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Shorten promises to reverse penalty rate cuts and commit $6b for western Sydney rail

Labor leader Bill Shorten says he will commit $6 billion to two western Sydney rail projects and restore penalty rates if he becomes prime minister next year.

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten with Deputy Leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek  at the the NSW Labor Annual State Conference at the Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, Sunday,  July 1, 2018. (AAP Image/Ben Rushton) NO ARCHIVING
Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten with Tanya Pliberseck at the the NSW Labor Annual State Conference at the Sydney Town Hall. Source: AAP

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has promised $6 billion in federal funding for western Sydney rail projects if he's successful at the next federal election.

In a speech to Labor faithful at the party's annual state conference in Sydney's Town Hall on Sunday, Mr Shorten seized on the government's "disproportionate" tax policy on the day workers' penalty rates were cut across the country.

Mr Shorten committed $3 billion to the Sydney Metro West project, linking the city to Parramatta, and another $3 billion to the Western Sydney Rail project, which will connect all of the city to the new airport planned for Sydney's west.

The NSW government has also reserved $3 billion for the Sydney Metro West project - which will double capacity between the CBD and Parramatta.

"If I'm Prime Minister, my government will do our part, we'll put in our share of the money to make Metro West a reality," Mr Shorten told the conference.

He took aim at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's values, promising the crowd he would reverse penalty rate cuts - which took affect on Sunday - if elected.

"Your penalty rates matter to me just as much as the Prime Minister's giveaway to the banks matters to him," Mr Shorten said.

Mr Shorten told the conference equal pay for women was also a first order economic priority for a Labor government.


2 min read

Published

Updated

By Euna Cho



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