Scamps-Scruby-Quinn Secure $250m Funding Commitment from Federal Labor for Mona Vale Road West Upgrade: Brown States Liberals Will Match Funding Commitment
.JPG?timestamp=1718941195109)
The Albanese Labor Government announced they are committing funding towards the Mona Vale Road West upgrade in a statement issued on March 25 2025, as part of an allocation of $2.8 billion over 10 years towards NSW roads and railways, as listed on page 66 of Budget Paper No. 2 - Budget Measures.
Although Mona Vale road is not listed specifically in the Budget Documents, The Hon Catherine King MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, confirmed in a statement issued the same day:
'The 2025–26 Budget delivers $17.1 billion for new and existing road and rail infrastructure projects through the Infrastructure Investment Program, supporting critical planning, construction and delivery. This includes:
- $7.2 billion for safety upgrades on the Bruce Highway in Queensland – the single largest investment ever into this nationally significant transport corridor.
- Over $2.3 billion for critical infrastructure upgrades in the growing Western Sydney region, including $1 billion to preserve the corridor for the South West Sydney Rail Extension and $500 million to upgrade Fifteenth Avenue.
- A further $465 million for New South Wales to plan for regional projects and fix notorious choke points, including $250 million to upgrade Mona Vale Road and $115 million to reduce travel times on Terrigal Drive.‘
The Hon Catherine King MP stated in a release dated March 22 2025 the Albanese Labor Government is building New South Wales’ future through a partnership with the New South Wales Government to deliver the next stage of upgrades to Mona Vale Road.
“I’m pleased our Government will be able to deliver much-needed funding for the Mona Vale Road upgrade.
“It’s critical that this work gets underway so we can ease traffic congestion and improve safety.
“I want to commend the local members for their constructive advocacy. Instead of being blockers like their predecessors, they’ve worked diligently to achieve an outcome that will be welcomed by their communities.” Ms King said
Jeffrey Quinn, Labor Candidate for Mackellar in the 2025 election, said:
“The Albanese Labor Government is investing $250 million to fix the Mona Vale Road, doubling the lanes at the notorious stretch west of the Bahai Temple.
“I’ve been advocating for this investment for quite some time, and I’m thrilled to see Labor answering that call."
“Only Labor can be trusted to deliver for the people of Mackellar.”
Mr. Quinn was also successful in quietly securing $50,000 of funding from the NSW Government to support MoWaNa’s work in 2023.
Independent Mackellar MP Dr. Sophie Scamps, announced the funding commitment on Sunday March 23.
Dr. Scamps said in an issued pre-Budget statement she has worked closely with both the Federal and State Governments alongside Independent for Pittwater Jacqui Scruby in securing the federal funding to finish the Mona Vale Road west upgrade, which would be included in Tuesday’s federal budget.
“Today’s announcement will be relief to the northern beaches community, who have waited too long for Mona Vale Road to be finished,” Dr Scamps said.
“Securing funding to finish this upgrade for our community has been a key priority for me as the Federal Member for Mackellar – and one that has been recognised by the Federal Government under my watch.
“As a community independent, my focus is delivering on what’s important to the people of Mackellar.”
“I am determined to see the State Government restart works as soon as possible to finally complete the Mona Vale Road west upgrade to improve safety and alleviate congestion on one of the major routes in and out of Pittwater,” Dr Scamps said.
Dr. Scamps confirmed late this past week Labor has the funding in its Forward Estimates.
In the context of Australian government budgets, "forward estimates" refer to a rolling three-year financial projection of revenues and costs, encompassing the budget year and the following three years, used for policy decisions and budget planning.
Liberal Candidate for Mackellar, James Brown, confirmed the Liberals will match the funding, stating:
‘’While we welcome this funding commitment, it is only the Liberals who have a proven track record of infrastructure delivery on the northern beaches. It was the State Liberals who funded and delivered Stages 1 and 2 of the Mona Vale Road upgrade, and it will only be a Liberal government who start and finish Stage 3.
‘’The Liberals are the only party with a record of investing in our local roads, to make them safer, to shorten journeys and to boost productivity for local businesses. That’s why when we say we’ll deliver this funding – you can believe it. ‘’ Mr. Brown stated
The Candidates for the seat of Mackellar in the 2025 election are not the only ones agitating for the project to be advanced. The build was deferred so the new NSW State Government could get roads destroyed by flooding, cutting off regional communities 3 years ago now, finally re-built. With a November 2024 announcement from the Minns and Albanese Governments that their objectives have advanced in this quarter, and recent ‘Town Centres’ announced for accelerated housing along the peninsula, the road corridor is back in focus at a state level.
At the NSW Legislative Council - Budget Estimates 2024-2025 on March 11 2025 Chair Cate Faehrmann (Greens) asked about the Mona Vale Road West upgrade funding allocated under the previous State government.
Ms Faehrmann pointed out Mona Vale has been named as one of the new town centres in the Government's low- and mid-rise housing policy and asked; Where's that up to? Is the department planning to upgrade that road? Is there a timeline? Is there a budget allocated to it?
The response from Transport for NSW’s Infrastructure Projects and Engineering Division was they have almost complete the detailed design, which is funded, but don't have any additional funding to progress the project at this stage.
Ms Faehrmann asked if any work was being done within the department to liaise with the relevant planning department people in terms of the road upgrades that are needed for particular areas in relation to the new housing policies that are making bigger town centres.
‘’I assume the upgrade of Mona Vale west is something that's been fed into that, as necessary?’’ Ms Faehrmann asked
A further query; ‘Has Transport for NSW done work on determining that the Mona Vale Road West upgrade is essential if that Mona Vale precinct becomes low- to mid-rise?’ was a Question Taken on Notice by Transport for NSW’s Planning, Integration and Passenger Division.
The Portfolio Committee No. 6 additional hearing for the Regional Transport and Roads portfolios (Aitchison) scheduled for 6 March 2025, was postponed to be held as Roads, Regional Transport hearing on 1 April 2025.
The hearings are streamed online, and may be worth listening to this Tuesday, April 1st . Readers can find the link on the NSW Parliament website. Cate Faehrmann who has been Chair, Portfolio Committee No. 6 - Transport and the Arts, since June 2023, has been contacted by members of Pittwater's community, who are still incredibly concerned about the west section of the Mona Vale road, particularly now that Mona Vale has been named as one of the new town centres in the Government's low- and mid-rise housing policy.
Background
On November 8 2023 Infrastructure NSW released the updated NSW Major Infrastructure Pipeline and the 2023-2024 State Infrastructure Plan. The 2023-2024 State Infrastructure Plan outlined drivers and market context for the NSW Government’s infrastructure program over the next five years. It provided project specific information to support transparency to industry via the NSW Major Infrastructure Pipeline.
The Mona Vale Road West upgrade project was deferred for two years following the 2023 NSW Independent Strategic Infrastructure Review.
Listed on page 21 of the 2023-2024 State Infrastructure Plan document is the Mona Vale Road West upgrade, McCarrs Creek Road to Powder Works Road showing Procurement will commence in the final Quarter of 2025 and be completed in the first Quarter of 2026, with Construction of the works to commence in the second Quarter of 2026 and be completed by the second Quarter of 2029 (these are listed as estimated completion dates).
The 2024-2025 NSW Budget announced a $5.5 million allocation towards the Mona Vale Road West project, McCarrs Creek Road to Powder Works Road.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed in June 2024 to the news service:
''The budget allocation for the Mona Vale Road West upgrade is for Transport for NSW to continue finalising the detailed design to support future delivery of the project.
The Mona Vale Road East upgrade project includes the construction of a 950-metre long embankment on the northern side of the road next to Tumburra Street at Ingleside. This road embankment will be landscaped to minimise soil erosion in preparation for any future Mona Vale Road West upgrade.''
The 2024–25 State Infrastructure Plan A 5‑year plan for major infrastructure for NSW Infrastructure NSW, released February 12 2025, states this project is now estimated at $250 to $500 million – with the pipeline of projects webpage listing nothing beyond design allocated and no listings other than ‘To Be Announced’ for Procurement and Construction on the project webpage linked to in the pipeline timeline published.
The department states ‘The Pipeline has been updated to reflect relevant projects provided for in the 2024-25 NSW Budget Mid-Year Review, which includes a $118.3 billion infrastructure commitment over 4 years with a focus on delivering more schools, hospitals and public transport for the people of NSW.’
However, with Labor Candidate Jeffrey Mr. Quinn and current Mackellar MP Dr. Scamps leading the charge on getting the project restarted and the dangerous section of road fixed, as listed in the the NSW Government’s 2023-2024 State Infrastructure Plan, may yet be advanced, and that page updated again – barring any more billion dollar storms coming down the climate change highway.
In response to the announced commitment of funding Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby said: “Dr Sophie Scamps MP and I have worked relentlessly lobbying both state and federal governments for a commitment to complete this road. Those efforts have paid off with this $250m commitment.”
Ms Scruby notes that fixing the Mona Vale Road bottleneck is integral for the safety of residents and commuters of Pittwater and the thousands who work in or visit the Barrenjoey peninsula each year.
“The Federal government’s commitment to complete the Mona Vale Road Upgrade is a huge win. The completed Mona Vale Road will be safer and less congested, eradicating the bottleneck with a continuous four lanes from Mona Vale to Pymble.”
Ms Scruby called on the NSW government to match the funding for the completion of the road in the upcoming NSW budget.
“I’m working constructively with the new Minister for Roads and Premier and this announcement will strengthen the case for this road to be prioritised and fully funded by the NSW government.”
“I’ve taken the Premier to visit Mona Vale Road and he knows its importance to the safety and transport needs of the community. I’ve already revitalised my lobbying of the NSW Government following this announcement. Completion of Mona Vale Road remains my number one priority for my electorate.”
The other Budget announcement that has local pundits curious is a non-announcement. The Budget papers: no. 2 (Available at: https://budget.gov.au/content/documents.htm ) also lists ‘Decisions taken but not yet announced and not for publication (nfp) $m’:
2024/25: 31.0
2025/26: 133.9
2026/27: -546.4
2027/28: 161.2
2028/29: 720.2.
On Friday morning, March 28, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Governor-General Sam Mostyn at Yarralumla. Later he told an 8am news conference at parliament house Australians will go to the polls on Saturday May 3.