Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields) (12:39): By leave: The motion moved by the member for Seven Hills crystallises what is wrong and rotten in this Liberal Government. This motion is thick with spin, full of lip-service and, as is always the case with this Government, light on action and even lighter on facts. It started so promisingly, as all terms do, after the 2015 election, but over time the truth came out, as it always does. When this Government was elected, the then Premier, Mr Baird, adopted for himself the title of Minister for Western Sydney—not that we saw him much. It is a fair way from The Corso to Macquarie Fields.
The new Premier pretends to be interested in Western Sydney and pretends it is a priority, but in reality it is not. She has dropped the ministership and portfolio from her own responsibilities, but this was not enough. I scrolled down the new list of Ministers and their seniority, looking for the Minister for Western Sydney, until eventually I found it at number 17. It had gone from number one—albeit with lip-service—to number 17 on the list. In the previous, leaner Cabinet of 20 Ministers, it would have been third from the bottom. That says a lot.
For those who live there, Western Sydney is far more than a ministerial portfolio and a place on the map. It is our home and, indeed, it is our future. For the Liberal Government to move this motion at the same time as dropping the ministerial position to number 17 flies in the face of reality for many of my constituents. These are the same constituents who cannot find work despite their best efforts in training; who want to enrol in TAFE but cannot afford the fees, have had their courses cut or their local TAFE close; whose children sit in non‑air‑conditioned classrooms when it is more than 40 degrees outside; and who are struggling with housing affordability and paying their rent. The list goes on and on.
Rather than moving grandiose motions such as the one before us, I challenge the Government to stop the spin and listen to the people of Western Sydney. The new Premier only listens to property developers, professional lobbyists working for groups with vested interests and her favourite, Mr Photios from Premier State. It seems these are the only people she listens to, not the people of Western Sydney. Is it any wonder that disillusionment with politics is so high? Is it any wonder that the community at large is so disengaged from the political process when the Government says Western Sydney is important while dropping it down to number 17?
