NSW Upper House MP Sam Farraway criticises absence of Great Western Highway in budget

Mr Farraway says the Central West community and businesses have every right to be angry over what he describes as Labor's decision to "completely abandon" the highway upgrade.

The Minns government's first budget, presented this week, has allocated $129.6 million for the duplication of the highway through Medlow Bath (described as NSW and Australian governments funded) and $187.2 million for the duplication on the Little Hartley to Lithgow section of the highway at Coxs River Road.

There is no money, though, for the proposed tunnels from Little Hartley to Blackheath that had moved as far as the environmental impact statement stage under the previous Coalition government.

The absence was not unexpected after the then-Minns opposition announced in the lead-up to the March election that it would be taking $1.1 billion earmarked for the tunnel and reallocating it to other projects, including in western Sydney.

The duplications at Medlow Bath and Coxs River Road are also much more modest than the previous NSW Government's plans for a multi-stage duplication of the highway from Lithgow to Katoomba, including the proposed tunnel.

In his budget critique, NSW Upper House MP Mr Farraway said the Minns government wanted a "pat on the back for spending less than a billion dollars on regional road infrastructure and cutting almost 5000 jobs in the Central West by axing the Great Western Highway".

"The Great Western Highway wasn't a fantasy, the former Coalition Government had a track record for making dreams a reality when it came to the state's infrastructure," he said.

"This road would have reduced travel times, reduced costs and improved road safety."

Mr Farraway also took aim at Labor's decision not to go ahead with raising the wall of Wyangala Dam, on the Lachlan River south-west of Bathurst.

He said treasurer Daniel Mookhey "said 'need should matter more than political allegiance' and I agree, which is why it is so disappointing to see regional NSW having funding cut to please Labor's must win areas in Sydney".

Then-shadow minister for regional roads and transport Jenny Aitchison told the Western Advocate earlier this year that NSW Labor was not cancelling the highway tunnel but was putting it on pause so it could be done once and be done right.

While in Bathurst in mid-March, Ms Aitchison emphasised that the $1.1 billion earmarked for the tunnel would be redirected to projects both within the regions and in Sydney.

She said the thousands of kilometres she had spent travelling the state in the lead-up to the election had taken her through many electorates where half-finished projects languished because they hadn't been seen through to the end by the NSW Coalition.

"It's an 11-kilometre tunnel," Ms Aitchison said.

"The minister [then-Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway] has admitted publicly that it is around Labor's projections of about $1 billion a kilometre to get that tunnel done.

"You do not start a project like that or commit further funds to it if you don't know for sure that the project is right."

Blue Mountains Labor MP Trish Doyle told her local newspaper earlier this year that Labor's position was "to defer the tunnel for two years" and to "approach this proposal with the due diligence it has always demanded".

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