❓ Minister MacTiernan strongly criticises the idea of privatising Perth's passenger rail network, citing failures in WA and Victoria, and affirms the government's commitment to public transport.
AnsweredQoN 350Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PASSENGER RAIL NETWORK PRIVATISATION
Mike Nahan, the Liberal Party policy adviser, has recommended that Western Australia follow the Kennett government example and privatise Perth’s passenger rail network. Can the minister please advise the house whether privatisation of rail in Victoria and Western Australia has been successful? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
Mike Nahan, the Liberal Party policy adviser, has recommended that Western Australia follow the Kennett government example and privatise Perth’s passenger rail network. Can the minister please advise the house whether privatisation of rail in Victoria and Western Australia has been successful? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. Mr Mike Nahan, who is engaged by the Liberal Party to provide policy direction, really does come out with some pretty extraordinary stuff! Recently, he came out with a report on public transport matters, and in true economic-fundamentalist style said that we should go down the path of Victoria and privatise the metropolitan rail system. We were pretty amazed at that, first of all because Western Australia has seen the most extraordinary example of a failed privatisation of our rail system. That privatisation, which took place in the dying days of the Court government, left the taxpayers with a debt of some $300 million. The rail network was then on-sold for a profit of some $400 million. The taxpayers of Western Australia are now being asked to contribute $400 million to a rail rescue package, otherwise we will lose 1 000 kilometres of our country rail network. That is the history of the privatisation of rail in Western Australia. It has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. The situation in Victoria is even worse. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. Mr Mike Nahan, who is engaged by the Liberal Party to provide policy direction, really does come out with some pretty extraordinary stuff! Recently, he came out with a report on public transport matters, and in true economic-fundamentalist style said that we should go down the path of Victoria and privatise the metropolitan rail system. We were pretty amazed at that, first of all because Western Australia has seen the most extraordinary example of a failed privatisation of our rail system. That privatisation, which took place in the dying days of the Court government, left the taxpayers with a debt of some $300 million. The rail network was then on-sold for a profit of some $400 million. The taxpayers of Western Australia are now being asked to contribute $400 million to a rail rescue package, otherwise we will lose 1 000 kilometres of our country rail network. That is the history of the privatisation of rail in Western Australia. It has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. The situation in Victoria is even worse. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
I thank the member for the question. Mr Mike Nahan, who is engaged by the Liberal Party to provide policy direction, really does come out with some pretty extraordinary stuff! Recently, he came out with a report on public transport matters, and in true economic-fundamentalist style said that we should go down the path of Victoria and privatise the metropolitan rail system. We were pretty amazed at that, first of all because Western Australia has seen the most extraordinary example of a failed privatisation of our rail system. That privatisation, which took place in the dying days of the Court government, left the taxpayers with a debt of some $300 million. The rail network was then on-sold for a profit of some $400 million. The taxpayers of Western Australia are now being asked to contribute $400 million to a rail rescue package, otherwise we will lose 1 000 kilometres of our country rail network. That is the history of the privatisation of rail in Western Australia. It has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. The situation in Victoria is even worse. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. Mr Mike Nahan, who is engaged by the Liberal Party to provide policy direction, really does come out with some pretty extraordinary stuff! Recently, he came out with a report on public transport matters, and in true economic-fundamentalist style said that we should go down the path of Victoria and privatise the metropolitan rail system. We were pretty amazed at that, first of all because Western Australia has seen the most extraordinary example of a failed privatisation of our rail system. That privatisation, which took place in the dying days of the Court government, left the taxpayers with a debt of some $300 million. The rail network was then on-sold for a profit of some $400 million. The taxpayers of Western Australia are now being asked to contribute $400 million to a rail rescue package, otherwise we will lose 1 000 kilometres of our country rail network. That is the history of the privatisation of rail in Western Australia. It has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. The situation in Victoria is even worse. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
I thank the member for the question. Mr Mike Nahan, who is engaged by the Liberal Party to provide policy direction, really does come out with some pretty extraordinary stuff! Recently, he came out with a report on public transport matters, and in true economic-fundamentalist style said that we should go down the path of Victoria and privatise the metropolitan rail system. We were pretty amazed at that, first of all because Western Australia has seen the most extraordinary example of a failed privatisation of our rail system. That privatisation, which took place in the dying days of the Court government, left the taxpayers with a debt of some $300 million. The rail network was then on-sold for a profit of some $400 million. The taxpayers of Western Australia are now being asked to contribute $400 million to a rail rescue package, otherwise we will lose 1 000 kilometres of our country rail network. That is the history of the privatisation of rail in Western Australia. It has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. The situation in Victoria is even worse. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
The SPEAKER : Order! I call the member for Vasse to order for the second time. The minister. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : This year, the Bracks government in Victoria had to buy back the country rail system, which had been privatised, because it simply was not performing. The privatisation of Victoria’s metropolitan rail and tram system was even worse. To quote from Kenneth Davidson of The Age - So what has Victoria got for its privatisation of the “Met”? The short answer is nothing except an additional $40 million annual bill to taxpayers for operating Melbourne’s public transport system above and beyond what it would have cost if it had been kept as a public monopoly run by the PTC. He went on to say - . . . instead of saving $161 million a year as claimed when the privatisation was announced, the Government had already conceded in May it will have to stump up an extra $200 million a year over the next five years to maintain the franchise system. The Victorian Public Transport Users Association has pointed out that the privatisation has done untold damage to the integration of the operations, and that the subsidies that are paid to the private train and tram operators are around 50 per cent higher than those that were paid to the public provider to run the same services. Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
Western Australia has a fantastic public transport system. Public transport usage in Perth is increasing by around five per cent per annum. We are not going to privatise our public transport system. We are very keen to get a response from the opposition as to whether it will be following Mike Nahan down another conservative burrow.
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