Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with some sadness that I inform the House today that the Canning electorate is the home of almost one-third of Perth’s most frequently blacked-out suburbs in metropolitan and outer metropolitan areas of Perth. In fact, localities in the electorate of Canning such as Roleystone, North Dandalup, Jarrahdale, Kelmscott, Thornlie, Westfield, Canning Vale and Karnup make up a very dishonourable list of frequently blacked-out suburbs. In fact, the locality of Roleystone has the state’s worst blackout record of 2,183 paying customers reporting more than nine blackouts in 2005-06. These outages go for hours. They are not just quick little outages for five or 10 minutes. These outages go for well over half an hour, sometimes hours. Local businesses and families are suffering terribly, because the lack of power destroys stock and it destroys businesses that are trying to get on with their work. Of course, families are disrupted when they sit down to dinner in the evening, wanting to enjoy their time together, because they have to run around trying to find alternative sources of light. This is a disgrace in this modern day and age, and the Western Australian state government should be condemned for it. The Carpenter government should deliver this fundamental service—electricity—to families, communities and businesses. There is no excuse for these sorts of blackouts in a modern economy like Western Australia’s, because the Western Australian economy is booming. It is achieving outstanding results in terms of not only business but also wages and growth.

The Carpenter state government recently announced a $2 billion surplus. The surplus is coming not only from the rich business revenue but also from the rivers of gold, which are the GST benefits to the states. Every cent of the GST goes to states. It is a growth tax. You would think they would use that to upgrade the power in areas of my electorate. The energy minister, Mr Francis Logan, has acknowledged this. He stated that he knows it is a serious problem but that it will not be rectified until 2011. What a disgrace!

In one of the fastest growing regions in Western Australia, in the area that I represent, they cannot keep the power up. They are just turning a blind eye. The fact that people have to come to me as a federal member, because their state member will not do anything about it, demonstrates this. In a very short period of time I had more than 3,330 locals sign a petition calling for the immediate upgrade of services. I have had Helen Morton, the upper house member for the East Metropolitan Region, table this in the upper house. I am going to have to stand up on behalf of businesses and families in the Canning electorate, because the Western Australian state government has fallen short of delivering the basic services and needs of the people of my electorate.

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