Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The electorate of Swan takes its name after the Swan River, and Swan is an electorate with boundaries on three sides consisting of the Swan and the Canning rivers.

Mr Randall interjecting—

I see a previous member for Swan is in the House. From Garvey Park in the City of Belmont, to the Burswood Peninsula in the Town of Victoria Park, and Como Beach in the City of South Perth and beyond, river walls are essential to maintaining the amenity of the foreshore which is used by walkers, runners and families all year round. I know of no other city in the world with such extensive public foreshore, and we should be proud of that but we should also be prepared to maintain it. But maintaining and strengthening the river walls is both a logistical and financial challenge that is beyond the capacity of the councils, who in Perth take the lion's share of the responsibility for maintaining them.

As a result, on 14 October 2008 the City of South Perth put in an $85 million joint submission to Infrastructure Australia on behalf of the 21 local councils with river walls to maintain, seeking Commonwealth funding for vital upgrades across the 21 council areas. Unfortunately, the project did not receive funding from the federal government, which has meant that this issue has not been properly addressed to this day. In addition to the Infrastructure Australia application, in May 2011 the City of South Perth lodged an application with Regional Development Australia for funding for wall replacement on the northern foreshore, together with construction of a promenade. The application was for a total of $4,983,000 and left Perth with the highest priority for assessment by Canberra. No funds were allocated for this project.

In December 2011 the city lodged a further application with Regional Development Australia Fund round two for similar funding for an amount of $2,720,000, which reduced the scope to only one section of river wall. This was also unsuccessful. In mid-2010 the Mayor and the CEO met with the Hon. Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, and Senator Penny Wong, the then Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water, during a visit of the Commonwealth cabinet to Perth. The intention was to raise the matter of condition of the Swan River walls and seek funding to have the Swan River walls upgraded for the CHOGM event in October 2011. This was also unsuccessful. Interestingly, both ministers indicated that they thought Swan River wall infrastructure should be the responsibility of the state government.

The response that the City of South Perth has been given when they asked why their projects were not successful was that the projects were not sexy enough. The lack of federal interest is especially disappointing given that the state government body, the Swan River Trust, have indicated that they would be in a position to provide partnership funding to supplement federal funding. The council, to its credit, has done the legwork and prepared the submission. We now just need some federal support. My message to the government tonight is that since 2008 the problem has not gone away. With every delay in fixing this issue, the walls progressively deteriorate and become much more expensive to fix.

As the South Perth council has stated, when inundation and overtopping of the walls occur the result is erosion of the walls, erosion of the foreshore, 'blow-outs' where the walls no longer protect the foreshore, lifting of the path and sinking of the grassed area between the walls and paths. Through positive feedback, as existing infrastructure deteriorates, flooding becomes more frequent. This is only beginning to become visible on parts of the foreshore in my electorate. I saw it for myself during an inspection last year between Coode Street Jetty and the Narrows Bridge. I have some photos which show the inundations that occur during tidal and inundation events, and I would be happy to show interested members, including the infrastructure minister, Mr Albanese.

Now that I have stated my case, the real crux of the matter is that this government focuses on overseas projects before it focuses on Australian projects. While it has continued to reject Perth council applications, it has spent $328.3 million on the International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative to—you guessed it—upgrade infrastructure and strengthen coastal resilience. At the same time, I learned from the member for Leichhardt that the Gillard government has reneged on a promise made in August 2011 to provide funding to fix the sea walls on the Torres Strait.

In reneging on this promise, Minister Crean said the council would need to fund the project with the state. This is a classic Labor move and just shows where the priorities of this government lie. I will continue to work with the council and to support the necessary river wall infrastructure improvements in my electorate of Swan. I am happy to see that the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is in the chamber this time and I would ask that he again review the infrastructure submission by the 21 councils from Perth to support the Swan River degradation upgrade and improve the state of that area.

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