FEDERAL MPs Pat Conaghan and Alison Penfold are renewing calls for a solution to the Oxley Highway’s congestion chaos to be “urgently scoped and funded”.
“The Wrights Rd and Lake Rd roundabouts leading into Port Macquarie’s health and education precincts have long been flagged as the area’s worst and most dangerous bottleneck,” said Mr Conaghan.
The Cowper MP is frustrated by the lack of action, noting that $5 million was jointly awarded by the State and Federal Coalition governments in 2022 to finalise planning for a solution.
With a change of government in 2023, this funding decision was reversed and the project stalled.
“Despite continued unified calls from Council, State and Federal representatives for the funds to be reinstated, every successive annual budget handed down by Labor has neglected to allocate a single dollar to the project,” Mr Conaghan said.
Ms Penfold, the Member for Lyne, said the Mid North Coast community remains firmly in support of upgrades at the infamous bottleneck.
“An official NSW Government petition with over ten thousand individually signed submissions was lodged in September 2025 through the joint efforts of Robert Dwyer, Michael Kemp, Business NSW, Pat and myself,” Ms Penfold stated.
“That’s ten thousand residents from Port Macquarie, Wauchope and Kempsey who took time out of their day to physically visit a participating local business and sign on the dotted line. And yet, we are still waiting for action.”
Both MPs are calling for residents fed up with the lack of action to make a submission to Transport NSW via the ‘have your say’ portal.
“I know that we have asked our community for their input on this issue many times before, but we need to keep up the fight and keep up the pressure leading into the budget announcements for the upcoming financial year,” Mr Conaghan said.
To make a submission, residents should visit www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/sritp/north-coast, head to the ‘Pin on the map’ section and ‘Add Marker’ to the map at the Wrights Rd or Lake Rd Roundabout.
“Taking 2 minutes to enter your submission could be the tipping point to seeing this dangerous bottleneck finally addressed,” Ms Penfold stated.
“Let’s band together like the tight knit community we are and get this done once and for all.”
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