❓ Ms. Kent asks about community and national responses to the government's decision to negotiate control of WA's freight network and the reasons behind the decision. The Minister's response defends the decision by attacking the previous Liberal-National government's privatisation of the rail network.
AnsweredQoN 80Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Rail infrastructure—Freight
80 . Ms Ali Kent to the
Minister for Transport:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's decision to enter negotiations to secure control of WA's
freight network.
(1) Can the minister update the house on the
responses to this decision both in the WA community and nationally?
(2) Can the minister advise the house why the
government made the decision to enter into these negotiations?
80 . Ms Ali Kent to the
Minister for Transport:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's decision to enter negotiations to secure control of WA's
freight network.
(1) Can the minister update the house on the
responses to this decision both in the WA community and nationally?
(2) Can the minister advise the house why the
government made the decision to enter into these negotiations?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) Thank you for that question.
Hopefully the Leader of the National Party will come back, because we know that
the Leader of the National Party is very interested in this matter now. He
opposes the buyback of the rail line, can members believe! The Nationals WA
oppose putting more freight on rail, but we will get back to that in a minute.
Of course, the freight rail
network was privatised under the Liberal–National government back in
the year 2000. It has been described as the worse privatisation in history.
Mr Shane Love: By you—nobody else has
described it that way. What about the way you have mismanaged that situation
for many years?
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party!
Ms Rita Saffioti: I will quote Max Trenorden and Phil Gardiner,
members. I quote the Countryman article of 10
April, titled "Former Nationals MPs welcome WA Labor's decision to explore
taking on WA's grain freight network".
Mrs Jessica
Stojkovski: So not just by you!
Ms Rita Saffioti: Not just Labor—by basically
all of industry, former National Party members and key figures, basically
everyone apart from the Nationals WA and the Liberal Party, which want to stick
to that failed privatisation from the year 2000. I quote the article:
As former MPs, we welcome the decision
by the WA Labor to reopen discussions on the future of the grain freight
network …
The article goes on:
The history surrounding Liberal and
National governments' … sale of Westrail, the State's regional
passenger and freight network could only be described as gross commercial
incompetence, financial ineptitude and, regrettably, personal, petty point
scoring.
This is the National
Party itself describing the failed privatisation. All those in regional WA know
the consequences. We have not been able to move more freight onto rail. We saw
the Liberal–National government close tier 3 lines. What—I am
sorry? It was the worst privatisation. As a result, we are very keen to bring
it back into government hands, because we want to make sure that we can get
more freight on rail, more competitive pricing, particularly for our container
trade, to reduce the cost pressures on our packaged goods, and make sure we reduce
the number of trucks on our regional roads and improve road safety. I was very
pleased to see that the Albanese government will back WA Labor's plan by
engaging with the Australian Rail Track Corporation to make sure it can be part
of what will probably be one of the most comprehensive packages of regional support
in the state's history.
I know that the Nationals WA are embarrassed, and I have
found quite interesting the level activity from the Leader of the Nationals WA.
He wants to be party to the discussions between the state government and Arc
Infrastructure. He wants to echo what—
Mr Shane Love interjected.
Ms Rita Saffioti: The National Party that was basically
directly engaged in the worst privatisation in the state's history now wants to
be involved in the buyback. We could not jeopardise that with those guys! They
wrecked the state.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party!
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party! I am going to call you.
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker : Members!
Ms Rita Saffioti: The member for Central Wheatbelt
came into this chamber and said that the issue of trucks on roads was
particularly evident in Central Wheatbelt, where freight should be moved by
rail instead of burdening regional roads. Who knew?
The Speaker : If you
could start to wrap up, minister, that would be great.
Ms Rita Saffioti: They privatised it and now the
Leader of the National Party wants to be involved; he wants to be part of the
negotiating team. As if we would risk something that important with the Leader
of the National Party who wrecked the state's freight network by privatising it
and now wants to wreck our process to get it back into public hands.
Hopefully the Leader of the National Party will come back, because we know that
the Leader of the National Party is very interested in this matter now. He
opposes the buyback of the rail line, can members believe! The Nationals WA
oppose putting more freight on rail, but we will get back to that in a minute.
Of course, the freight rail
network was privatised under the Liberal–National government back in
the year 2000. It has been described as the worse privatisation in history.
Mr Shane Love: By you—nobody else has
described it that way. What about the way you have mismanaged that situation
for many years?
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party!
Ms Rita Saffioti: I will quote Max Trenorden and Phil Gardiner,
members. I quote the Countryman article of 10
April, titled "Former Nationals MPs welcome WA Labor's decision to explore
taking on WA's grain freight network".
Mrs Jessica
Stojkovski: So not just by you!
Ms Rita Saffioti: Not just Labor—by basically
all of industry, former National Party members and key figures, basically
everyone apart from the Nationals WA and the Liberal Party, which want to stick
to that failed privatisation from the year 2000. I quote the article:
As former MPs, we welcome the decision
by the WA Labor to reopen discussions on the future of the grain freight
network …
The article goes on:
The history surrounding Liberal and
National governments' … sale of Westrail, the State's regional
passenger and freight network could only be described as gross commercial
incompetence, financial ineptitude and, regrettably, personal, petty point
scoring.
This is the National
Party itself describing the failed privatisation. All those in regional WA know
the consequences. We have not been able to move more freight onto rail. We saw
the Liberal–National government close tier 3 lines. What—I am
sorry? It was the worst privatisation. As a result, we are very keen to bring
it back into government hands, because we want to make sure that we can get
more freight on rail, more competitive pricing, particularly for our container
trade, to reduce the cost pressures on our packaged goods, and make sure we reduce
the number of trucks on our regional roads and improve road safety. I was very
pleased to see that the Albanese government will back WA Labor's plan by
engaging with the Australian Rail Track Corporation to make sure it can be part
of what will probably be one of the most comprehensive packages of regional support
in the state's history.
I know that the Nationals WA are embarrassed, and I have
found quite interesting the level activity from the Leader of the Nationals WA.
He wants to be party to the discussions between the state government and Arc
Infrastructure. He wants to echo what—
Mr Shane Love interjected.
Ms Rita Saffioti: The National Party that was basically
directly engaged in the worst privatisation in the state's history now wants to
be involved in the buyback. We could not jeopardise that with those guys! They
wrecked the state.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party!
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker : Leader of
the National Party! I am going to call you.
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker : Members!
Ms Rita Saffioti: The member for Central Wheatbelt
came into this chamber and said that the issue of trucks on roads was
particularly evident in Central Wheatbelt, where freight should be moved by
rail instead of burdening regional roads. Who knew?
The Speaker : If you
could start to wrap up, minister, that would be great.
Ms Rita Saffioti: They privatised it and now the
Leader of the National Party wants to be involved; he wants to be part of the
negotiating team. As if we would risk something that important with the Leader
of the National Party who wrecked the state's freight network by privatising it
and now wants to wreck our process to get it back into public hands.
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