficult circumstances. I want to use an example from the Gloucester District News of the Area of a town called Barrington on the Thunderbolts Way on the other side of Gloucester.”
“His Square just simply could not work, because this small town—I know many of the MPs here, who often holiday in my electorate, would know that the population of Harrington can triple in a holiday season, but the bandwidth can't cope with the additional people and the 30 per cent natural increase in the use of data. Businesses in this town of Harrington—it's the busy time; it's when they're planning to hopefully make a bit of cash—simply cannot run their business unless people have cash in their wallet. This is a huge issue for small businesses in towns like Harrington and many of my other coastal communities. It's simply not good enough in a society that's increasingly forced to become reliant on technology. People in Nabiac struggle to access their online prescriptions. Pensioners are unable to access their myGov account.”
“In rural areas of the electorate, loss of internet and mobile service for extended periods is becoming increasingly common. I'll give you an example. Residents within the town of Marlee have gone weeks and, on one occasion, well over a month without any mobile or landline service. In coastal areas of my electorate that experience a seasonal influx in tourist numbers, like Forster, Tuncurry and Harrington, internet either operates at snail's pace or simply drops out. I can give you an example from Harrington. A butcher there, only a Christmas ago, could not service any of his customers.”
“Many people are forced to go to the more expensive Starlink satellite in the hope that it will prove to be reliable. This government must negotiate new terms that better reflect advances in technology. Telstra and, indeed, all providers need to be held to account and made to uphold these new universal service obligations. This bill does nothing to improve mobile and internet services in my electorate, which has poor to non-existent mobile and internet service—one of the biggest issues, next to roads and health, that is consistently raised with me. Mobile and internet service is becoming increasingly unreliable in many locations across my electorate. Frustratingly, the service is worse now than it was just a few years ago.”
“The USO is the obligation for Telstra to ensure that standard telephone services are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business, and to ensure that payphones are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business. Rather than being maintained or improved, the quality of landline phone infrastructure is noticeably deteriorating, especially in rural areas of the electorate. In times of emergency, the consequence can be life threatening. Not only is Telstra failing in its universal service obligation of providing reasonable standard telephone services via landline phone connection, but it is also failing to provide a reliable and cost-effective alternative.”
“The changes in this bill will strengthen ACMA's powers and the speed at which they can use them, to provide even greater protections for consumers and ensure we have responsible operators in our telecommunications sector. This is an important step towards holding the telcos to account to industry standards, but I think what is missing from this legislation is a consideration of the standards themselves. As they currently stand, the bar is too low. We need to reassess the universal service obligation.”
“The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 makes changes to the Telecommunications Act to strengthen consumer safeguards, something we should all agree is a top priority. The bill will create a register of carriage service providers, enable the direct enforcement of industry codes, amend the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices, and increase the maximum penalty amount for breaches of the codes from $250,000 to $10 million. Full visibility of all telecommunications operators will also ensure ACMA can target compliance and enforcement activities and, where necessary, take appropriate action.”
“This is the most dangerous intersection on the Pacific Highway. It should be a priority for an interchange, but no commitment from the other side for funding has been made. I finish with this point on the Pacific Highway: under the coalition government, our commitment to funding work on the highway was 80 per cent Commonwealth, 20 per cent New South Wales government. But, under the Albanese government, it's now fifty-fifty. The Albanese government has slashed funding for work on the Pacific Highway. This is putting people's lives in danger, and I will continue, for every moment that I have a breath in this parliament, to raise the issue, because it is of such significance to the people of the Lyne electorate. Debate interrupted.”
“I understand—and I'm very grateful for and acknowledge—that the Commonwealth has provisioned the funding, but we're awaiting confirmation on delivery timeframes from the New South Wales government. I hope those timeframes will be expedited. There are a number of other intersections that need to be dealt with: the Myall Way, the Lakes Way, Failford Road and two more, in particular. One is the Harrington-Coopernook interchange. In 2021, under a coalition government, we committed $48 million to get this interchange completed. What has been done? Nothing. Nothing has been done. I can tell you that the anger in the community in Harrington is extreme. There have been two ramps there for over 20 years, and yet there has been no work done, despite the fact that the money is there. There is also the Houston Mitchell Drive interchange.”
“A lot of schoolchildren now are going to Medowie private schools and Catholic schools, and they're coming out of areas in my electorate, so these two overpasses are dangerous. People say to me quite often that they hope that we do not need one more death on the Pacific Highway at these interchanges for work to be done. So I was very pleased that there was one commitment that was supported by the other side, and I followed up with the minister. I'm very grateful to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government for her drop-in sessions. At the very first one she held after I was elected, I went to see her and spoke to her about the timetable for the work here at Medowie Road, Bucketts Way and Italia Road.”
“It was an issue that the former member for Lyne, the Hon. Dr David Gillespie, raised in this place, and I intend to do the same because, again, this goes to the safety of residents across the Lyne electorate and visitors to the Lyne electorate. I was very pleased, during the federal election, that one election commitment I made was supported by those on the other side. It goes to planning and design work for an integrated overpass at Medowie Road and at the Bucketts Way with a service road to Italia Road. Again, the Bucketts Way itself is a major issue, with significant need for repair, but these intersections are very dangerous. We've got fast-moving traffic and a lot of load coming onto it from the catchment areas.”
“I will move on, in the time I have remaining—and I could talk about all of the problems on roads for a much longer period—as I want to raise the Pacific Highway. The Pacific Highway and its duplication was a great achievement of the coalition in the Howard government era. It came in response to some terrible bus crashes at Kempsey and Grafton. I did, in my first speech, acknowledge the work of the former member for Lyne, the Hon. Mark Vaile, in the work that he did to get that duplication started. But in 1996, when the work was done, there was an urgency to get the duplication completed, so the decision was taken at the time to do the four-laning and then come back to do the integrated overpasses. But, in the passage of time, the work to come back and do the overpasses has been overlooked by successive governments.”
“These councils are raising the issue of the Local Government Financial Assistance Grants, the grants that are provided to local governments through the NSW Local Government Grants Commission. It's become clear that the financial assistance grants are no longer fit for purpose. They no longer serve the interests of regional councils in particular. I understand, particularly from Dungog, who I have had a number of conversations with, that there are councils in this country that receive more money from their parking meters than the entire budget of Dungog Shire Council. Yet these councils get significantly more from financial assistance grants. It simply isn't fair. The grant system is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be overhauled.”
“This is a significant piece of infrastructure that is beyond the means of MidCoast Council, a council that has a road network—I think some of the city members in this place might be interested to understand the extent of the road networks that councils to have deal with in regional and rural areas—which is 3,643 km of roads and 667 bridges. With the rate base of MidCoast Council, it is frankly beyond them to continue to maintain the roads to the standard that the community rightly expects. There's a lot of anger in the community about the state of our roads. Rates keep rising, but roads keep getting worse. It's not just MidCoast Council; Dungog Shire Council has in excess of 70 km. This is a very small council area with a very significant concessional rate base, and they struggle to continue to be able to maintain their roads.”
“It used to once be the Pacific Highway, but it's now under the management of MidCoast Council. One of my staff members, who lives out that way and has to travel on The Lakes Way, actually even sent me an email as her local member to let me know what the challenges are. She says: 'Driving home on The Lakes Way, typically a 100-kilometre-an-hour highway, cars had to slow to 30 kilometres an hour for prolonged periods due to severe potholes and road damage. The surface is so bad that the safest option is often to drive on the wrong side of the road or hanging partly off the road to avoid car damage.' My state colleague, the member for Myall Lakes, has recently called for the New South Wales Minns government to take action and declare The Lakes Way a state road, and I fully support that call.”
“Other examples are on Harrington Road, a road that I drive quite often. Again, there's significant damage from the floods, when already the pavement was deteriorating. On Stroud Hill Road, a road I travel when I go to Dungog—which I actually did only on Saturday this week—there are more and more signs that council is having to put up to say, 'Potholes ahead'. These are roads where you could normally drive 80 kilometres per hour. You're slowing down to 30 kilometres per hour to ensure that you're not doing damage to your vehicle. There's also The Lakes Way. This is a major road. I know some members holiday in the wonderful electorate of Lyne, and particularly those in Sydney, who often travel up to Forster and Pacific Palms and that area, will turn off the highway onto The Lakes Way. That is now a shocking road. And it's a local road.”
“The other car was on his side of the road between Clarence Town and Seaham a touch before 7 am on his way to work at Phoenix Park. He somehow dodged being killed, with the airbags in the pride and joy 20-year-old Jeep deploying and breaking his nose. It crumbled beautifully, and if you look closely it looks like it's bent around the long axis. Ambos cut his Angels T-shirt off, which he didn't appreciate.' We could have had one less National Party voter because of this accident. The reason the car veered was a huge pothole. A huge pothole almost caused an accident and killed a young man in his prime. Frankly, I hear these stories all the time of people having to dodge potholes effectively the size of craters. A small car can fall down them. It's a huge issue across the electorate, north to south.”
“When you talk to constituents, you just feel the challenges they are facing and the concern they have that funding is not flowing to the council and to other councils across the electorate to fix the problem. The conversations I'm aware of that councils are having are certainly not delivering the funds they need, and the issue around betterment funding is a major one. So far the New South Wales government, to my knowledge, have not responded in a positive fashion. But further afield from the MidCoast Council, I want to highlight a very recent case study of the impact of what is happening on the roads. A constituent of mine's son recently had a head-on collision. I'm just reading the text message he sent me: 'Jack had a head-on.”