Mr HOLLIS (7:13 PM) —Last Monday evening, the member for Gilmore (Mrs Gash) spoke in this chamber about the need for a realistic look at the transport facilities available in her electorate. No-one disagrees with this, but perhaps one disagrees with the interpretation the member has put on it. The member constantly claims that Labor did nothing for Gilmore for 13 years. That is a nonsense. I must say that she has certainly been no Joan of Arc in solving the problems of the Gilmore electorate.

Let me make it abundantly clear at the outset that the Labor candidate for Gilmore, Sandra McCarthy, and I unequivocally support the upgrade of trunk road 92. Having at one time represented this area, I was involved in trying to get funds for this road, and I have always supported all efforts for its upgrade. It is essential for the Shoalhaven. It is the most logical route from Sydney to the snowfields and, indeed, from Canberra to the coast. So I am not wearing this nonsense that the Labor Party does not support upgrading this road.

I know of no Labor member in the federal, state or local government sphere who does not support this. Indeed, when the honourable member was running around with her story that the Labor spokesman did not support the upgrading of this road and that Labor would not fund it, I went and spoke to him about it. I have had an assurance that Labor will continue with any work or any commitments that have been entered into.

I did stress to him, I must say, that, pork barrel or not, this was a good project and was well worthy of funding. It is interesting that, despite all the trumpeting of the member for Gilmore about getting the funds for trunk road 92, all this current government has done is to indicate that they will fund a feasibility study. I might say that there is many a slip in road works between a feasibility study and the actual funding of the road.

Now I will turn to what the member for Gilmore has been saying about the Minnamurra Bends. The Minnamurra Bends is on the Princes Highway on the boundary between Throsby and Gilmore, and is an area that I am very familiar with. I obtained funds under the steel regions plan for a bypass of the town of Kiama. This was back in 1984. The Minnamurra Bends has always been a bottleneck, and all local members are aware of this. But I really do think it a bit rich that the member for Gilmore is now talking about the Minnamurra Bends and, indeed, the Princes Highway, being a New South Wales state government responsibility. It was the current member for Gilmore who, as the candidate, had a television and media campaign running. The television adds would churn up every night with shots of the Minnamurra Bends, with her constantly saying that she was not going to tolerate the condition of this section of the Princes Highway if the Liberal Party came to power. Remembering that the Minnamurra Bends formed such a strong part of her election campaign two years ago, what has she done in the time she has been a member to alleviate the problems of the Minnamurra Bends? Zilch. Until Sandra McCarthy, the Labor candidate, started raising questions about the Minnamurra Bends, the member for Gilmore very conveniently forgot the situation. Sandra McCarthy has a petition running about the Minnamurra Bends and has been overwhelmed, as indeed I have been, by the response to her petition regarding this important area.

This is the same as the member's stand on youth unemployment. I remember prior to the election when the now member for Gilmore was not going to tolerate youth unemployment in the Gilmore electorate and gave commitments to reducing it. The simple fact is that youth unemployment in Gilmore, under this current government, has now substantially increased, and now the member for Gilmore is telling us that the youth of Kiama and Nowra are dancing in the streets for joy working for the dole.

I find it quite humorous that the member for Gilmore talks in her speech about political stunts. No-one did more political stunts than the current member prior to the last election—and she had some pretty good competition from the sitting member. I contrast this with the hard work and dedicated approach of Sandra McCarthy regarding not only the problems of the Minnamurra Bends but also the problems of youth unemployment, the situation concerning the Shoalhaven Paper Mill and many other issues affecting the people of Gilmore. I would like the member for Gilmore—as I have supported her on trunk road 92—to support me on the replacement of Macquarie Pass with Caloola Pass, and I look forward to when Sandra McCarthy is elected as the member for Gilmore and, indeed, to when David Hill is elected as the member for Hughes. Once more the Illawarra will be represented by four hard-working, dedicated Labor members.