Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 24 November 2003, a petition was presented to the House about the unsafe condition of the Great Northern Highway, a major highway in Western Australia. In an adjournment speech on 1 December 2003, the member for Pearce referred to that petition and stated that it contained over 6,000 signatures from people in the electorate of Pearce. The initiator of the petition was Mrs Helen Keillor of Muchea. Mrs Keillor coordinated the placement, collection and presentation of the petition through the office of the member for Pearce. As the member for Pearce said in her adjournment speech at that time:

... Mrs Helen Keillor ... spent countless hours gathering the names for presentation to the House. She is a concerned parent and community member.

Mrs Keillor has requested that I present her view of the facts of the coordination, placement and presentation of the petition to the House. The petition contained signatories from people not just from the electorate of Pearce but from the electorate of O’Connor, as well as from the general motoring public of Western Australia. There are 4,098 signatories representing 91 Western Australian shires and 1,658 signatories from the Perth metropolitan area. The petition specifically related to the 250-kilometre stretch of highway for the area from Middle Swan to Wubin. The electorate of Pearce contains 90 kilometres, about 36 per cent, of this stretch of highway. People from Middle Swan to Wubin, which reflects the 250-kilometre stretch of highway to which the petition referred, helped on the campaign. Mrs Keillor also wishes me to place on the record that the $14 million for urgent works committed in October 2003 was for overtaking lanes and safety improvements specifically for that stretch of highway between Muchea and Wubin. Mrs Keillor is to be commended for the hard work she has done in ensuring an upgrade of the condition of the Great Northern Highway.