Get Involved - Parliament

State Budget and North Shore Electorate

Published on: June 2026

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-167081

State Budget and North Shore Electorate

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (19:56:17):

In this place members can start to feel like broken records, talking about the same issues over and over again to a government that ignores their voices. But it is not my voice that the Minns Labor Government ignores; it is the voice of my community. The issues that I raise in this place are the issues that my community raises with me time and time again. Sadly, after four budgets from the Minns Labor Government, we still do not have the investments and plans that my community—like every other—deserves. Many in my community had hoped that the budget would address some of those issues and concerns. But once again we have been left waiting, just like the commuters who have been left waiting longer and longer for a bus that might not turn up or is too full; the residents losing sleep to cars hooning in Blues Point, McMahons Point and Waverton; and drivers and commuters who have spent years asking for a solution to one of the most congested routes in the country, along Military Road and Spit Road, only for this Government to tell them that it is scrapping Beaches Link but does not have an alternative.

Community concerns about youth crime have not been met with a clear or funded strategy to keep our streets and our businesses secure. At the same time, the Labor Government is driving significant development pressures across my community—without the necessary supporting infrastructure. It has delivered nothing for roads, sporting facilities, schools, early childhood education or health care—the infrastructure that needs to keep pace with growth. Even the promised new ambulance station that was funded back in 2022 under the Liberals remains undelivered, despite being first raised years ago. Years ago the Government closed down the PCYC and said it would convert it into the ambulance station. Now the Government has changed the location. The PCYC is still sitting there empty, and the new station is urgently needed to support frontline emergency responses.

Our local bus network is in crisis—and residents do not need me to tell them that. They are living it every single day at bus stops. Commuters across my community have been facing long wait times—at its worst up to 40 minutes—for buses, with queues stretching down the street and around the corner. My community watches as buses from the northern beaches drive right past them at Spit Junction, Cremorne and Neutral Bay because they are already at capacity. There are also phantom buses, which the apps say are turning up but never arrive. As if that was not enough, residents are now also facing further disruption from industrial action that is taking place right now. It is affecting bus services from the northern beaches down to the lower North Shore this very fortnight. Sadly, in this budget there is no path laid out for how the Minns Labor Government will address bus issues in my community.

In 2023 the Labor Government cancelled the Beaches Link project. Three years on, my community is still sitting in the same congestion—the same local roads being used as rat runs—that the tunnel was designed to relieve. So far, Labor has offered no alternative to address it. We have seen four Labor budgets and there is still no alternative to improve connectivity between my community and the Sydney CBD and beyond. That is particularly concerning as the Minns Labor Government is simultaneously increasing development in my local community—more homes without the supporting infrastructure, improved public transport integration or a credible replacement for the Beaches Link. My community cannot be left with worsening congestion and no long‑term solution.

The irony is that the Minns Labor Government says that the budget is about busting congestion. The Government talks about reducing costs of tolls and for Opal users. In fact, the budget is not going to improve congestion or public transport use if people cannot get on a bus or travel along the road. The great irony is that the Minns Labor Government has broken its promise on two-way tolling on the Harbour Bridge. While it offers something with one hand, it takes it away with the other. Hooning along Blues Point Road is not a new complaint, but it has become a relentless one. For many residents, it is not a minor annoyance; it has become a persistent community safety issue. Despite years of community concern and repeated calls for action, including proposals for solutions such as noise cameras, the budget contains no investment to address the problem. On behalf of my community, I have been calling for increased police presence and enforcement and traffic-calming measures. Sadly, none of that has been addressed in the budget.

I have already spoken about the promised new ambulance station. It remains undelivered, despite being committed to and funded. My local community has been waiting for years. Once again, we have been left asking when Labor will deliver on a commitment that has been funded and should already have been fulfilled. Unfortunately for my local community, we will have to have to keep fighting on these issues. My community is asking for the same thing that every community in this State deserves: a government that delivers on what it promises and that plans ahead. I am determined not to give up on holding the Minns Labor Government to account. New South Wales deserves a government with a vision for its future and a vision that supports my North Shore community.