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

In tonight's budget, we will see almost $1.2 billion in precious federal infrastructure money allocated to the Perth Freight Link after the PM threw another $260 million at this ever more irresponsible project.

I commend the City of Kwinana, led by Mayor Carol Adams and CEO Joanne Abbiss, who have done the job the Barnett government should have been doing over the past four years instead of being sidetracked by the ideological games of Jamie Briggs and Senator Mathias Cormann. The council has carried out extensive planning for the vital development of the outer harbour in Kwinana to ease the demand on and eventually replace the Fremantle inner harbour as it reaches capacity over the next 10 years. This document I am holding shows, for example—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

that Roe 8 simply does not work for the outer harbour. The Perth Freight Link fails at every turn. It stops 2.8 kilometres short of the port, moving the point of congestion, not solving it. By 2025, Fremantle port will have reached practical capacity, so the new harbour will need to be in place by then or WA risks being locked out of jobs and growth. The new port is needed to enable us to host the new workhorse container vessels that are being developed following the expansion of the Panama Canal. It is a disgrace that more than $1 billion of federal taxpayer money has been spent on this project. (Time expired)