Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to express my continual disappointment by the failure of the Western Australian state and the federal coalition governments to secure funding for much-needed improvements to Wanneroo Road in my electorate of Cowan. For too long, this vital arterial road has been sidelined and ignored while these coalition governments have put public money toward projects that can only be described as headline-grabbing wastes of time.

Perth's roads are in real crisis. By 2031, we are predicted to have seven of the top 10 most congested roads in the country, including four worst of all. Clearly, smart, targeted investment in our major roads is what we need in Western Australia.

The coalition governments at the state and federal levels have needed to be prodded and poked to commit to many important transport and infrastructure projects in Western Australia. And then they have failed to make good on their promises. By contrast, Labor has recognised for a long time that we need to improve roads like Wanneroo Road. WA Labor believes that money from the unwanted and unneeded Roe 8 project should be diverted to places where it really matters to Western Australians—places like Wanneroo Road. Rather than investing in the divisive and pointless Roe 8, it would have made far more sense for the Liberal state government to fulfil its promises to the voters of Wanneroo.

The WA state government has proven itself to be totally clueless about what Western Australians really need and want.