❓ Mr Alban asks about safety upgrades to the Great Northern Highway. Minister Buswell details a $40 million upgrade plan for the Bindi Bindi bends section, but funding approval from the federal government is pending.
AnsweredQoN 664Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GREAT NORTHERN HIGHWAY — UPGRADES
664. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the Minister for Transport:
As the minister is aware, Great
Northern Highway runs through my electorate of Swan Hills and carries thousands
of vehicles from Perth to the Pilbara. I am aware that some sections of this
highway are in urgent need of safety upgrades. Can the minister please advise
the house on any impediments to delivering these upgrades?
664. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the Minister for Transport:
As the minister is aware, Great
Northern Highway runs through my electorate of Swan Hills and carries thousands
of vehicles from Perth to the Pilbara. I am aware that some sections of this
highway are in urgent need of safety upgrades. Can the minister please advise
the house on any impediments to delivering these upgrades?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Swan Hills
very much. I can, and I will.
As Mr Speaker is aware, because I
think it passes through a large part of his electorate, Great Northern Highway
is probably one of the great heavy haulage arterial routes in Australia.
Members only have to sit on the corner of Reid Highway and Great Northern
Highway, as I and the member for West Swan have done —
Ms
R. Saffioti interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Member for Swan Hills! I think I might sit down now—I
sense my career is over again!
If people do that they will watch
truck after truck after truck after truck head north to Newman, and on to Port
Hedland. There are some incredibly challenging sections of road, particularly
between Perth and Dalwallinu. A lot of money has been spent over recent years
upgrading some significant sections of that piece of road, but there is one
section in particular that Mr Speaker would be abundantly familiar with. It is
the section north of the Bindi Bindi siding—the Bindi Bindi wheat bin—and
I think it is about a 10 or 15-kilometre section. It is known as the Bindi
Bindi bends. I drove through there one Thursday evening in late June and it is
a very, very challenging piece of road indeed.
I am not the only person with that
view. I will read a comment taken from the Transport Workers Union website,
which states —
On
Monday 21 November 2011 we saw a perfect example of why the Bindi Bindi bends
section of the Great Northern Highway is in desperate need of upgrading.
A truck had rolled over. The article
further states —
The Federal Government needs to
appreciate how dangerous this section of
road is and how desperately much of the Great Northern Highway needs to be
upgraded before there are other more serious accidents.
And it goes on and on and on.
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Because the state government will not take responsibility
for it! Because the state government won't fund the —
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : We will get to that! I thank the member for Cannington! As
usual, right on time!
The state does have a plan, member for Cannington, and I will
table it so the member can have a look at it. The state has developed a $40 million
plan to upgrade the Bindi Bindi bends section of Great Northern Highway. It is
a $40 million plan that will effectively —
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : It will
effectively replace those bends and make that road much safer for not only
heavy vehicles, but all users.
Bindi Bindi is on Great Northern
Highway, which is on the national highway network. The traditional funding
model for the national highway network is that the state contributes 20 per
cent and the commonwealth contributes 80 per cent. The fact of the matter is
that there is unallocated money in the current pool of money that has been
allocated to Western Australia by the commonwealth and the state—unallocated
NB1 money because of some underspends in some areas—that is available
to upgrade this road. I wrote to the federal minister Anthony Albanese. I wrote
to him in June and I wrote to him again in July, seeking his approval to
allocate that $40 million of funds to this particular project. We were advised
at officer level—commonwealth bureaucrat to state bureaucrat—that
there would not be a problem with that. We were advised at officer level that
that approval letter was on his desk for sign off, so that we could get on —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : When was that advice given?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It would have been after the letter in June and probably
after the letter in July—June–July, July, September, August.
So, we were advised that the funding
was available to do the much-needed road upgrade to the Bindi Bindi section. Do
you know what, Mr Speaker? The money has never been approved.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : Have you raised it with him?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I most certainly have raised it with him!
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : When did you raise it with him?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : We have been trying to ring his office for about eight weeks!
I raised it with him in phone calls back in June. I raised it with him in two letters
in June and July —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : And when since?
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I have tried to call him since but he does a funny thing; he
does not call back! Member for Victoria Park, he does not —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Member for Victoria Park, I am happy for you to come in this
place and defend Anthony Albanese any day of the week and you can hide behind
this new Labor logo —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members might be interested to know that I am interested in the
answer to this question and I am not interested in interjections.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : So, he refuses to approve the funding. Subsequent to that, I received
—
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : This should worry the member for Albany, too, because we will
be chasing money out of this pool to do the road around Albany—the two stages
of the outer bypass in Albany. State and commonwealth money will deliver that
outcome, as we have already committed.
I was surprised to receive a letter
from Hon Anthony Albanese in September.
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Elizabeth Quay is 10 times more expensive.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Every time the member opens his mouth, I understand why he
got left in the back of the HiAce at the last election campaign—every
single time!
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Elizabeth Quay is 10 times more —
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, I formally call you to order for the
second time today. You might have missed me calling you to order for the first
time; this is the second time I am formally calling you to order. If you have
questions about Elizabeth Quay, there might be somebody else you want to ask
that question of.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It should be of interest to the member: Great Northern
Highway goes past the place the member for Cannington wants to build his new
airport!
So, what Anthony Albanese has
effectively said in this letter, crystallised in writing, is that he has
confirmed the reason that he will not sign off on that money coming to Western
Australia; that is, when he went on to our website,
www.getthebiggerpicture.com, he discovered that his logo was not on there. It
is a great Labor irony: the state opposition does not want us to have the website
and the federal government wants to be on the website! Little wonder I lose
sleep at night! But I move on. So, he is saying to us, ''Our logo is not
on that website; therefore, you're not getting that money.'' Do
you know what, Mr Speaker? There are eight projects on that website. There are
three that have federal government money attached to them. When people tap into
those three—that is, the light rail project, the Gateway WA project and
the Perth City Link project—there are very clear linkages to the project-specific
websites. When people click on those, the commonwealth government gets ample
recognition. So here we have, for no reason other than petty pathetic politics,
a federal government —
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Do members opposite support it or not?
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Do members opposite support the federal government or not?
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Fair enough; but what we have is a federal government that refuses to
contribute to fund roads in regional Western Australia. We want those roads
upgraded. We want to build them —
Several members interjected.
Mr F.M. Logan : It
sounds like the Howard government!
The SPEAKER : It
sounds like me calling you to order for the first time today, member for
Cockburn. Member for Victoria Park, I know you can make contributions in other
ways and I would prefer you did. I formally call you to order for the first
time today.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I want to conclude with this observation. There is a pool of
unallocated money that has already been funded by the federal and state
governments. It is sitting there. We are saying to Anthony Albanese that we do
not want new money; we want him to pick up his pen and sign the bottom of the
letter which gives this state and the commonwealth the permission to access
that money to fix that piece of road.
very much. I can, and I will.
As Mr Speaker is aware, because I
think it passes through a large part of his electorate, Great Northern Highway
is probably one of the great heavy haulage arterial routes in Australia.
Members only have to sit on the corner of Reid Highway and Great Northern
Highway, as I and the member for West Swan have done —
Ms
R. Saffioti interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Member for Swan Hills! I think I might sit down now—I
sense my career is over again!
If people do that they will watch
truck after truck after truck after truck head north to Newman, and on to Port
Hedland. There are some incredibly challenging sections of road, particularly
between Perth and Dalwallinu. A lot of money has been spent over recent years
upgrading some significant sections of that piece of road, but there is one
section in particular that Mr Speaker would be abundantly familiar with. It is
the section north of the Bindi Bindi siding—the Bindi Bindi wheat bin—and
I think it is about a 10 or 15-kilometre section. It is known as the Bindi
Bindi bends. I drove through there one Thursday evening in late June and it is
a very, very challenging piece of road indeed.
I am not the only person with that
view. I will read a comment taken from the Transport Workers Union website,
which states —
On
Monday 21 November 2011 we saw a perfect example of why the Bindi Bindi bends
section of the Great Northern Highway is in desperate need of upgrading.
A truck had rolled over. The article
further states —
The Federal Government needs to
appreciate how dangerous this section of
road is and how desperately much of the Great Northern Highway needs to be
upgraded before there are other more serious accidents.
And it goes on and on and on.
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Because the state government will not take responsibility
for it! Because the state government won't fund the —
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : We will get to that! I thank the member for Cannington! As
usual, right on time!
The state does have a plan, member for Cannington, and I will
table it so the member can have a look at it. The state has developed a $40 million
plan to upgrade the Bindi Bindi bends section of Great Northern Highway. It is
a $40 million plan that will effectively —
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington!
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : It will
effectively replace those bends and make that road much safer for not only
heavy vehicles, but all users.
Bindi Bindi is on Great Northern
Highway, which is on the national highway network. The traditional funding
model for the national highway network is that the state contributes 20 per
cent and the commonwealth contributes 80 per cent. The fact of the matter is
that there is unallocated money in the current pool of money that has been
allocated to Western Australia by the commonwealth and the state—unallocated
NB1 money because of some underspends in some areas—that is available
to upgrade this road. I wrote to the federal minister Anthony Albanese. I wrote
to him in June and I wrote to him again in July, seeking his approval to
allocate that $40 million of funds to this particular project. We were advised
at officer level—commonwealth bureaucrat to state bureaucrat—that
there would not be a problem with that. We were advised at officer level that
that approval letter was on his desk for sign off, so that we could get on —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : When was that advice given?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It would have been after the letter in June and probably
after the letter in July—June–July, July, September, August.
So, we were advised that the funding
was available to do the much-needed road upgrade to the Bindi Bindi section. Do
you know what, Mr Speaker? The money has never been approved.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : Have you raised it with him?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I most certainly have raised it with him!
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : When did you raise it with him?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : We have been trying to ring his office for about eight weeks!
I raised it with him in phone calls back in June. I raised it with him in two letters
in June and July —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : And when since?
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I have tried to call him since but he does a funny thing; he
does not call back! Member for Victoria Park, he does not —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Member for Victoria Park, I am happy for you to come in this
place and defend Anthony Albanese any day of the week and you can hide behind
this new Labor logo —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members might be interested to know that I am interested in the
answer to this question and I am not interested in interjections.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : So, he refuses to approve the funding. Subsequent to that, I received
—
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : This should worry the member for Albany, too, because we will
be chasing money out of this pool to do the road around Albany—the two stages
of the outer bypass in Albany. State and commonwealth money will deliver that
outcome, as we have already committed.
I was surprised to receive a letter
from Hon Anthony Albanese in September.
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Elizabeth Quay is 10 times more expensive.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Every time the member opens his mouth, I understand why he
got left in the back of the HiAce at the last election campaign—every
single time!
Mr
W.J. Johnston : Elizabeth Quay is 10 times more —
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, I formally call you to order for the
second time today. You might have missed me calling you to order for the first
time; this is the second time I am formally calling you to order. If you have
questions about Elizabeth Quay, there might be somebody else you want to ask
that question of.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It should be of interest to the member: Great Northern
Highway goes past the place the member for Cannington wants to build his new
airport!
So, what Anthony Albanese has
effectively said in this letter, crystallised in writing, is that he has
confirmed the reason that he will not sign off on that money coming to Western
Australia; that is, when he went on to our website,
www.getthebiggerpicture.com, he discovered that his logo was not on there. It
is a great Labor irony: the state opposition does not want us to have the website
and the federal government wants to be on the website! Little wonder I lose
sleep at night! But I move on. So, he is saying to us, ''Our logo is not
on that website; therefore, you're not getting that money.'' Do
you know what, Mr Speaker? There are eight projects on that website. There are
three that have federal government money attached to them. When people tap into
those three—that is, the light rail project, the Gateway WA project and
the Perth City Link project—there are very clear linkages to the project-specific
websites. When people click on those, the commonwealth government gets ample
recognition. So here we have, for no reason other than petty pathetic politics,
a federal government —
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Do members opposite support it or not?
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Do members opposite support the federal government or not?
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Fair enough; but what we have is a federal government that refuses to
contribute to fund roads in regional Western Australia. We want those roads
upgraded. We want to build them —
Several members interjected.
Mr F.M. Logan : It
sounds like the Howard government!
The SPEAKER : It
sounds like me calling you to order for the first time today, member for
Cockburn. Member for Victoria Park, I know you can make contributions in other
ways and I would prefer you did. I formally call you to order for the first
time today.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I want to conclude with this observation. There is a pool of
unallocated money that has already been funded by the federal and state
governments. It is sitting there. We are saying to Anthony Albanese that we do
not want new money; we want him to pick up his pen and sign the bottom of the
letter which gives this state and the commonwealth the permission to access
that money to fix that piece of road.
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