❓ Question regarding government's plans to address transport and public transport issues around Perth, followed by a detailed response outlining government investment and a critique of the opposition's transport spending proposals.
AnsweredQoN 48Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TRANSPORT — PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
48. Mr J.M. FRANCIS to the Minister for Transport:
Perhaps on behalf of everyone, I wish Oliver Peterson from the
ABC a happy birthday today.
Several members interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The minister recently took the time to visit my electorate of Jandakot and
address some of the issues affecting my electorate and also around Cockburn
Central. In particular, we looked at the 470 new parking bays going into
Cockburn Central and the expansion of the Kwinana Freeway south. Given that,
could the minister please explain to the house what else the government is
doing to address transport and public transport issues around Perth?
48. Mr J.M. FRANCIS to the Minister for Transport:
Perhaps on behalf of everyone, I wish Oliver Peterson from the
ABC a happy birthday today.
Several members interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The minister recently took the time to visit my electorate of Jandakot and
address some of the issues affecting my electorate and also around Cockburn
Central. In particular, we looked at the 470 new parking bays going into
Cockburn Central and the expansion of the Kwinana Freeway south. Given that,
could the minister please explain to the house what else the government is
doing to address transport and public transport issues around Perth?
AnswerView source ↗
Thank you, member for Jandakot; and thank you for your
hospitality. The member is right; we were out at Cockburn Central—where
the member for Cockburn's office is and we can show him how to get
there one day—looking at the 470 new bays that are now underway. We
went down onto the freeway and in a death-defying act the member was able to
manoeuvre between the concrete barriers so that we could park moderately safely
and have a look at the new lane on the freeway. But it got me thinking about
the size of the government's investment in public transport and roads.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Thank
you, members!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
What I uncovered in answer to the member for Jandakot's question was
that every year the government subsidises public transport—that is,
tops up the amount paid in fares so that the public transport system can
continue to operate—to an amount of $735 million. That is this year's
figure. Over four years, that is $2.95 billion. Capital spending on public
transport over the next four years is $1.4 billion. That is $2.95 billion in
subsidy and $1.4 billion in capital. Main Roads Western Australia anticipates that
over the next four years it will spend $2.2 billion on asset investment—that
is, on things such as the widening of the freeway. It will also spend $2.3 billion
over the next four years on the maintenance of roads in the metropolitan area
and around the state.
As I looked at the sheer quantum of those numbers, I was
reflecting on a couple of comments and announcements made last week. I
reflected on the Leader of the Opposition's speech in response to the
Premier's Statement and there were two things I noted from that.
Firstly, I have never seen the word ''I'' used more in one speech
in this place, which is perhaps an interesting reflection on the member for
Rockingham. Have a look—with the number of things the member claims
credit for, I would not be surprised if there was a team of workers on
scaffolding trying to carve his head into the side of Mt Augustus! But, anyway,
we will move on. The second was —
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
It may not be big enough!
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
We could always bring in some fill; that is a very, very good point, member for
Eyre.
The second one was that the Leader of the Opposition
criticised the government for the levels of debt that we face. The second thing
I noticed last week was this: I was watching a commercial news station, Channel
Seven, on 22 February, and the opposition's shadow Minister for
Transport was out there. He said in one of his normally well-thought-out sound bites,
''What we should be doing in this state is spending four times as much
on public transport and—oh—twice as much on roads.''
Four times as much on public transport and twice as much on roads! Now, I
thought —
Mr C.C. Porter : He
didn't really say that.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
He did say it, Treasurer; he did.
I thought that that was an easy throwaway line, but in light
of the Leader of the Opposition's commitment to fiscal responsibility,
I thought I would just work out how much that would cost—and he said
that it had to be over four years. Twice as much on roads over four years,
Leader of the Opposition, would cost $4.5 billion; four times as much on public
transport would cost only $13 billion. So in his one throwaway line, he has
added $17.5 billion to state debt.
Mr C.C. Porter :
The shadow minister for debt!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
do not know. There are only three reasons he would say it. First, the
opposition intends to cut maybe the education and the health budgets to pay for
it; I do not know.
Mr C.C. Porter :
All of it.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
All of it. Secondly, he is wrong and the Leader of the Opposition's
views on fiscal responsibility reign supreme; and, if that is the case, I am
expecting that the Leader of the Opposition would indicate such; or the third
one is that the shadow minister does not really care what the Leader of the
Opposition says and he is prepared to say what he will. As I was reflecting
further, as one does occasionally, on some of his comments in relation to
transport and infrastructure planning in Western Australia, I concluded that they
are not always what one would call gems of wisdom. We have had his $10 million
plan to paint taxis gold; we have had his miracle plan—I have showed
this before—to put a railway line from Bunbury to Merredin, loosely
following the 200-mile-wide arrow; we have had his brilliant plan—this
is the ''noodle nation'' plan—for the rail network in
Perth, which, if he has his way, will see a heavy train pass every front door
in the Perth suburbs. No wonder he is the shadow minister for suburbs!
So I thought I would help him out, Leader of the Opposition;
I will leave this blueprint that I am holding for the Leader of the Opposition
to take to him. As he next battles with the major problems in transport
planning, I have a blueprint for the Labor Party election strategy on transport
planning. We bought it down at the early learning centre. We made sure tractors
were on it to keep our country cousins in the National Party happy. So I will
leave this blueprint for the shadow Minister for Transport. It is not a
laughing matter, because what he has effectively done is commit the opposition
to increase state debt by $17.5 billion by doubling spending on roads and
increasing spending on public transport by a factor of four. It is easy to make
throwaway lines, but as the opposition heads towards the election, it starts to
cost money.
hospitality. The member is right; we were out at Cockburn Central—where
the member for Cockburn's office is and we can show him how to get
there one day—looking at the 470 new bays that are now underway. We
went down onto the freeway and in a death-defying act the member was able to
manoeuvre between the concrete barriers so that we could park moderately safely
and have a look at the new lane on the freeway. But it got me thinking about
the size of the government's investment in public transport and roads.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Thank
you, members!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
What I uncovered in answer to the member for Jandakot's question was
that every year the government subsidises public transport—that is,
tops up the amount paid in fares so that the public transport system can
continue to operate—to an amount of $735 million. That is this year's
figure. Over four years, that is $2.95 billion. Capital spending on public
transport over the next four years is $1.4 billion. That is $2.95 billion in
subsidy and $1.4 billion in capital. Main Roads Western Australia anticipates that
over the next four years it will spend $2.2 billion on asset investment—that
is, on things such as the widening of the freeway. It will also spend $2.3 billion
over the next four years on the maintenance of roads in the metropolitan area
and around the state.
As I looked at the sheer quantum of those numbers, I was
reflecting on a couple of comments and announcements made last week. I
reflected on the Leader of the Opposition's speech in response to the
Premier's Statement and there were two things I noted from that.
Firstly, I have never seen the word ''I'' used more in one speech
in this place, which is perhaps an interesting reflection on the member for
Rockingham. Have a look—with the number of things the member claims
credit for, I would not be surprised if there was a team of workers on
scaffolding trying to carve his head into the side of Mt Augustus! But, anyway,
we will move on. The second was —
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
It may not be big enough!
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
We could always bring in some fill; that is a very, very good point, member for
Eyre.
The second one was that the Leader of the Opposition
criticised the government for the levels of debt that we face. The second thing
I noticed last week was this: I was watching a commercial news station, Channel
Seven, on 22 February, and the opposition's shadow Minister for
Transport was out there. He said in one of his normally well-thought-out sound bites,
''What we should be doing in this state is spending four times as much
on public transport and—oh—twice as much on roads.''
Four times as much on public transport and twice as much on roads! Now, I
thought —
Mr C.C. Porter : He
didn't really say that.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
He did say it, Treasurer; he did.
I thought that that was an easy throwaway line, but in light
of the Leader of the Opposition's commitment to fiscal responsibility,
I thought I would just work out how much that would cost—and he said
that it had to be over four years. Twice as much on roads over four years,
Leader of the Opposition, would cost $4.5 billion; four times as much on public
transport would cost only $13 billion. So in his one throwaway line, he has
added $17.5 billion to state debt.
Mr C.C. Porter :
The shadow minister for debt!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
do not know. There are only three reasons he would say it. First, the
opposition intends to cut maybe the education and the health budgets to pay for
it; I do not know.
Mr C.C. Porter :
All of it.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
All of it. Secondly, he is wrong and the Leader of the Opposition's
views on fiscal responsibility reign supreme; and, if that is the case, I am
expecting that the Leader of the Opposition would indicate such; or the third
one is that the shadow minister does not really care what the Leader of the
Opposition says and he is prepared to say what he will. As I was reflecting
further, as one does occasionally, on some of his comments in relation to
transport and infrastructure planning in Western Australia, I concluded that they
are not always what one would call gems of wisdom. We have had his $10 million
plan to paint taxis gold; we have had his miracle plan—I have showed
this before—to put a railway line from Bunbury to Merredin, loosely
following the 200-mile-wide arrow; we have had his brilliant plan—this
is the ''noodle nation'' plan—for the rail network in
Perth, which, if he has his way, will see a heavy train pass every front door
in the Perth suburbs. No wonder he is the shadow minister for suburbs!
So I thought I would help him out, Leader of the Opposition;
I will leave this blueprint that I am holding for the Leader of the Opposition
to take to him. As he next battles with the major problems in transport
planning, I have a blueprint for the Labor Party election strategy on transport
planning. We bought it down at the early learning centre. We made sure tractors
were on it to keep our country cousins in the National Party happy. So I will
leave this blueprint for the shadow Minister for Transport. It is not a
laughing matter, because what he has effectively done is commit the opposition
to increase state debt by $17.5 billion by doubling spending on roads and
increasing spending on public transport by a factor of four. It is easy to make
throwaway lines, but as the opposition heads towards the election, it starts to
cost money.
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