❓ Question regarding the Perth City Link project and the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel. The Minister provides an update, highlighting project progress and criticising the previous Labor government's handling of the project.
AnsweredQoN 89Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PERTH CITY
LINK — GRAHAM FARMER FREEWAY TUNNEL
89. Ms E. EVANGEL to the Minister for Transport:
Before I proceed, I acknowledge the students from Servite
College in the public gallery today. They are from the Balcatta electorate, and
the member for Balcatta, Chris Hatton, is here with us.
Can the minister please update the house on two of my
electorate's key city projects, being the Perth City Link and the third
lane in the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel?
The
SPEAKER : Please sit down. I cannot hear what is going on, member for
Albany, so can you please settle down? Has the member for Perth finished her
question?
Ms E. EVANGEL : Mr
Speaker, yes.
LINK — GRAHAM FARMER FREEWAY TUNNEL
89. Ms E. EVANGEL to the Minister for Transport:
Before I proceed, I acknowledge the students from Servite
College in the public gallery today. They are from the Balcatta electorate, and
the member for Balcatta, Chris Hatton, is here with us.
Can the minister please update the house on two of my
electorate's key city projects, being the Perth City Link and the third
lane in the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel?
The
SPEAKER : Please sit down. I cannot hear what is going on, member for
Albany, so can you please settle down? Has the member for Perth finished her
question?
Ms E. EVANGEL : Mr
Speaker, yes.
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Perth for that question, and I join
her in acknowledging a group of students in the chamber today from my
electorate from MacKillop Catholic College. Welcome, and I hope you enjoy this
display of excellent behaviour!
Two incredibly important projects —
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
Mr P.B. Watson interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Member for Albany, I congratulate you on your election. We ran a hard campaign
against you and you did very well. I was interested to read your comments after
the election when you said, ''If the Labor Party is to improve, we have to
stop preselection of burnt-out union hacks.''
Mr P.B. Watson :
Not ''burnt-out''.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry—''union hacks''. Who was the member for Albany
referring to?
Mr P.B. Watson :
Joe Bullock.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Ha, ha! It was not the member for Bassendean because he told the paper the
member for Albany rang him and apologised!
The SPEAKER :
Minister!
Point of Order
Mrs
M.H. ROBERTS : My point of order is that of relevance. This answer
bears no relevance to the question asked.
The SPEAKER :
Minister, come back to the point, please.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry, Mr Speaker.
The railway lines, Mr Speaker: I was down there last Sunday —
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
The member for Kwinana has got very noisy since his puppetmaster has gotten
right behind him, has he not? He does not have to reach as far!
The SPEAKER :
Minister, please just address your question.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I was down there at the tunnel last Sunday with Gary Gray, a
federal Australian Labor Party member and minister. We were inspecting progress
on the railway lines and they are going really well. It is a fantastic project.
When members go down there, they will understand the extent to which this
project will help to transform the city. An amount of $360 million is being
spent to sink the railway lines, effectively between Perth Arena and the
railway station. In addition to that, a project will start soon to demolish and
then sink the bus station. In total, the spend on those two projects will be
$610 million; that is, $335 million from the state, $236 million from the
commonwealth and $38 million from the City of Perth. The good thing about the
project is that it will be finished on time, probably a little early, and it
will be delivered on budget. That is a fantastic outcome. It is a fantastic
achievement from this government, which is focused on delivering positive
outcomes to the people of Perth and more broadly to the people of Western
Australia.
I want to reflect very quickly on how that compares with the
approach of the former government, the Labor Party, to this same project. I
note that in June 2002, almost 11 years ago, Alannah MacTiernan and Geoff
Gallop announced that this project would go ahead. They said that it had the
potential to achieve two of the great planning outcomes that have eluded modern
governments—linking the city to the river, and linking Northbridge to
the city. Guess what, Mr Speaker? It has not eluded this government. That was
in 2002. In 2005, the same Premier announced the same project and said it would
be finished in 2010, which of course it was not. It is now well on the way to
being completed by the middle of next year. I thank the member for Perth for
the question about the third lane in the tunnel.
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
It could have been done by now.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : The member for Midland was too busy trying to work out how
much Perth Arena was going to cost. She had no idea what it was going to cost.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : I tell you what: people like it, don't they? It was
built to a standard, wasn't it?
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Built to a standard all right!
The construction of a third lane in the tunnel is a $57 million
project. When that happened —
Mr W.J. Johnston interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
They are not just planning lanes, member for Cannington.
Mr W.J. Johnston :
You haven't been through the tunnel.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
have been through the tunnel several times.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members! Right now, minister, please answer the question and do not get into
side conversations with the other side; thank you.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry, Mr Speaker, and thank you for that advice.
There are now three lanes in the tunnel. There is now an
additional lane as vehicles head north along Mitchell Freeway. That will soon
extend through to Hutton Street. It is a fantastic outcome. Of course there
were doomsayers. There were people who said it would never work. Who did they
include, Mr Speaker? The opposition transport spokesman, Ken ''Knuckles''
Travers, urged the government on 17 February —
Several members interjected.
Withdrawal of Remark
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS :
I believe the minister knows that that is not the way to reflect on a member of
the other house. I call upon him to apologise and withdraw.
The SPEAKER :
Minister.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker. On 17 February —
The SPEAKER :
Member for Warnbro, I call you for the first time.
I have taken your point of order, member for Midland.
Minister, will you please withdraw those comments refer to the member
appropriately.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Certainly; I do withdraw that.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Ken Travers was who I was referring to, and he urged the government to put the
project on hold. A couple of days later he was on the news saying, ''It's
a bad decision; the government has to rethink''; you know, ''We're
all doomed! We're all doomed, Captain Mainwaring.'' He was like
Frazer on Dad's Army —''We're
doomed''! A couple of days later the Leader of the Opposition was saying
he could not believe that we were going ahead with this project. Guess what? We
have gone ahead with it, it is finished, and every bit of feedback I get is
that it has had an incredibly positive outcome.
As I sit down I will just read—I think this is that
thing that the opposition uses a lot—Twitter. It reads —
@Perth_Traffic no delays for me at
7:45 westbound tunnel. Usually backed up to the casino, well done!
The people who use that tunnel are damn glad that we have had
the foresight to invest in it, and what you see, Mr Speaker, in those two
projects is a government that is delivering benefits for Western Australians
today and a long-term legacy for the future.
her in acknowledging a group of students in the chamber today from my
electorate from MacKillop Catholic College. Welcome, and I hope you enjoy this
display of excellent behaviour!
Two incredibly important projects —
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
Mr P.B. Watson interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Member for Albany, I congratulate you on your election. We ran a hard campaign
against you and you did very well. I was interested to read your comments after
the election when you said, ''If the Labor Party is to improve, we have to
stop preselection of burnt-out union hacks.''
Mr P.B. Watson :
Not ''burnt-out''.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry—''union hacks''. Who was the member for Albany
referring to?
Mr P.B. Watson :
Joe Bullock.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Ha, ha! It was not the member for Bassendean because he told the paper the
member for Albany rang him and apologised!
The SPEAKER :
Minister!
Point of Order
Mrs
M.H. ROBERTS : My point of order is that of relevance. This answer
bears no relevance to the question asked.
The SPEAKER :
Minister, come back to the point, please.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry, Mr Speaker.
The railway lines, Mr Speaker: I was down there last Sunday —
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
The member for Kwinana has got very noisy since his puppetmaster has gotten
right behind him, has he not? He does not have to reach as far!
The SPEAKER :
Minister, please just address your question.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I was down there at the tunnel last Sunday with Gary Gray, a
federal Australian Labor Party member and minister. We were inspecting progress
on the railway lines and they are going really well. It is a fantastic project.
When members go down there, they will understand the extent to which this
project will help to transform the city. An amount of $360 million is being
spent to sink the railway lines, effectively between Perth Arena and the
railway station. In addition to that, a project will start soon to demolish and
then sink the bus station. In total, the spend on those two projects will be
$610 million; that is, $335 million from the state, $236 million from the
commonwealth and $38 million from the City of Perth. The good thing about the
project is that it will be finished on time, probably a little early, and it
will be delivered on budget. That is a fantastic outcome. It is a fantastic
achievement from this government, which is focused on delivering positive
outcomes to the people of Perth and more broadly to the people of Western
Australia.
I want to reflect very quickly on how that compares with the
approach of the former government, the Labor Party, to this same project. I
note that in June 2002, almost 11 years ago, Alannah MacTiernan and Geoff
Gallop announced that this project would go ahead. They said that it had the
potential to achieve two of the great planning outcomes that have eluded modern
governments—linking the city to the river, and linking Northbridge to
the city. Guess what, Mr Speaker? It has not eluded this government. That was
in 2002. In 2005, the same Premier announced the same project and said it would
be finished in 2010, which of course it was not. It is now well on the way to
being completed by the middle of next year. I thank the member for Perth for
the question about the third lane in the tunnel.
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
It could have been done by now.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : The member for Midland was too busy trying to work out how
much Perth Arena was going to cost. She had no idea what it was going to cost.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : I tell you what: people like it, don't they? It was
built to a standard, wasn't it?
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Built to a standard all right!
The construction of a third lane in the tunnel is a $57 million
project. When that happened —
Mr W.J. Johnston interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
They are not just planning lanes, member for Cannington.
Mr W.J. Johnston :
You haven't been through the tunnel.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
have been through the tunnel several times.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members! Right now, minister, please answer the question and do not get into
side conversations with the other side; thank you.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
am sorry, Mr Speaker, and thank you for that advice.
There are now three lanes in the tunnel. There is now an
additional lane as vehicles head north along Mitchell Freeway. That will soon
extend through to Hutton Street. It is a fantastic outcome. Of course there
were doomsayers. There were people who said it would never work. Who did they
include, Mr Speaker? The opposition transport spokesman, Ken ''Knuckles''
Travers, urged the government on 17 February —
Several members interjected.
Withdrawal of Remark
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS :
I believe the minister knows that that is not the way to reflect on a member of
the other house. I call upon him to apologise and withdraw.
The SPEAKER :
Minister.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker. On 17 February —
The SPEAKER :
Member for Warnbro, I call you for the first time.
I have taken your point of order, member for Midland.
Minister, will you please withdraw those comments refer to the member
appropriately.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Certainly; I do withdraw that.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Ken Travers was who I was referring to, and he urged the government to put the
project on hold. A couple of days later he was on the news saying, ''It's
a bad decision; the government has to rethink''; you know, ''We're
all doomed! We're all doomed, Captain Mainwaring.'' He was like
Frazer on Dad's Army —''We're
doomed''! A couple of days later the Leader of the Opposition was saying
he could not believe that we were going ahead with this project. Guess what? We
have gone ahead with it, it is finished, and every bit of feedback I get is
that it has had an incredibly positive outcome.
As I sit down I will just read—I think this is that
thing that the opposition uses a lot—Twitter. It reads —
@Perth_Traffic no delays for me at
7:45 westbound tunnel. Usually backed up to the casino, well done!
The people who use that tunnel are damn glad that we have had
the foresight to invest in it, and what you see, Mr Speaker, in those two
projects is a government that is delivering benefits for Western Australians
today and a long-term legacy for the future.
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.