Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As is the case in most of the country, the Liberal-National coalition government in Western Australia likes to claim it is the party that supports people living in the regions and supports our regional economy. Like in most parts of the country, its actions show the opposite: the Barnett-Grylls Liberal-National government allowed, permitted and agreed to the degradation and eventual closure of the Tier 3 grain lines in WA. For the benefit of those here today who may not know, the Tier 3 lines in WA's rail system comprise more than 500 kilometres of track that used to bring grain from WA's wheat belt to port for export. In 2014, these lines were placed into care and maintenance by the lessee, with the blessing of the WA Liberal-National government. WA exports almost $3 billion of wheat every year, and crop yields are always increasing. Indeed, WA exports 90 per cent of its grain production each year, so getting grain from the farm gate to port in the most efficient way possible is of vital importance.

At a time when the mining construction boom is well and truly over, our state has the highest unemployment rate in the country and the state is in chronic deficit after years of Liberal economic mismanagement. Government, therefore, should be supporting economic diversification in growth industries—industries like agriculture. Colin Barnett and Brendon Grylls have walked away from the very rail network needed to transport this grain to foreign markets. Not only does this constrain growth within our agricultural sector; the obvious knock-on effect to closing grain rail lines is that there are more trucks on our roads—roads the Barnett Liberals promised to upgrade but did nothing about. This is not just me saying this. A 2014 WA parliamentary committee report into the freight rail network noted community concern that truck movements on roads would increase with Tier 3 lines closing. The report says:

Many local governments do not have the revenue raising capacity to allow them to generate sufficient income to meet required road upgrade and maintenance costs.

The report continues:

Failure to provide appropriate funding to local governments impacted by the closure of Tier 3 lines amounts to cost shifting on the part of the state government.

The same committee report noted that the wheat belt experiences a high road toll compared to other regions in Western Australia.

WA is blessed by not having toll roads, though the Barnett Liberal government and this Turnbull Liberal government are doing their level best to introduce a toll road on the Perth Freight Link. The effect is that the cost of using roads is artificially low when compared to transporting grain by rail. This unfairly disadvantages rail—and then one wonders why the WA freight rail operator cannot keep the Tier 3 lines open. To maximise prices for WA farmers, the volumes of grain able to be sold and shipped in the summer months—the European winter—need to be maximised. This needs rail. The WA Nationals and the Barnett government have failed our farmers. (Time expired)