❓ Mr Trenorden questions the Minister about the withdrawal of $2 million in road funding from Wheatbelt shires, given their roads are reportedly the worst in the state. The Minister defends the decision, citing a flawed funding formula and reallocation to areas of greater need.
AnsweredQoN 50Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
The minister’s ministerial office wrote to the Shire of Wongan-Ballidu on 24 March this year advising that the withdrawal of an additional $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt north and south road groups was necessary so that the money could be used to address areas of greatest need. (1) Is the minister aware that the Western Australian Local Government Association road study reveals that wheatbelt north and south roads are the worst in the state by region? (2) What role did the minister personally play in removing the $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt regional road groups, which represent 44 shires, after Main Roads advised them in November that they had the money? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(1) Is the minister aware that the Western Australian Local Government Association road study reveals that wheatbelt north and south roads are the worst in the state by region? (2) What role did the minister personally play in removing the $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt regional road groups, which represent 44 shires, after Main Roads advised them in November that they had the money? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(2) What role did the minister personally play in removing the $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt regional road groups, which represent 44 shires, after Main Roads advised them in November that they had the money? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(1) Is the minister aware that the Western Australian Local Government Association road study reveals that wheatbelt north and south roads are the worst in the state by region? (2) What role did the minister personally play in removing the $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt regional road groups, which represent 44 shires, after Main Roads advised them in November that they had the money? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(2) What role did the minister personally play in removing the $2 million in funding from the wheatbelt regional road groups, which represent 44 shires, after Main Roads advised them in November that they had the money? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
(1)-(2) I am very appreciative that the member has asked this question because I want to set on the record what really has gone on here. I also ask National Party members from the great southern why they have sat so quietly for so long while their shires have been dealt what I consider to be somewhat of a dud hand. The government announced in November 2004 that it was going to inject an additional $23.5 million in this current financial year for the regional road groups. We recognised that we had been very tight with the budget over the past couple of years in order to manage our priorities, particularly in health. The government had done exceptionally well in managing the economy, which is booming, and it had the resources to put an additional $23.5 million into the local road task. When I made that announcement to the groups, in response to a question that came from the floor - indeed from shires in the great southern - I made it clear that the approximate $23 million would not necessarily be distributed under the formula upon which distributions had been made in the past under the state road agreement established under the previous government. This was because there was no rational basis for the distribution of those funds under that agreement. Whenever I asked what is the formula, I was always told, “It’s always been the way we’ve done it. We’ve always given this amount of money to wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south.” Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Mr M.W. Trenorden : It’s a capacity-based formula. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : It is not a capacity-based formula. The distribution has no reference to any logical indicator that anyone can locate. It is certainly not based on population, on length of road or on the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. No-one has been able to find out how the formula was started. The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the Wheatbelt North Regional Road Group and the Wheatbelt South Regional Road Group have done well under a succession of ministers who just happened to be wheat farmers. I made some very modest adjustments that still saw wheatbelt north and wheatbelt south receive a very good deal - more than was received by the great southern shires. This decision recognised the particular problems that rural shires represented by the member for Stirling were experiencing in trying to manage the increasing task of plantation timber management. I went further: I said that we are entering into a new road funding agreement; courtesy of my good friend the Treasurer, we have now locked in a 27 per cent guaranteed stream of funding for local government as the way forward. We must get a more rational formula that responds to changing needs. I am pleased to announce that a full-day forum will be held in two weeks, at which the Western Australian Local Government Association, local government representatives and various regional road groups will sit down with me and the staff of Main Roads to work through and develop a rational and plausible funding formula to go forward into the next five years.
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