❓ Opposition questions Minister MacTiernan about cost blow-out on the Peel Deviation project, alleging incompetence. Minister deflects, blaming the federal government's lack of initial support and highlighting WA's unfair treatment compared to other states.
AnsweredQoN 410Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the fact that the cost of the Peel deviation has now blown out by well over $100 million, and to the fact that the minister is now demanding that the federal government dramatically increase its contribution to the project because of this blow-out. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
(1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
(1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. BIRNEY : I ask - (1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
(1) An article in The West Australian of 19 July states - Ms MacTiernan said the overheated market and “more detailed planning” had resulted in the 30 per cent increase in the cost of the Peel project. Given that the minister has admitted in that article that the blow-out is due in part to the fact that she did not do enough detailed planning, is it not true that the minister’s incompetence and failure to undertake the correct level of planning have contributed directly to this massive blow-out? (2) How on earth can the minister justify penalising the federal government for her blatant incompetence? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
(1)-(2) We have unveiled yet another Judas who is prepared to send Western Australia down the drain. Let us look at the facts. Let us look at what Western Australia is getting. Point of Order Mr D.F. BARRON-SULLIVAN : Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the use of the word “Judas” as a direct description of a member of Parliament. The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! It is true that members should be referred to by their electorate names. That sort of language is unfortunate, but it is not unparliamentary. Questions without Notice Resumed Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is a metaphor. We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a strong knowledge of things religious. He is aware, for example, that the Pope is not married. No doubt he has also read some parts of the Bible, so he would know the literary allusion to which I was referring. The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The graph that I am holding up outlines what Western Australia is getting. The opposition says that is all right; it is okay that Western Australia is being ripped off. I could go over chapter and verse the history of the Peel deviation, as we have done in this house time and again. We started in 2001 to try to get the federal government to engage with us on this matter and to support us on this project. In 2001 it said no, it did not want to be involved. We wrote to the federal government again in 2002, and it again said no, it did not want to be involved. In 2003 it again said no, it did not want to be involved. Finally, in April 2004, just before an election, it got on the phone and asked us what we reckoned it would cost. At that stage, we had just decided to spend $1 million - even though the feds were not willing to commit to the project - to get the detailed planning done. We gave an estimate of $340 million a year later - Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms K. Hodson-Thomas : An estimate? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Yes. It was an estimate, and it was made very, very clear to the commonwealth - Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. Birney : You put it in your budget as a result of a guess? Are you joking? You should not even be the minister! The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : We made it very clear that it was an estimate. There is nothing exceptional about that. Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr M.J. Birney : An estimate - $100 million out! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Over an identical period - Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Mr P.D. Omodei : It sounds like the railway line! The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Warren-Blackwood to order for the first time. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : New South Wales and Victoria have a similar project - the Albury-Wodonga bypass. Over the same period, the cost of construction of that project has blown out by $180 million. However, what was the response of the commonwealth government to that? It said, “We will pay it. Bring it on. We will pay it.” However, we in Western Australia are singled out for very different treatment. What we need in this debate is an opposition that has some guts and that will get behind the government and the community and say we want a fair share of our funds.
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