Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise to support the member for Grayndler's amendment, because nowhere more than in Western Australia do we see the difference in the attention a place is given under Labor and under Liberal governments. Just as a preamble—I always want to get this in—during the six budgets under Labor we committed $4.2 billion worth of expenditure for infrastructure in Western Australia. That compares with $1.9 billion over the last six years of the Howard government. So quite clearly the bacon was brought home by the Labor government in terms of infrastructure.

I want to talk a little bit now about projects in Western Australia and why it is highly dubious that we are going to be receiving any additional funds at all. First of all, we know that there has been a net reduction in this budget of $500 million in certain projects. So $500 million that was committed to Perth urban rail has been deleted from this budget, in line with the Prime Minister's anti-obsession with public transport. We all know—it is well documented—his very outdated views on public transport. He wants everyone to be a king in a metal castle, driving around in a car. He thinks that is what creates a good city and a good society.

But in particular the big-ticket item, the supposedly new project that has been introduced in Western Australia to attempt to compensate for the loss of $500 million from a very worthwhile urban rail project, is the Perth Freight Link. The member for Grayndler talked a little about how projects are being renamed. One of the reasons why the extension of Roe Highway stage 8 has been renamed the Perth Freight Link is largely that they need to wrap some pre-existing projects that have already been funded into what is supposedly a grand concept.

We heard the Deputy Prime Minister saying, 'This project is ready to start now,' but the bit that he is actually starting now is the upgrade of Leach Highway and High Street going into the existing Fremantle port. That is a project that was funded under Labor. It was in the budget under Labor. It has now been woven into the Perth Freight Link in order for the government to say, 'Look, our project is underway already.'

But in fact, if we look at what the substance of their project really is, which is the highly controversial extension of the Roe Highway stage 8, we find it is very much not ready to go. In fact, one of the local members, Rita Saffioti, was questioning the Treasurer during estimates in the legislative assembly. The Treasurer responded to her questions about how they were going to fund the Perth freight line. He said: 'Firstly, it's not referred to in our budget at all. We don't have full information about it.' He went on to say: 'The Western Australian government has not made a decision as to its contribution to the proposal put forward by the Commonwealth and until I have a proposal in front of me I cannot answer the member's questions.' So it is a project that is so early in its development that the state government were not even aware of it when they prepared and proposed their budget documents.

So we have this allocation of $850 million to build five kilometres of road—very, very expensive road—right through a wetland. I would be prepared to lay money that that part of the project will never go ahead. What we have here is a creation. You put money into something that you know is unlikely ever to be built, but it makes it look like you have made a commitment to Western Australia. They will be claiming the project is underway when in fact the bits of it that are going to be built and will be built over the next year were a pre-existing project funded under our budget.

I also want to make a comment about Oakajee, which still appears. Oakajee was a proposal funded conditionally under Labor and, surprisingly, still seems to be in the budget. When I asked the Deputy Premier about its continued existence in the budget, he said, 'Oh, yes, we did think about taking it out, but it's going to go ahead.' Yet public servants recently gave evidence that this project is not going ahead. (Time expired)

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