❓ Question regarding the government's strategy for public transport to the new Burswood stadium and the opposition's views on the plans. The Minister provides details on the government's plan and criticises the opposition's stance.
AnsweredQoN 468Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PERTH
MAJOR SPORTS STADIUM — PUBLIC TRANSPORT
468. Mr J.M. FRANCIS to the Minister for Transport:
I note this government's commitment to the new
Burswood stadium and the recent announcement on the stadium master plan that
has recently been released. Could the minister please provide the house with an
update on the strategy to maximise public transport to and from the new stadium
at the Burswood site and inform the house of the opposition's views, if
any, on these plans?
MAJOR SPORTS STADIUM — PUBLIC TRANSPORT
468. Mr J.M. FRANCIS to the Minister for Transport:
I note this government's commitment to the new
Burswood stadium and the recent announcement on the stadium master plan that
has recently been released. Could the minister please provide the house with an
update on the strategy to maximise public transport to and from the new stadium
at the Burswood site and inform the house of the opposition's views, if
any, on these plans?
AnswerView source ↗
I can certainly inform the member for Jandakot of the
government's position, and I thank him for the opportunity to do so. In
relation to the opposition's position, I would not have a clue, but I
will give my best efforts to try to ascertain what exactly that is.
The facts of the matter are that the new stadium will seat 60
000 people. Accommodating 60 000 people at one venue is a challenge,
irrespective of where it goes. It is a challenge at Burswood. It would have
been a challenge if it had been built at Subiaco. We have come up with what I
think is a very, very innovative plan to deliver a largely public transport–based
outcome. I will just quickly work through the numbers around that. In effect,
35 000 people will be moved to and from the stadium by rail. We reckon that
around 3 000 of those will come out of the stadium and go up and down the
Armadale line. About 25 000 people will leave the station and travel through
the city, either up to Joondalup, down to Mandurah or perhaps out to Fremantle.
I suppose Dockers supporters and Eagles supporters will go on the Fremantle
line.
Mr C.J. Barnett :
Eagles supporters have preference.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
We estimate about 7 000 people will cross Windan Bridge and will catch a train
at East Perth station. For the house's information, when people go to a
game at Subiaco Oval, a lot of people when they leave walk to West Leederville
station. The distance to West Leederville station is about the same as the
distance from the proposed stadium at Burswood across Windan Bridge to East
Perth station. That is the 35 000.
Buses will depart from the stadium bus station. Around 8 000
people will leave by bus from there. We estimate that about 6 000 people will
cross the footbridge into East Perth and will catch buses in Nile Street. Those
buses will distribute those people.
Mr J.N. Hyde : It
is coming out at Nile Street?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Approximately near Nile Street. Those buses will distribute people around the
CBD.
Another 9 000 pedestrians will cross at Nile Street and will
enjoy parking or access to parked cars in and around that East Perth precinct.
As I said, if we took Subiaco Oval and added another 20 000 people, we would
have all sorts of problems trying to accommodate them, especially on the rail,
given the constraints that sit around the rail reserve in that particular area.
It is an innovative plan. We think it is a good plan.
I am interested today in the opposition leader's
position about public transport at stadiums. In fact, I am interested in the
opposition leader's position in relation to where the stadium should go.
Where do you think it should go, Leader of the Opposition? He has nothing to
say!
Mr M. McGowan : Let's
have a debate about it. Do you want me to stand up?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : No, no; the Leader of the Opposition does not have to stand.
I will give the Leader of the Opposition an example of how he stands up.
Yesterday I quoted some comments from the Leader of the Opposition from Mr
McGlue's morning show. I am going to read them into Hansard . This is what we call a
masterclass in fence-sitting. I just want members to listen to what happened.
The Leader of the Opposition is asked about his position on the stadium
location. This is what he says —
Absolutely, thank you ... What I said
was that we support well what I ... I'll restate our position. We
support a stadium
We all know that, but where? The
question was where.
A member interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Where were you last week? I heard you were a bit upset.
Let us go on. A listener, Brian,
rings in. Brian says, ''All we want is a yes or no answer.'' Here
is the yes or no answer —
Thank you for your question, Brian.
Obviously my preference is for the stadium to be at Subiaco simply because you
can get a world-class stadium and save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars
That is on one side of the fence.
The Leader of the Opposition then sticks his other leg on the other side of the
fence. He says, however, that if the contract has been signed, he will probably
keep it at Burswood. Here is the position: the contracts will not be signed.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The SPEAKER : One, two, three—I
formally call you to order three times today. I reflected in this place the
other day, member for Victoria Park, that people who continually yelled across
the chamber and continually interjected would be formally called to order. That
is why I am calling you to order three times at this very moment.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : All volume, no content.
Mr McGlue then goes on to say this —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members! If the Treasurer is going to continue in this fashion, I
will sit him down. I hope you understand me. If I need to stand again,
Treasurer, I will be sitting you down. That is what I will be doing.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Let me finish by reading from the
rest of this very interesting dialogue between Mr McGlue and the Leader of the
Opposition. Mr McGlue goes on to say —
but if the contracts aren't
locked in, does that mean that you would can the stadium
''Our preference,'' he
said —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Without standing, I formally call to order the member for Warnbro
and the member for Pilbara.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I move to the nub of the point. The nub of the point is this,
Leader of the Opposition: at some stage the Leader of the Opposition has to get
off the fence and declare his hand. At some stage he has to make a choice.
There are two choices: you build it at Burswood or you build it at Subiaco. Get
off the fence and declare your hand.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I formally call you to order for the third
time. Member for West Swan, did you hear what I said to the member for Victoria
Park? Yes. I formally call you to order for the first, second and third time
today. It is unbecoming behaviour.
government's position, and I thank him for the opportunity to do so. In
relation to the opposition's position, I would not have a clue, but I
will give my best efforts to try to ascertain what exactly that is.
The facts of the matter are that the new stadium will seat 60
000 people. Accommodating 60 000 people at one venue is a challenge,
irrespective of where it goes. It is a challenge at Burswood. It would have
been a challenge if it had been built at Subiaco. We have come up with what I
think is a very, very innovative plan to deliver a largely public transport–based
outcome. I will just quickly work through the numbers around that. In effect,
35 000 people will be moved to and from the stadium by rail. We reckon that
around 3 000 of those will come out of the stadium and go up and down the
Armadale line. About 25 000 people will leave the station and travel through
the city, either up to Joondalup, down to Mandurah or perhaps out to Fremantle.
I suppose Dockers supporters and Eagles supporters will go on the Fremantle
line.
Mr C.J. Barnett :
Eagles supporters have preference.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
We estimate about 7 000 people will cross Windan Bridge and will catch a train
at East Perth station. For the house's information, when people go to a
game at Subiaco Oval, a lot of people when they leave walk to West Leederville
station. The distance to West Leederville station is about the same as the
distance from the proposed stadium at Burswood across Windan Bridge to East
Perth station. That is the 35 000.
Buses will depart from the stadium bus station. Around 8 000
people will leave by bus from there. We estimate that about 6 000 people will
cross the footbridge into East Perth and will catch buses in Nile Street. Those
buses will distribute those people.
Mr J.N. Hyde : It
is coming out at Nile Street?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Approximately near Nile Street. Those buses will distribute people around the
CBD.
Another 9 000 pedestrians will cross at Nile Street and will
enjoy parking or access to parked cars in and around that East Perth precinct.
As I said, if we took Subiaco Oval and added another 20 000 people, we would
have all sorts of problems trying to accommodate them, especially on the rail,
given the constraints that sit around the rail reserve in that particular area.
It is an innovative plan. We think it is a good plan.
I am interested today in the opposition leader's
position about public transport at stadiums. In fact, I am interested in the
opposition leader's position in relation to where the stadium should go.
Where do you think it should go, Leader of the Opposition? He has nothing to
say!
Mr M. McGowan : Let's
have a debate about it. Do you want me to stand up?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : No, no; the Leader of the Opposition does not have to stand.
I will give the Leader of the Opposition an example of how he stands up.
Yesterday I quoted some comments from the Leader of the Opposition from Mr
McGlue's morning show. I am going to read them into Hansard . This is what we call a
masterclass in fence-sitting. I just want members to listen to what happened.
The Leader of the Opposition is asked about his position on the stadium
location. This is what he says —
Absolutely, thank you ... What I said
was that we support well what I ... I'll restate our position. We
support a stadium
We all know that, but where? The
question was where.
A member interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Where were you last week? I heard you were a bit upset.
Let us go on. A listener, Brian,
rings in. Brian says, ''All we want is a yes or no answer.'' Here
is the yes or no answer —
Thank you for your question, Brian.
Obviously my preference is for the stadium to be at Subiaco simply because you
can get a world-class stadium and save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars
That is on one side of the fence.
The Leader of the Opposition then sticks his other leg on the other side of the
fence. He says, however, that if the contract has been signed, he will probably
keep it at Burswood. Here is the position: the contracts will not be signed.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The SPEAKER : One, two, three—I
formally call you to order three times today. I reflected in this place the
other day, member for Victoria Park, that people who continually yelled across
the chamber and continually interjected would be formally called to order. That
is why I am calling you to order three times at this very moment.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : All volume, no content.
Mr McGlue then goes on to say this —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members! If the Treasurer is going to continue in this fashion, I
will sit him down. I hope you understand me. If I need to stand again,
Treasurer, I will be sitting you down. That is what I will be doing.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Let me finish by reading from the
rest of this very interesting dialogue between Mr McGlue and the Leader of the
Opposition. Mr McGlue goes on to say —
but if the contracts aren't
locked in, does that mean that you would can the stadium
''Our preference,'' he
said —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Without standing, I formally call to order the member for Warnbro
and the member for Pilbara.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I move to the nub of the point. The nub of the point is this,
Leader of the Opposition: at some stage the Leader of the Opposition has to get
off the fence and declare his hand. At some stage he has to make a choice.
There are two choices: you build it at Burswood or you build it at Subiaco. Get
off the fence and declare your hand.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I formally call you to order for the third
time. Member for West Swan, did you hear what I said to the member for Victoria
Park? Yes. I formally call you to order for the first, second and third time
today. It is unbecoming behaviour.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.