❓ Question regarding the Manjimup railway line and the broken promises made during the privatisation of Westrail by the previous government. The Minister accuses the member for Warren-Blackwood of being a strong supporter of the privatisation, which failed to deliver any benefits and resulted in significant financial losses for taxpayers.
AnsweredQoN 583Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Carrying on from my confusion yesterday, I refer to the question from the member for Warren-Blackwood yesterday about the Manjimup railway line. I admit to being a bit confused yesterday. As I recall, the member, when in government, promised the world from the privatisation of Westrail. Will the minister shed some light on this issue, please? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. The member for Warren-Blackwood asked that question yesterday. We were very clear that back in the dark ages when he was Minister for Local Government, he had some strong support for the privatisation of Westrail. Indeed, when we were debating it in the Parliament and raising those very concerns about how it could be guaranteed that these lines would still operate throughout the south west and the great southern, one of the greatest supporters of this privatisation was indeed the member for Warren-Blackwood. He said on 16 March 1999 - Some of the benefits for the new entity will include operating efficiency and flexibility. It will have lower freight rates, higher capital expenditure, a network extension, on-rail competition and market growth. As the Minister for Primary Industry mentioned, farmers are about getting rail freight rates down, becoming more efficient and getting road freight onto rail . . . The great white hope that the member for Warren-Blackwood had was that there would be all of this investment - show us the investment; we would have all of this competition - show us the competition; and, most extraordinarily, we would have a rail extension - show us the rail extension. There has been only one rail extension since the privatisation. That was one into Mirambeena, which was funded 100 per cent by the State Government. Unfortunately, that privatisation has failed to deliver on one single promise. I now have the precise facts in front of me. Not only did we not get that extension of the rail network and the increased competitiveness, but also we got a sale that, according to the Auditor General, resulted in a loss of $116 million. It was a great sale; we lost $116 million! It left us with a residual debt of $331 million on the freight business, and no income-earning potential to cover it. At the end of the day, as a result of that great privatisation, which has not delivered any of those benefits, the taxpayers are paying $20 million a year for the privilege of having a rail network that has gone nowhere.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. The member for Warren-Blackwood asked that question yesterday. We were very clear that back in the dark ages when he was Minister for Local Government, he had some strong support for the privatisation of Westrail. Indeed, when we were debating it in the Parliament and raising those very concerns about how it could be guaranteed that these lines would still operate throughout the south west and the great southern, one of the greatest supporters of this privatisation was indeed the member for Warren-Blackwood. He said on 16 March 1999 - Some of the benefits for the new entity will include operating efficiency and flexibility. It will have lower freight rates, higher capital expenditure, a network extension, on-rail competition and market growth. As the Minister for Primary Industry mentioned, farmers are about getting rail freight rates down, becoming more efficient and getting road freight onto rail . . . The great white hope that the member for Warren-Blackwood had was that there would be all of this investment - show us the investment; we would have all of this competition - show us the competition; and, most extraordinarily, we would have a rail extension - show us the rail extension. There has been only one rail extension since the privatisation. That was one into Mirambeena, which was funded 100 per cent by the State Government. Unfortunately, that privatisation has failed to deliver on one single promise. I now have the precise facts in front of me. Not only did we not get that extension of the rail network and the increased competitiveness, but also we got a sale that, according to the Auditor General, resulted in a loss of $116 million. It was a great sale; we lost $116 million! It left us with a residual debt of $331 million on the freight business, and no income-earning potential to cover it. At the end of the day, as a result of that great privatisation, which has not delivered any of those benefits, the taxpayers are paying $20 million a year for the privilege of having a rail network that has gone nowhere.
I thank the member for the question. The member for Warren-Blackwood asked that question yesterday. We were very clear that back in the dark ages when he was Minister for Local Government, he had some strong support for the privatisation of Westrail. Indeed, when we were debating it in the Parliament and raising those very concerns about how it could be guaranteed that these lines would still operate throughout the south west and the great southern, one of the greatest supporters of this privatisation was indeed the member for Warren-Blackwood. He said on 16 March 1999 - Some of the benefits for the new entity will include operating efficiency and flexibility. It will have lower freight rates, higher capital expenditure, a network extension, on-rail competition and market growth. As the Minister for Primary Industry mentioned, farmers are about getting rail freight rates down, becoming more efficient and getting road freight onto rail . . . The great white hope that the member for Warren-Blackwood had was that there would be all of this investment - show us the investment; we would have all of this competition - show us the competition; and, most extraordinarily, we would have a rail extension - show us the rail extension. There has been only one rail extension since the privatisation. That was one into Mirambeena, which was funded 100 per cent by the State Government. Unfortunately, that privatisation has failed to deliver on one single promise. I now have the precise facts in front of me. Not only did we not get that extension of the rail network and the increased competitiveness, but also we got a sale that, according to the Auditor General, resulted in a loss of $116 million. It was a great sale; we lost $116 million! It left us with a residual debt of $331 million on the freight business, and no income-earning potential to cover it. At the end of the day, as a result of that great privatisation, which has not delivered any of those benefits, the taxpayers are paying $20 million a year for the privilege of having a rail network that has gone nowhere.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question. The member for Warren-Blackwood asked that question yesterday. We were very clear that back in the dark ages when he was Minister for Local Government, he had some strong support for the privatisation of Westrail. Indeed, when we were debating it in the Parliament and raising those very concerns about how it could be guaranteed that these lines would still operate throughout the south west and the great southern, one of the greatest supporters of this privatisation was indeed the member for Warren-Blackwood. He said on 16 March 1999 - Some of the benefits for the new entity will include operating efficiency and flexibility. It will have lower freight rates, higher capital expenditure, a network extension, on-rail competition and market growth. As the Minister for Primary Industry mentioned, farmers are about getting rail freight rates down, becoming more efficient and getting road freight onto rail . . . The great white hope that the member for Warren-Blackwood had was that there would be all of this investment - show us the investment; we would have all of this competition - show us the competition; and, most extraordinarily, we would have a rail extension - show us the rail extension. There has been only one rail extension since the privatisation. That was one into Mirambeena, which was funded 100 per cent by the State Government. Unfortunately, that privatisation has failed to deliver on one single promise. I now have the precise facts in front of me. Not only did we not get that extension of the rail network and the increased competitiveness, but also we got a sale that, according to the Auditor General, resulted in a loss of $116 million. It was a great sale; we lost $116 million! It left us with a residual debt of $331 million on the freight business, and no income-earning potential to cover it. At the end of the day, as a result of that great privatisation, which has not delivered any of those benefits, the taxpayers are paying $20 million a year for the privilege of having a rail network that has gone nowhere.
I thank the member for the question. The member for Warren-Blackwood asked that question yesterday. We were very clear that back in the dark ages when he was Minister for Local Government, he had some strong support for the privatisation of Westrail. Indeed, when we were debating it in the Parliament and raising those very concerns about how it could be guaranteed that these lines would still operate throughout the south west and the great southern, one of the greatest supporters of this privatisation was indeed the member for Warren-Blackwood. He said on 16 March 1999 - Some of the benefits for the new entity will include operating efficiency and flexibility. It will have lower freight rates, higher capital expenditure, a network extension, on-rail competition and market growth. As the Minister for Primary Industry mentioned, farmers are about getting rail freight rates down, becoming more efficient and getting road freight onto rail . . . The great white hope that the member for Warren-Blackwood had was that there would be all of this investment - show us the investment; we would have all of this competition - show us the competition; and, most extraordinarily, we would have a rail extension - show us the rail extension. There has been only one rail extension since the privatisation. That was one into Mirambeena, which was funded 100 per cent by the State Government. Unfortunately, that privatisation has failed to deliver on one single promise. I now have the precise facts in front of me. Not only did we not get that extension of the rail network and the increased competitiveness, but also we got a sale that, according to the Auditor General, resulted in a loss of $116 million. It was a great sale; we lost $116 million! It left us with a residual debt of $331 million on the freight business, and no income-earning potential to cover it. At the end of the day, as a result of that great privatisation, which has not delivered any of those benefits, the taxpayers are paying $20 million a year for the privilege of having a rail network that has gone nowhere.
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