Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate. Under the chairmanship of Senator Sterle and with quite good representation of Western Australian senators and others, earlier last week the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee sat in Perth and heard evidence from one very strong side of the argument that the Perth Freight Link should simply not be funded. The state government was given an opportunity to put their side of the case and they refused to show up. What the inquiry has established once and for all is that the Perth Freight Link should be set aside, and that there are strong counter proposals for how to deal with growing freight movements in the Perth metropolitan area.

This motion does nothing more than call on the minister to reprioritise the funding that former Prime Minister Abbott put into this project, sight unseen and without the state government even knowing where the project should go, and put that funding into actual solutions to Perth's freight task. I thank the Senate for giving it consideration.