"I am always happy to benefit by association,"he said of the premier's popularity.
Mr Hockey,meanwhile,was promoting the $2 billion the federal government will hand to NSW under a deal to encourage privatising existing assets to pay for new infrastructure.
The projects NSW has agreed to part-fund with the $2 billion include another harbour rail crossing,an upgrade to train lines in western Sydney,light rail around Parramatta,spending on road pinch points,clearways and smart motorways,road funding in southern Sydney,and regional road freight.
"The only way you are going to get jobs created is if you start to invest more in infrastructure and of course governments haven't got an endless supply of money,so we need to redeploy the value in existing assets into new assets to create new jobs,"Mr Hockey said.
When the M4 is widened,as the government promises to do by 2017,a toll of between $3 and $4 will be re-imposed on the road,though Mr Abbott said motorists who did want to pay the toll could use other roads.
The Roads Minister,Mr Gay,said Sunday marked"day one of building better roads in Sydney."
"This is day one of thousands of people cheering in their cars,giving us the high five,saying good on you you're finally into it,you're finally doing something,"Mr Gay said.
"It's not lefty trendies in the inner suburbs saying'No,we don't want something that will actually help them,"he said of the WestConnex,which has drawn fierce criticism in parts of Sydney's inner west.
The shadow roads minister,Michael Daley,criticised the delay in starting work on the project after the WestConnex was first announced in October 2012.
"It is the widening of an existing road – not the construction of a brand new one,"Mr Daley said.
He also criticised Mr Abbott and Mr Baird for scheduling the"sod-turning"before construction was due to start.
"I'm not sure what they were doing there ... because the sods they turned will be sitting there for another two months.
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