Mr FITZGIBBON (10:57 PM) —Most members in this place, but certainly New South Wales members, will be aware that on Saturday, 11 September local government elections were held in New South Wales. I am delighted to be able to report that my friends and colleagues in the Labor Party in the Cessnock local government area took out nine of the 12 seats on Cessnock council and our Labor candidate, my good friend John Clarence, was elected Mayor by popular vote. I congratulate them all.

The greatest delight for all in the Labor Party was the election of 19-year-old Kurri Kurri university student Elizabeth Martin—surely one of the youngest people ever to be elected to local government in New South Wales but almost certainly the youngest female to be elected to local government in New South Wales. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate her and wish her the best. I know she will do a sterling job as a local councillor along with her running mate Darren Riley, a new councillor—himself not all that old, I have to say, and certainly younger than me. My congratulations also go to new councillors Katie Brassil and Bob Pynsent and, in other local government areas, to re-elected and elected councillors John Douglas, Robyn Tozer and Malcolm Ogg in Muswellbrook, Dave Wood in Singleton and Warren Cook and Stephen Watson in Scone.

It is disappointing that, during the course of the Cessnock local government election, the issue of the heavy vehicle traffic through the CBD once again raised its head. This was an issue for which the former federal Labor government had a solution. The solution was known as the Kurri Kurri corridor—a road bypass extending the F3 freeway north to Branxton. It was a $220 million project—very expensive indeed, but one which would have brought very many benefits both to the Cessnock and Maitland LGAs and the Upper Hunter in terms of economic benefits.

Unfortunately, in its first budget in 1996, the Howard government cut some $620 million out of the National Highway Project. The former Labor government was spending only about $840 million each year. That gives you some idea of the enormity of that cut. Of course, that road project has stalled since those budget cuts. Unfortunately, in the current budgetary climate, it is not likely to gain funding in the near future. This causes a hell of a dilemma for the people of Cessnock who are also fighting for a simple bypass of the town. But the state government finds itself in a catch-22 because if the Kurri Kurri corridor was constructed it would be inefficient to proceed.

Mr SPEAKER —Order! It being 11 p.m., the House stands adjourned.

House adjourned at 11.00 p.m.