WALLSEND MP Sonia Hornery described Labor's pledge to build what is considered stage two of Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange as one of the happiest days of her political career.
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"It's taken me 12 years to get here," she told the Newcastle Herald on Tuesday.
"State Labor haven't made a big announcement like this on this project, despite the fact I've been dogging away at the project, chipping away, and that makes me feel good.
"It also puts the Liberals on notice too, that we're actually willing to build a project in the Wallsend seat that is not considered a marginal seat."
Ms Hornery joined Port Stephens MP Kate Washington, Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison, Lake Macquarie candidate Jo Smith and Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser at Glendale to officially announce the party's pledge to build the Pennant Street bridge.
The MPs said the bridge, which links Glendale and Cardiff by crossing the railway line, was considered the second stage of works at the site after the opening of Stockland Drive in 2017.
"A Daley Labor government is committing $13 million, in addition to the $13 million already committed by [a] Shorten federal government and $6 million from Lake Macquarie council," Ms Washington said.
"This is Labor working together at three levels of government to ensure that we deliver something the community has been calling out for, for years.
"A Labor government will build this bridge."
Ms Hornery said she was encouraged by the three levels of government committing to the bridge and hoped it was a sign that stage three, which would encompass a Glendale train station, could finally be on the agenda.
"Funding always comes step by step," she said.
"So that's my next project to work on, to dog Labor or Liberal. A Labor government, I will be dogging them too.
"In the end, the community just wants a project built. They are not going to make the differentiation whether its a Labor or Liberal government, they just want the job done."
She said a train station at Glendale remains her ultimate goal and it was needed to cater for population growth and to ease pressure at Cardiff station.
"Parking is the biggest woe for Cardiff and its popularity," she said. "It's almost a victim of its own success.
"But we have the space here [at Glendale], we have the right land. Thirty years ago this was all railway infrastructure anyway, so it's built to be flat and accessible for all people, but this is the geographic centre of the Lower Hunter. It's a logical step to have a train stop here.
"So after the election I want to talk again to our federal colleagues about what they can commit, and obviously we can get state Labor to commit, to those projects."
The Liberals maintain the cost-benefit ratio of the bridge does not stack up.
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