Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot let those comments by Senator Back go unchallenged. I just want to reflect on what happened in Western Australia two weeks ago at the state elections. We saw the Liberal Party and its coalition partner, the National Party, completely wiped out. Why? Because the Liberal Party there, like the Liberal Party here, had become completely arrogant and out of touch with the aspirations and the wishes of ordinary Western Australian voters.

I can absolutely say that the Liberal Party and the National Party were wiped out because in the 59-seat Western Australian parliament the Labor Party now holds 41 seats. I was quite gobsmacked to hear Senator Back stand there and go on and on about how wonderful Colin Barnett was and what a great leader he was. If he was the leader Senator Back has just outlined, surely he would still be in government because he would be popular. Again, it shows the Liberal Party had an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and to listen to voters or to carry on with complete arrogance in the way they did in Western Australia and in the way we see the Turnbull government doing here in this parliament. Labor did not win 41 seats out of a 59-seat parliament because the previous government was so popular and had done such a terrific job.

I was pleased to finally hear a Western Australian senator—indeed, a Western Australian Liberal member—concede that Mr Barnett ran up the debt. Western Australia has a very shameful debt—a massive debt into the billions of dollars. That is because Mr Barnett simply could not manage the expenditure, despite him getting carriage of a public hospital Labor had planned when we were in government, the Fiona Stanley Hospital. It was paid for with public funds and it was a plan to produce a first-class hospital. What did we see with Fiona Stanley Hospital? We saw mistake after mistake and budget overrun after budget overrun to the tune of millions of dollars. That hospital's opening was delayed by more than a year—almost two years—because of the mismanagement by the Barnett government.

Then we saw the children's hospital. The Australian Medical Association is hardly a friend of Labor governments, but it turned on the Barnett government like no other because instead of building a state-of-the-art children's hospital the government has built a hospital that is already too small before it has even opened. That hospital has not opened and we have had scandal after scandal about the Barnett government and indeed the health minister. What did we see? Let's not forget: six of the Barnett ministers lost their seats. When ministers lose their seats I think that tells very clearly that voters in Western Australia had had enough.

Minister Day, the health minister—again, incredibly arrogant and out of touch with what Western Australians were saying—was responsible for what could only be described as the debacle of the children's hospital, which is still not opened and is plagued with problems. The major contractor was in an open fight with the Barnett government and that is a mess that the Labor government, through the Premier, Mr McGowan, have now inherited. We had cheap asbestos, imported from China, brought onto that site. And guess what? The union actually identified the problem—the union that Senator Back and others on the government side like to malign so much. Only the union stood up when asbestos was found on that site—and it now needs to be rectified by the major contractor to make that hospital safe.

The Australian Medical Association is saying that the brand new children's hospital—which is yet to be opened, is way behind schedule and has a massive cost overrun—is too small. The current children's hospital, which the Barnett government has not spent any money on, continues to be used because of the cost overruns, the poor work that has been carried out on the new children's hospital and the asbestos that has been found on the site—which has to be rectified. In the latest scandal, lead has been found in the water at that hospital—and it also has substandard glass. Minister Day, who lost his seat at the election, is trying to wash his hands of the matter and say it had nothing to do with him. Of course the buck stops with the minister!

The failed projects do not stop there. We have this flash new football stadium just down the road from where I live. Not only was the Premier in an open war with the Eagles about the negotiations for them to use the oval—we are going from bad to worse—but the same faulty glass that was found at the children's hospital was also found at the stadium. Once again, there will be cost overruns. We have a fancy pedestrian bridge across the Swan River—which goes to nowhere—to try and reduce the traffic that will be created by the stadium. With Western Australia now having the highest rate of unemployment in Australia—and that is the legacy of the Barnett Liberal government—you would think they would have manufactured the steel for the footbridge in Western Australia. But they did not. They imported it from Malaysia. And we have just found out that that steel is now delayed. No doubt, when it arrives it will not measure up—like the asbestos we found in the children's hospital, the lead we found in the water in the children's hospital, the faulty glass we found in the children's hospital and the faulty glass we found in the stadium. The steel that is being manufactured in Malaysia—and not giving unemployed Western Australians the opportunity to work on that footbridge—has been delayed.

The Liberals could learn a lesson, look a little bit humble and actually try and work out what went wrong for them in Western Australia. But no. Judging by the comments that we have heard in here today from Senator Back, we are going to continue to praise Colin Barnett and say what a wonderful leader he was. If he was so wonderful, he would not have had the tsunami of an election result that we saw in Western Australia.

We now have a new Premier, a fresh approach and plans to create employment in Western Australia with a great new team. We won more than 20 seats. We now have 41 of the 59 seats in the parliament. And I am pleased to say WA Labor has set yet another record—for the number of women. Those on the other side could start to look at how we do that as well. Many of the new MPs are women and we have now set a new record for the number of women in the Western Australian parliament. The Labor women outrank the Liberal women two to one. Shame on them! And we hear all the excuses in the world. 'We want to pick women on merit.' And I have heard Liberals say young women are not attracted to politics.

Well, let me tell you some stories. Amber Jade Sanderson, the new member for Morley is a young woman with young children. She has a son who is about 14 months old. That has not stopped her. Jessica Stojkovski, the new member for Kingsley, has children the same age as Amber's. Having young children has not stopped her. Lisa O'Malley, the new member for Bicton, is another young mum with primary school aged children. I think her youngest is about seven. Having young children did not stop her. Emily Hamilton, the new member for Joondalup is another young woman with young children. Cassie Rowe, the new member for Belmont has two young children under the age of four. Obviously that did not stop her. Rita Saffioti, a re-elected member, has three young children. So it is high time the Liberals started to look at putting women forward. We have 15 MLAs and seven MLCs. (Time expired)